Advice Network Founders Blog

Some of the things we do in life are easy. If you need to ship a package, you’ve got a few choices, but it doesn’t take that long to navigate the difficulties and pick an option. You probably don’t need advice.

There are other things in life that are much more complicated. Some things will be tough every time, like advertising your business in the most cost-effective way, and some things are challenging just because you don’t do them as often.

“What do you mean, ‘complicated?’”

As a wedding photographer, I can’t tell you how many times an embarrassed bride has told me, “I’ve never done this before.”  Most of the time, a bride is planning her first wedding (or maybe her first one in many, many years). How many decisions go into planning a wedding? Thousands, probably. Do people need good advice? I think they do.

Or, when my wife and I bought our first house. What a maze. We had to pick a real estate agent, and learn about the quirks of house hunting in our area, inspections, offers, contracts, and mortgages.

Sure, I could ask my dad for advice, but he had never bought a house in California; there were lots of new ways to do mortgages that he had never heard of. My best friend in Seattle was more help, but even then, things were done differently in Seattle. Not everything translated.

I’m not saying we were completely out of luck. We got some good tips along the way. But we really needed a place online where we could learn about what we were doing so we could navigate the best course.

“I see the problem, what’s the solution?”

That is what Advice Network is for. Experts and professionals and vendors and motivated individuals can share their advice, experiences, suggestions and expertise. We get to read what they say, comment, and even vote, adding our intelligence to the process. If something helps you, it will probably help your neighbor. If you think an article is off-base, we want to know that, too.

“Is that all there is to it?”

Now we get into the real synergy. If you are planning a wedding, buying a house, or starting a business, you need good advice. But you also need good professionals, vendors who can provide the services you need to fulfill your task.

Anyone can write a good article of advice, but who knows these areas best? Who keeps up with the changes, sees the common problems, and thinks about these things every day? It’s the professionals, again.

So we need their advice to make the best decisions, but what do they need? They need you! They need your business.

And there is the beauty of Advice Network. If you need the advice, you probably need the professionals, and if you provide the advice, you might just want the clients.

Advice Network allows you to browse listings of professionals in your area. Or, even simpler, you can use our “Find a Professional” feature.

With “Find a Professional,” you enter in the services you need, the area you need them in, and your contact information. We make your contact information private and let vendors in your area know about your requests. Up to seven professionals then contact you! No more sitting by the Yellow Pages making call after call. The people who want your business give you a call and send you an e-mail.

So with Advice Network, you can get helpful and timely advice, and you get targeted bids from qualified professionals. Simple.