I have had several conversations with some of my colleagues who are also business owners. Our discussion has gone to helping 
people start or grow their businesses; especially young people who want to be their own boss. “Ola, they simply don’t listen,” they all said.
I could not agree more. I know plenty of people over the years who have asked me for advice and continuously opt not to consider any of my years of experience or guidance. I know people who jump from program to program looking for someone to tell them what they want to hear rather than what is reality.
I have found that there are people who simply do not want to hear that what they are doing may not work in the manner in which they are going about trying to make things work.
The best advice you can get is from someone who has done what you want to do, or doing what you are doing. They don’t even have to have been successful; you can learn from bad as well as good experiences. You learn more from listening than you do from talking.
Listening should be followed up with some actions. Don’t make people feel as if they are wasting their time by continuously seeking out their advice; only for you to end up in the same situation with the same questions that the person gave you the solutions to.
It has been said that there is a reason why you have 2 ears and one mouth.
Is there a time when you wished you had listened but didn’t ? Share it with us in the comments below.
