Where to get advice

Always an interesting debate starter this one; where do you go for advice, how much do you pay and how do you implement it?

I have previously mentioned that there are good, legitimate sources of free advice available to all - the best known being Business Link. Whilst competent and reliable, these sources are by definition somewhat generic and lacking in imagination.

In the course of research I hung around a number of business forums and I have to confess that my opinion is that the advice given is marginal - sometimes outright wrong; try a simple test - ask a question on a topic you really understand and evaluate the responses - it is reasonable to assume that the quality of response will apply to other topics.

Don't get me wrong, there are many people on these forums with genuine specialisms, many more who are entirely well meaning if slightly misguided, then there is the vocal minority who, frankly have little better to do than make crass observations and sweeping generalisations. As the person seeking advice for a business, your biggest challenge will be to work out which is which (and to wade through the crap to get to the quality). If you want to go the forum route, my recommendation would definitely go to LinkedIn, though you might want to take the effort to narrow your fields to avoid getting global input on a local matter.

If you are willing and able to pay, there are any number of specialist consultancies giving advice and support either in specific fields or to specific sectors of industry. It can be difficult to define specialisms, particularly as many of them want to spread their net as far as possible and therefore are somewhat vague about their areas of expertise. The point here is that we all know that no-one is an expert is everything; if your accountant starts selling you advice on marketing - run away!

To plug myself a bit here, I am very specific in my target area - I work with people who are thinking of starting a business through to shortly after opening the doors. Once you have been running for, say, 12 months you will be able to evaluate any  weaknesses and focus your attentions on them with guidance specific to that field, be it accountancy/cashflow, marketing, PR, HR or whatever (or work around the weakness as a temporary measure) - there is no point paying a generalist to do a specialist job, so that is where I leave.

There is, of course one well known, universal source of advice that I have failed to mention - yes - the Bloke in the Pub; His advice is technically free and is dispensed with reckless abandon. Reference points are always available - typically 'I know a bloke who' or 'a mate of my brother's' - obviously you will never meet these people.  The best thing about Bloke in the Pub's advice, is that you always get to do exactly what you like, you always save loads of money and you normally undermine the people you detest - such as the tax man.

I say technically free; there might of course be a small cost - over and above the pints you buy him - such as tax penalties, loss of customers or your business or, possibly a brief spell at Her Majesty's pleasure; still, he's a lot more fun than a consultant and he tells you what you want to hear.