Five things that you should do when asking advice

As some of you may know from reading through this, and other posts that I've had over time, I have a good pal who is in the magazine publishing industry. Stacy (yes, her real name) is now based out in San Francisco, after handling things in New York for at least 8 years. Stacy is also one of the brightest people on the face of the Earth. And not because she knew me, but in spite of that fact. She is always a good ear to me and usually up to hearing what my next great idea is all about. She is encouraging, even at my most lame moments. Her perpetual Pollyanna attitude is really warming to the heart. But Stacy is going to get me in trouble one day.

You see, Stacy has long encouraged me to write. Not just for magazines, or for a book, or for newspapers for that matter. Stacy has always encouraged me to write for any medium and she really doesn't care if it's one, several or all of them. I made the effort to ask for her advice again recently, when throwing around the idea for making this trip into a writing adventure as well as a riding adventure (she'll love that play on words). And although she was actually midway through her move across the country, she took time to think of all the things that she would advise me to do, if she were in my shoes/saddle.

Oh, if only I had prepared myself to hear it.

So here goes...
1. Be specific. I gave Stacy the 30,000 foot view of this trip - the highlights, the generalities, the 'big picture' if you will. She then began asking a few thousand questions about what I had planned to do about this or that; was I really thinking of doing x or y?'; and generally trying to get me to focus on a few very specific things. This was, I'm sure, designed to get me thinking about all the opportunities that exist and deciding which was right for me. I'm not comfortable making a video journal each day, but she threw that out as an idea. Keep in mind that Stacy has seen me in person. She knows I have the perfect face for radio. Yet, she still thought that creating a video journal of each day's ride would be a good idea. I think she couched the idea in a 'regular guy, gritty, plain truth' setting. Yeah, that's her nice way of saying, 'hey, nobody expects the bikers to be pretty, right? You won't disappoint them!' In any case, her advice is highly prized and I am glad to have it. I just wish I had started by being more specific with her, because the ideas she had on the general trip premise look like an awful lot of work. Wasn't this supposed to be something like a working vacation?

2. Be prepared to take what you ask for. Stacy didn't really even give me options, as much as she threw up ideas all over my email. She knows that every one of the ideas isn't going to work, nor will all of them be implemented, but I'm certain that she thinks some (many?) of them have merit and should be included. And she's correct. I guess I just wasn't prepared for the advice I was asking for. I wanted her advice, I asked for her advice and I really wasn't prepared to get it. I guess the old adage of being careful what you ask for applies here. I got it. (and even though I'm bitching about it, I'm very grateful for it!)

3. Edit carefully. Some of the ideas that Stacy put forth were very good. Some struck me as just plain stupid. But then again, she knows what people are interested in - at least from a magazine perspective - and I should listen more carefully to her. Some ideas she had "Tell people what top 5 clothing items should be at the top of any biker's list" struck me as odd. I didn't realize that (and I'm being nice here) USA Today had taken over the magazine publishing business as well. We've dumbed down every written conversation into bite sized chunks, lest our ADHD-addled brains are being asked to actually process more than a few bullet point lists to get the point. Well I haven't done that yet, and I'm resisting her advice here. But in the end, I realize that she is quite knowledgeable and it's worth listening to her. Thus, the name of this blog entry and the fact I have 2 more bullet points to go. Hey, she may be wrong on this, but I'm not willing to suggest that I know more about it than her. So, I'm going to edit less and let her edit more.

4. Use advice from others as a springboard. Remember, I didn't think all of Stacy's ideas were good ones, but they did make me think about other things that were somewhat related but not on the same point. This has given me a chance to really look at what I'm trying to say, but to package it in a way that is not only entertaining to a reader, but very similar in style to what folks are probably reading either online or in print. She told me to 'use my voice' which I'm sure is magazine-speak for something clever about staying true to one's style. She's probably also come up with the new phrase for balance sheets that show a deficit. It's NOT a loss, it's a 'negative overage'.

5. Be thankful for any and all advice you get. Stacy has no stake in anything I do. I haven't even seen the woman in at least 8 years or longer. We've stayed in contact through all my life struggles and through many of hers. (You should ask her about the Vet she dated once in Atlanta. Was it truly just an attempt to get free medical care for her pet? If so, it didn't work out so well.) I am VERY thankful to have a friend like Stacy who will pull no punches, who will tell me *exactly* what she thinks or feels about an idea one of us had. I love her for her integrity, honesty and positive attitude, even when things had been their very worst for her from time to time. Stacy: Thank you! I may not take every item to heart, but please know that I hear all of them and will try to incorporate as many ideas as I can determine are useful and/or interesting.

SO there, one 5 bullet point article down and many more to go!
Thanks Stacy! And thanks to you for reading it.

Remember, I LOVE comments and guestbook entries. At least do me the pleasure of noting that you were here!
Gordo