If you follow your own advice or use your own products, we call it eating your own dog food. Dogfooding is a great way to gain the trust of your marketplace and show them that you believe in what you say.
However, when someone tells the marketplace one thing and does the opposite, they erode trust in themselves and whatever they say. I see examples of this in every industry and profession. Here are just a couple of very common examples:
No dog food eaten here!
Most accountants I’ve met don’t eat their own dog food. They tell their clients to build robust, valuable businesses, yet in the UK, those accountants will end up selling their own businesses for just 1.5 times their annual turnover! They can be building a business, working long hours for 20 years, and end up retiring on a the equivalent of just a few years salary.
Many web designers don’t eat their own dog food either. They usually have nice looking websites with good SEO, but decide to save money by writing their copy themselves. So, they have a site, telling business owners to get a professionally designed website because it will help them look more professional and make more sales, yet their own copy writing is so ineffective that genuine potential clients simply click away.
Of course, there are examples of this in every industry and profession.
Do you eat your own dog food?
How do you put into practice the kind of advice you give to your own clients or customers?
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