When business advice mistakes soundbites for strategy
If you're an ethical dog trainer or animal behaviourist, you'll already know that the people who sound the most certain are not always the people you'd actually trust.
You'll have seen bold claims dressed up as facts, oversimplified advice presented as universal truth, quick fixes sold with absolute confidence… yes, even when the evidence is shaky, the nuance is missing and the downsides are conveniently ignored.
It’s one of the things that makes competing with less ethical professionals so infuriating. But, of course, when someone's overwhelmed, struggling, worried, short on time or desperate for things to improve, a simple answer can feel reassuring.
The trouble is… sounding sure of yourself and actually giving good, honest and ethical advice are not the same thing.
And it’s not just in the animal training/ behaviour industry… this same pattern shows up in the business world too.
How false certainty shows up in business
This is where things get interesting... and, honestly, a bit frustrating.
Dog trainers and behaviourists are usually well aware that complex situations rarely reduce well to a neat little soundbite.
But when the conversation shifts to pricing, marketing, visibility or business growth, it can be much harder to spot the same pattern... especially when business advice is packaged in a way that makes certainty sound convincing.
“That doesn’t work any more.”
“You have to do it this way.”
“You must be on social media.”
“You need passive income.”
“You just have to show up more.”
That’s where it gets really tricky… because there’s often a nugget of something useful underneath the advice but the nuance has gone completely out of the window.
And that’s the part I struggle with most. I see far too much business advice dressed up as universal truth... when often it’s little more than a catchy soundbite doing the rounds on social media.
“It depends” isn’t a dead end… it’s the start of a better answer
People don't generally like hearing "it depends" when they ask a question… and I understand why. Left there on its own, it can feel vague or evasive, like someone dodging the question rather than answering it.
But "it depends" isn't a cop-out when it's followed by the factors that actually matter: what you're trying to achieve, your broader business goals, your values, your budget, your time, your strengths, your audience, the way you want to work and the trade-offs you're willing to make.
That's honest, considered advice which respects the fact that real decisions sit inside a wider context. Pretending otherwise doesn't really make things simpler (even if it might feel that way)… it just makes the advice less complete.
An example of false certainty in action
Years ago, someone told me with complete confidence that if I wanted to be successful in my new dog training and behaviour business, I had to be doing regular ‘Lives’ on social media.
I’m sure that the person giving this (entirely unsolicited) advice thought they were being helpful but they knew nothing about my context.
I’d already built, grown and sold a successful dog training and behaviour business without any social media presence at all, let alone regular ‘Lives’. So I knew from lived experience that this simply wasn’t true.
That doesn’t mean social media Lives can’t be useful. Of course they can… for some people, businesses and audiences, they may be a brilliant fit.
But it’s a massive leap from ‘this can help’ to ‘you have to do this if you want to succeed’.
The most useful advice is often more nuanced… and boringly un-catchy.
Why certainty sells, even when it isn't the whole story
I think people are drawn to certainty because it can feel like relief… a bold claim removes complexity and a confident voice offers reassurance. For a moment, it can feel as though someone has handed you the answer.
That’s part of why so much business advice ends up sounding strangely repetitive. One person says something catchy, someone else repeats it, then another person presents it as a ‘strategy’... and before long, it’s being treated as an absolute fact.
That’s what I’m wary of.
Side note... if you’d like to go down a related rabbit hole
This is also why I've written before about not focusing on ‘10K months’. Not because money doesn't matter but because those numbers are so often presented without essential context. Why 10K? Revenue or profit? At what cost, with how many hours, with what impact? You can read it here.
Why this matters… and how I work
This isn’t about dismissing everyone who speaks with confidence. And yes... some simple advice is good advice.
But, when you hear a bold claim about how you ‘should’ run your business or you’re faced with another must-do strategy being presented as gospel, it’s worth asking: Says who? Based on what? What might this depend on?
Those kinds of questions won’t make your decisions harder; they’ll make them better.
That way of thinking is a big part of how I work too.
I’m not interested in handing out recycled business soundbites or pretending there’s one right answer for everyone. I’m interested in helping people think clearly, weigh things up properly and make sound decisions that actually fit them and their business.
If you’re the kind of dog trainer or animal behaviourist who already sees the complexity in the work you do... who knows that context matters, trade-offs matter and tidy answers are not always the best ones... there’s a good chance you’ll value that approach in business too.
And if that’s what you’ve been missing, you’d probably feel very at home inside my coaching and mentoring programme, Unleash Your Potential.
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