People generally think of consultants as people who give advice.

Our Depth Branding consulting is not about offering advice.

We think information should be free and readily available.

You can Google any advice, and our philosophical advice is openly published on our blog.

Some will resonate with it, and for others, it will be totally meaningless.

Why is this?

So what do we do that actually creates change?

Well first, let’s look at some real-world transformational experiences for people: A baby being born, a marriage, a breakup, the loss of a family member, recovering from an addiction, a natural disaster, a near-death experience, recovering from a chronic illness, a plant medicine journey, a powerful cinematic story, a deeply moving song.

None of these involve advice.

Only a lived experience.

These are events that are felt and move us at the core of our being.

It’s like the difference between watching a powerful movie and hearing about how good it was. A process vs a summary. Advice is like a summary. If it doesn’t land with the person in the exact moment that they need it, they will still need to go through a journey/process in order to truly understand the depth of the summary.

Is this true in all cases?

You may even be thinking to yourself that some advice has really helped you.

But ask yourself, would that same advice be helpful for someone who is at a different stage of their journey?

Advice is really only helpful when it resonates as a reminder of what you already know. If a sentiment wasn’t already swirling around inside of you somewhere, it’s not going to make sense when somebody else says it.

This means, you remembering your truth is inevitable. Whether you remember it through a dream, a blog, a conversation with a friend, a movie, etc – you are destined to come to terms with it and have the ability to articulate it eventually.

If it came from advice, it can be tempting to credit the advice as the wisdom you needed.

But in reality, it’s you and your wisdom that resonated with the advice, and not everyone could have done so.

Helpful advice is merely a reflection.

Unhelpful advice is either a landmark that comes later in your journey or perhaps a landmark that you have already lived through and surpassed the portion of your journey in which it could have been resonant.

This is why advice for a 10-year-old is usually much different from advice given to a 40-year-old.

Either way, if it doesn’t ring true it’s because it is not a match where you are at in that moment.

This doesn’t make the advice wrong, it just means it is not a match.

In the Storyweaving Depth Branding journey, the goal is to generate your own reflections.

To become the giver of your own advice.

To disconnect you from the need for external approval.

To be in tune with the truth of how your authentically genius gifts ultimately impact your customers.

A brand which is living on out-of-synch advice is an unsustainable venture.

Connecting more deeply with true yourself is really the only option.