I feel extremely fortunate to have a network of people around me that I trust for advice.  I have worked hard to cultivate this network and am grateful for it.  These are individuals that I trust.  I trust their confidentiality when it’s necessary.  I trust they sincerely care about me and my well-being.  I respect their accomplishments as an indication of their abilities, wisdom and hard work.

As this has been a challenging revenue environment for many businesses, it has for us as well.  I have written previously about how the future still looks extremely strong, just later.  This message still rings true and looks ever stronger.  We have some exciting plans for future growth.  Some have required us to borrow money, and some will require us to borrow more.  I have laid out a compelling vision and business case for growth.  However, in a meeting with one of our banking partners, they were asking for more specifics.  More specifics on how the cash flow will work, its timing and other details needed to support our plans.  We have been working with a contract CFO for some time now, and he was appropriately in this conversation.

His answer to their request was “Ok, I’ve got it.  I know what we need to do.”

What a wonderful answer!  An advisor that gets it and knows just what to do!  Which only increases my trust in his abilities.  It is incredibly destressing that I do not have to figure it out.  There are plenty of unknowns in business and decisions that must be made with imperfect or limited information so any time a definite plan can be laid out, it is a thing of beauty.

We will now be creating more detailed financial models of my vision and our plans for growth.  Detailed work that may seem like drudgery to some, but thrilling to others.  Exciting stuff that will lead to exciting results!

So if you are an advice giver, know when to say “OK, I’ve got it.  I know what to do.” This isn’t always the best answer as there is value in discovering things for yourself.  There are times that empowerment to struggle through is most valuable.  Then there are others like the one listed above where it is more freeing to bring peace with certainty.  If you are an advice seeker, look for those you trust so that when they state a definitive path forward, you will listen.