It’s probably unfair of me to call out this particular person. There are probably millions of people in the world who would do the same kind of thing. But yesterday it happened to be this one and she upset me. Not massively – just a bit.
She followed me on Twitter and I followed her back, as you do. Then she sent me a message and I replied and she wrote back. Here’s the conversation:
It was an interesting question. I considered my answer carefully. According to her Twitter profile, she lives in Hawaii and is an author, mentor, speaker, entrepreneur and visual thinker. I chose to ignore all that and think of her as a person. She chose to ignore my choice and answer as my mentor. I didn’t ask for her advice; she just gave it.
But, Susan McIntire, you don’t know me, so how do you know whether your advice has any relevance for me? How do you know whether calling a friend to discuss meeting is ridiculously easy for me? Or even whether I have a friend to call? How do you know whether your advice will be useful for me or the opposite – that it’ll make me feel like a failure because what for you is ridiculously easy doesn’t feel like that for me?
So thank you, Susan McIntire. I know you mean well (and probably want to find new clients) but I’d rather you didn’t do that to me.
Oct 28, 2015 at 11:16 pm
Yikes! I find that rather discourteous – unsolicitous, glib advice. I’m sure that she meant well but her behaviour isn’t appropriate.
Oct 29, 2015 at 12:03 am
This is why I ignore all DMs on Twitter. Yuck. That one deserves an unfollow.
Oct 29, 2015 at 4:11 am
It’s sad, but I’ve come to only respond to DM’s from people I’ve interacted with regularly in other social media platforms. Totally understand your reaction.
Oct 29, 2015 at 1:26 pm
Ugh. It’s one thing to give out advice (although this is a particularly crass way of doing it), but at least try and figure out enough about the person you’re talking to to make it relevant.