I’ve noticed that…
Business owners often trust the judgment of complete strangers more than their own. We ask a Facebook group which software to buy. We take a vendor’s word that a new tool will be “live in a day.” We copy what a competitor is doing because it seems to be working for them. We read online reviews more closely than we listen to the people who work for us. Somewhere along the way, it became more comfortable to borrow someone else’s judgment than to trust our own.
Why it happens
Outside advice feels safer. If it doesn’t work out, the decision wasn’t really ours. And a confident stranger can sound more certain than we feel about our own business. But strangers don’t know your customers, your team, or the exceptions your office manager handles every week. The vendor doesn’t know your busy season. The Facebook group doesn’t know your budget. They’re answering a general question, and you’re facing a specific one.
Outside advice isn’t the problem
Other perspectives are valuable. The question is how much weight to give them. Before a big decision, it helps to ask:
What do I know firsthand? Your own numbers, your own customers, your own experience.
Where did this advice come from? A salesperson, a stranger, or someone who has seen your business?
What does my team say? The people closest to the work often know things you don’t.
What’s missing? What would you need to know before you’d feel confident?
Trusting your judgment again
Good decisions aren’t about ignoring advice. They’re about sorting what you’ve heard into what you know, what you’re assuming, and what you still need to find out. Your own experience belongs in that picture, too.
Weighing a big decision? Try the free Decision Evidence Map, or book a 90-minute Business Situation Map Session. I work with small business owners in the Baltimore area and beyond.
