You showed the The Thing You Are Creating to your mother, and she said, “That’s nice, sweetheart.”
And you thought, “Hmm…”
You showed the The Thing You Are Creating to your best friend, and she said, “It’s awesome! You’re awesome!”
And you thought, “Did she even look at it? Maybe she’s just reciting her line based on Page 23 of the Best Friend Contract, which says, ‘Thou must believe your best friend’s stuff to be awesome at all times.’ ”
Sweet, but not exactly helpful.
So you showed the The Thing You Are Creating to your husband (oh, honest husband!) and he said, “I don’t get it.”
And you thought, well, maybe I should just give up right now.
But no!
This has happened to me many times, and I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. Check out my video on the wrong and the RIGHT people to ask for feedback:
Stop soliciting feedback from the wrong people, and stop doing it now.
They love you. You love them. That isn’t enough.
You need a more accurate way to estimate how your target audience will respond to your work. That’s paramount. But it’s also really important that your dreams don’t get unnecessarily crushed by people who mean well but don’t have a clue. In a worst-case scenario, it could make you to stop what you’re doing altogether.
[Tweet “For helpful, useful feedback, look beyond your besties and ask colleagues, pros, and clients.”]
Don’t forget, you can trade feedback with a friend, like I do with my writing friend Tom, and with some entrepreneurs I’m in a few cherished Facebook groups with.
If you’re looking for something more targeted, check out my services or my Summer Blog Boost offer—which expires August 21st! That’s a great chance to get my feedback on your writing so you can hit publish with confidence.
Now, I want to hear from you! Where do turn for the feedback you need to keep going?