I call most friends “business partners.”
Not to sound cool. I just don’t really associate with people I can’t build businesses with.
Sometimes I email them. Recently mobile and non-profit ideas. They’re all crap. But reactions are fun.
Player 1: “This is awesome Ryan. You always impress me.”
Player 2: “Won’t work. You suck. Can I be removed from this list??”
I buy drinks for Player 1. I build businesses with Player 2.
We flock to friends for advice. But the nature of friendship contradicts the helpfulness of this behavior. Because friends are on our side. And we’re already our biggest advocate. So friends’ advices entrench us more. And we don’t need that.
I say sound board > friends. Opposing viewpoints > groupthink. If your closest partners aren’t critical of your ideas, how do they add value?
I can scroll through thousands of YouTube comments praising my marginal abilities. But what I treasure most are fellow musicians, more talented than myself, who tell me a) what I’m doing wrong and b) how to fix it.
So form a sound board. Add them to a Gmail contacts group. Always bcc them so they can’t figure out who their peers are. Maintain this mystery for giggles and to avoid more groupthink. Because we hate that.
Moral –
One time I met someone who agreed with everything I said. It was boring. It was last week.