Write that email or make that phone call today!

Fear and negativity are powerful things and I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one trying to overcome them.

Thanks.

Bottom line, interviews, if properly prepared for and implemented, can bring valuable information to aid in your decision-making.

Prior to reading this post, I emailed a long time family friend who is doing the career I am researching. I asked for her input and thoughts about me taking the leap. In addition, I have asked a trusted mentor for a meeting time to discuss his thoughts about my goals.

I am somewhat tired of waiting for the magical answers to appear in either books or posts. I have figured out that I need to search the answers out. In the end, I need my questions answered, which shall fuel my passion for finishing my goals.

In the end, I am learning to trust my -gut- instead of other’s feelings.

“You need to be able to distinguish between a truly negative voice trying to dissuade you (”you will definitely fail if you try this “) vs. a friend trying to help you by giving data to use in your endeavor (”It’s very difficult for new yoga teachers to get on the schedule without experience, see if you can strengthen yourself in that area”).”

It’s important to take measured risks, not just risks for the sake of risk taking. That’s something a lot of the previous comments seemed to be missing in their knocking of nay-sayers. Sometimes there’s a valid reason for negativity. Sometimes there isn’t. Yes, informational interviews are a tool to be used to tell the difference.

Not everybody who isn’t a cheerleader for your decisions is pathologically afraid of risks or just a negative person. Sometimes people do need a dose of reality because they don’t understand the scope of what they’re taking on. It is much better to take a risk with your eyes open than closed.

Oh my goodness. I just got off the phone with a telephone company about what it would cost to have a 1-800 for a business I want to start. I then logged on to see what was going on at GRS, and your post was there staring at me! And I’ve been doubting myself and the business for weeks! “I need a website, I need business cards, I have to wait to get business cards until I find out if I want an 800 number, etc. etc. etc!”

There is pretty much NO competition with what kind of business I’d like to start, but it is a service that would help give my clients peace of mind. I know I would pay for the service, but I’m not sure how many out there would especially with this economy. Luckily, the startup is pretty low (right now, I we have $360 into it.)

I am going to print your article and put it on my bedside table to remind me every morning when I wake up to “Just Do It!”

Thank you!

There’s a big difference between a coworker who has never owned a business saying to you, “I would never leave my job because I need the insurance,” and a self-employed person saying, “Insurance can be a problem, but here’s what I do about it, and here are some options for you to consider.”

As for buying into a scam (@Nicole, 26), that is a really unfortunate situation. If I had a friend who was about to buy into a scam and didn’t believe my misgivings about it, I’d tell him or her to conduct some informational interviews with other clients this person (the scam artist) has worked with. If they can’t provide references or the references seem fishy, that’s a huge red flag.

There’s a big difference between the people who point you to good information and help you ask the right questions and the people who shoot down every idea they hear.

It’s smart to listen to the former, but not the latter.

DH and I just invested in a business, and we’ve encountered several of each kind of people. We listened to and researched every concern we hadn’t already thought through, and ignored most of the blanket, information-free negativity we heard.

My uncle-in-law bought a pig farm from a scam artist. It was always his dream to have a farm with pigs. The scam artist builds the barn, provides financing, provides the contractors, provides the baby pigs, provides the pig feed, and buys the pigs back once they’re big. There’s no competition in the market, nobody else provides pigs, feed, etc. If the sell the barn, the only market is the same guy. The scam artist is rich.

Everyone told him not to do it, not to follow his dream. He bought it anyway. They’ve lost large amounts of money every single year for well over 15 years. The uncle-in-law’s disability payments and his wife’s salary are basically funding the scam artist’s wealthy life-style.

Sometimes the negative comments are right.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t start your own blog or become a yoga instructor… and definitely talk with people in the industry.

I also agree that having friends and mentors that you can lean on is vital to making it through the first couple of humps.

Thanks again!

Thank you so much for this post! You opened my eyes to something really important. Doing nothing for the fear of this, that and the other thing is the major hurdle between me and everything. You gave me so much hope and much needed kick on the pants. This will be the post I will be reading over and over again to seek encouragement and inspiration. Thank you again.

We get in the habit of thinking that people will only do things if they are compensated in some way. But no. The most important work is done by people who receive little or no compensation for it. People don’t get paid for raising children. Entrepreneurs don’t really do it for the money — that’s just for keeping score. They do it because they have a gift and want to put it to use. People cannot not help other people. We have something inside that makes us want to help.

If you are sincere in wanting to move forward, you are doing the person a favor in asking for his or her help. You really are. You are getting the benefit of learning and they are getting the benefit of loving. We all have a hunger to love.

Rob

I call it the “crabs in a bucket” phenomenon. Someone is trying to climb out, but the others keep grabbing her by the legs.

Nice article, and I really liked the highlighted comment re: delivering substance as an interviewer, and not expecting a one-way information street. I am CONSTANTLY dealing with people who bring absolutely no preparation to their professional conversations.

I often find myself in the position of the “it isn’t going to be a garden of roses.” A lot of people have very idealized views of potential future positions and it is important to know both the pros and the cons of something before leaping in. I get this a lot with students considering PhD programs with a dreamy idea of what it’s like to be a professor. A PhD program might be right for them or it might not, but it’s not something you want to spend 5+ years of your life doing unless you’re really sure it’s what you want to do. There are a lot of other options out there for smart, talented, and educated people that may be better fits and have different pros and cons.

So yes, getting an informational interview from someone who knows what they’re talking about is a great idea. But discouraging or ignoring all nay-sayers is a big mistake. Knowing potential pit-falls can save you a lot of time and a lot of heartache.

I always used to say I would like to start a business, but I can never figure out what kind, so I never really did anything with it. Any tips about settling on something?

Also, when you speak about discouraging people, my mind immediately goes to my grandma. She loves to shoot people down, and I often wonder what my very creative an entrepreneurial grandpa could have accomplished if she hadn’t been like that. But you can’t always just remove yourself from the person–even if I do something and don’t tell her, she cared for me as a child and so she’s in my head!

People who are afraid to take risks themselves like to discourage other people. It makes them feel that they’re right to sit there, complain, and do nothing. The trick is to recognize their aversion to risk for what it is, and do your own evaluations. Risky to them might not be risky for you.

Perhaps even more important is finding smart, positive, and optimistic people to hang out with.

I’m at the point where I need to start doing some informational interviews about a few directions I might go in with work. I need to figure out who to reach out to, and start doing it. The introvert in me hates it, but I know it works!

This advice doesn’t just apply to people trying to start a new business, it applies to everyone who wants to blame some aspect of the world around (“the economy”, etc.) them for their inevitable failure, and use that as an excuse to not even try.

b) re: the informational interview and networking in general – when I was in school and early in my professional career, I felt very shy about reaching out to others for information and contacts. I had the usual fears, not wanting to annoy people by interrupting them or taking up their time, as if they had any reason to care about helping me anyway…

But once I got a little experience, and younger folks were coming to me for the same reasons, I was always happy to help them if I could, and that made me a lot more confident in reaching out myself. In general, people like to talk about what they do, and like to build good networking karma, etc.