Never give or take free advice

Free advice gets consumed casually. Nodded at. Rarely acted on.

When you give advice away freely, you teach people an unhelpful lesson.That your thinking required no effort.

When someone pays (quantum being irrelevant) for your opinion, your words are taken far more seriously. They listen. They question. And act on it.

Putting a premium on your opinion, contrary to popular belief, isn’t arrogance.

It signals: This perspective was earned. This insight was shaped by mistakes. This is not a throwaway comment in a corridor conversation.

Your opinion has weight only when you treat it like it does.

So charge for it. Or protect it. But don’t let it fly.

Same goes for taking advice as well. Don’t just ask for an opinion, pay for it.

This has been my biggest learning of 2025.