Like James posted, when Ibegan, boy did I think everyone else was much more informed than me! They probaby are…but I know what works on my end.

I fully agree degrees aren’t everything. My late uncle, who had an MD but worked as a cop, once said to me “BS is *** MS is more of the same and PhD is piled higher and deeper.”

My degree is in radio and TV, but I was always involved in writing at school, too. It was that involvement that got me my first job, and the degree certainly didn’t make me a journalism expert. A degree is only one type of creditial. As a writer who does a lot with business, I’m more impressed with “experience credentials,” like success in running a business…Harvey Mackay, author of How to Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive and Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty is a good example of someone I consider to be an expert — not because of his degree (I don’t know whether he has one or not) or authorship of books, but because of the success of his company.

Often, if I come across information that I don’t necessarily agree with, I still try to glean any valuable ideas or methods that might be applicable to my situation. Just because the whole of what someone does is not for me does not mean that parts of the method aren’t useful.

Then, I take those bits and make my own, unique whole out of them.

This has worked well for my fiction writing, but I’ve yet to really break into freelance, so your mileage may vary.

Great example, Ann

Nothing personal against the men here, but a man has NO idea what childbirth feels like. The day a man becomes pregnant and gives birth, well sign me up for front row seats, and then I’ll trust in his advice.

I applaud you Deb for not putting yourself out there as an expert, and dispensing advice on subjects just so you can promote your blog.

I firmly believe in learning from others, but if we all always took expert advice as gospel, there’d be no new advice to give.

Look at your competitors (or your role models) and take what works. Steal it. Make it your own.

Look at what *doesn’t* work, and ignore it. Discard it, make it go away.

But then comes the next step – reflection. Just because it worked for someone else there is no guarantee it will work for you. Don’t give up on a new idea too quickly, give it a shot to work. But don’t fall so in love with the idea that you can’t drop it.

In poker, players often “fall in love” with big hands, like pocket aces. The problem is that these hands look great to start, but can be crushed when the wrong cards come up. But they like the look of those hands so much that they hang on to them, even when they know they are likely beaten.

And so it is with much of the advice we get. We need to be able to reevaluate advice we have taken, and see if it still holds up after the fact. If not, we need to try something else.

Most times, it’s not that the advice was bad, it just didn’t work in our situation. Learn why, adapt, and move on.

If I flat-out disagree, I may or may not post my perspective. It depends on my mood and how much time I have.

I rarely look at credentials (though I will say they sometimes impress me). Just because someone doesn’t have 20 years with a professional title, it doesn’t mean they know less that someone who does.

In the beginning, I took almost everything literally. If a site looked good and read well, it was gospel. It must be so. Certainly, everyone must be saying the same thing.

And as time went on, I became informed. Blogs weren’t saying the same thing. This one pushed, that one pulled. I took training in various fields of online entrepreneurism and learned even more different views. It all conflicted.

And it still does. The A-listers speak and the masses say, “Ooooh…” The B-listers repeat what they A-listers say or they contradict the views completely, and the masses sway. The C-listers…

Well, hell. Once you recognize a C-lister, I wouldn’t recommend hanging around that blog for long. And if you do, have good reason.

But all this took time, experience, observation and learning. Thankfully, that’s paying off, and I can try to give the A-listers a run for their money. (As are you, Deb.)

I don’t follow the masses, though. As Naomi from Itty Biz kindly pointed out, I’m usually the one playing peacemaker when the sh** hits the fan and the one stirring up conflict when everyone’s agreeing like sheep in a meadow. I draw on my own experience and past to decide what is right or wrong and I use that knowledge I hold to push information forth.

I try to educate, yes, but mostly I strive to inspire and help people see there are different ways to do things. And that there is no one right way.

Even mine

While I’ll agree with some opinions of some “experts,” you have to look at the experts’ credentials. Since Blogging is easy to start, anyone can put themselves as an expert. But one has to be able to back that up somehow.

This isn’t only true of bloggers. There are books by “experts” of questionable backgrounds…Ken Trudeau comes to mind…

Additionally, an expert opinion may not be the right advice for everyone. I’ve offered some thoughts in different threads on various topics — based on 30 years as a writer — but know that some here will find any suggestions I offer are not right for their individual situations. Similarly, advice offered by others may not be right for me…but the more opinions, advice, etc., offered, the more likely that one is to find some helpful tidbits.

Sometimes a portion of what someone says can benefit the situation while other portions may not. It is important for people to sort out what can be applied to their situation and what may or may not work for them.