How I Learned to Spot Good Advice from Bad

The Hidden Cost of 'Free' Advice: My Journey to Discerning True Mentorship from Noise

When I first started this indie maker journey, I felt like a thirsty person in a desert, desperate for a drop of water. The internet, of course, was that desert oasis, overflowing with advice.

There was just one problem: it was a mirage.

I remember spending hours, days even, just scrolling through Twitter, YouTube, and various blogs. Everyone seemed to have the "secret sauce" to building a successful SaaS, getting thousands of users overnight, or making a million dollars without breaking a sweat. It was overwhelming, and honestly, it paralyzed me.

The sheer volume of conflicting information was mind-boggling. One "guru" would tell me to focus on SEO and content marketing for months.

Another would preach about paid ads and rapid scaling. Someone else insisted on building a community first.

I felt like I was drowning in a sea of good intentions, but none of it felt like it was truly for me. It was all generic, aspirational noise.

The real pain point wasn't just the confusion; it was the realization that blindly following this "free" advice was actually costing me. It cost me time I could have spent building, money on courses that promised the moon, and most importantly, it chipped away at my confidence. I was consuming content, not creating.

So, I had to build a system, my own "Advice Filtration System," to navigate this chaos. It's not a rigid set of rules, but rather three core questions I ask myself before internalizing any piece of entrepreneurial wisdom I come across.

Here’s how it works:

1. Does this advice address a specific problem I'm currently facing?

This is crucial. Most "free" advice is broad.

It’s like a doctor prescribing a general vitamin for everyone. But as an indie maker, my problems are often niche.

Is this advice about user acquisition when I’m struggling with onboarding? Is it about pricing when my core issue is product-market fit?

If it doesn't directly tackle a bottleneck I'm experiencing right now, I usually let it go.

2. Is the person sharing this advice doing what they’re preaching, and is their context similar to mine?

I look for people who are actively building, shipping, and iterating, not just talking about it. And importantly, I consider their background.

Is this advice coming from someone who bootstrapped a solo project, or someone who raised millions and has a team of 50? Their journey and resources are vastly different, and what works for them might be impossible for me as a solo founder.

I try to find people who are in the trenches with me.

3. Can I immediately apply this advice in a small, testable way?

If the advice requires a massive overhaul, a huge budget, or a team I don't have, it’s probably not for me right now. I prefer actionable insights that I can implement on a small scale, test, and then iterate on. If it’s just a philosophical concept without a clear next step, it often ends up being more noise.

Let me give you an example. I was struggling with getting my first few paying customers for a new product.

I saw a tweet from someone saying, "Just build an audience first." That's good advice for some, but it didn't address my immediate problem. My filter kicked in: Does this address my specific problem? No.

The advice was too broad.

Then, I stumbled upon a thread from another maker who detailed how they used a simple landing page and targeted outreach to get their first 10 customers for a similar product. Is this person doing it? Yes.

Is their context similar? Yes, they were also a solo founder. Can I apply it? Absolutely.

I could build a landing page and start reaching out. This was the kind of advice I needed.

Finding true mentorship isn't about collecting followers or subscribing to every newsletter. It's about finding those few individuals whose experiences resonate with yours and whose advice is actionable for your specific stage. It's about building your own compass.

Here's the takeaway for you:

The internet is a treasure trove, but it’s also a minefield of "free" advice. Don't let it paralyze you.

Develop your own filtration system. Ask yourself:

• Specificity: Does this solve my current problem?
• Relevance: Is the advisor in a similar boat, and are they doing it?
• Actionability: Can I test this now?

By filtering the noise, you can start to hear the mentors who are truly offering a path forward, not just a loud, empty promise. Focus on building, experimenting, and learning from those who are walking the walk. That's where real progress lies.