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11 Ways to Get Fast Feedback on an Idea · The Daily Writer

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Smart Business Writing Podcast, the show that helps you share your message, increase your impact, and grow your business through the power of writing.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we writers tend to have a lot of ideas, which is a great thing.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: But this wellspring of ideas also can present a huge problem, which is how do we know which ideas are good and which ones are not?
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there's no foolproof method for ensuring that only the best ideas rise to the top.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: However, there are many ways that I bet you haven't thought about as far as getting feedback.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: And on this episode, I want to share 11 specific ways to get feedback on your idea fast.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: And this will apply to any kind of idea, whether it's a book, a blog post, a talk or a presentation, business concept, or anything else.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not saying you should do all of these all the time, but whenever you have an idea for something, I would recommend choosing maybe three or four of these methods and getting some feedback on them just to see what other people think.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because as we know, feedback, or at least constructive feedback, can help make your idea way better.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: All right, let's dive in here.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, talk to people in everyday conversation.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I realize that we live in the year 2020, and we can connect with virtually anybody who's on social media or out there on the internet in some way.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we forget that we live in a world of living, breathing human beings.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we forget that the best feedback happens whenever we get off of social media and get off of the computer and pay attention to the actual human beings who exist in our everyday world.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Think about the people that you encounter every day.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: For me, it's my wife and son, and my son is 15 years old and he's really, really sharp.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: There are the people that I meet in a coffee shop.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: There are employees at those coffee shops and other places I go, such as the grocery store or a barber shop or Target or wherever else.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's my brother and his family.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: There are people at church.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: There are the guys in my mastermind group that meets twice a month.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And there are the faculty, staff, and students at the college where I work in my day job.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: So those are most of the people that I encounter on a daily or a weekly basis in my life, and there's others, if I were to stop and think of them as well.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Each of those people that you encounter in your life, and I'm sure you have a large group just like I do, each one of those people has an innate genius inside of them.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: They all have this inborn creativity that is just waiting to be brought out by your idea or by your inquisitiveness or your curiosity.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: So don't neglect the people around you.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Many times they have really amazing ideas.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: We just have never taken the time to talk to them and to share our ideas with them so that we can get really great feedback.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: So number one is talk to the people in your everyday world.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, create a social media post.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, personally, I'm the most active on Facebook and LinkedIn.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: I don't use Instagram a lot, even though I probably should use it more.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, one of my readers recently mentioned that Instagram is a great place for getting feedback and engaging in dialogue with people.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: And to be honest, I had never really thought about it that way.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: I've mostly thought of Instagram as a place where people take pictures and they make comments and that's pretty much it.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, obviously I'm highly wrong about that, so I need to do some more investigating and experimenting on Instagram.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: But the point here is you can choose a platform, whatever platform that you use, and you can get feedback on that idea.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Ask people what they think, uh, make some posts about it, and just solicit some conversation about whatever it is that you would like some feedback on.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: The point is, it doesn't really matter what the platform is, it's that you're on there and that you're engaging with people and you're creating conversations about whatever it is that you want to talk about.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, give a talk or a presentation.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: I've been doing presentations more and more the last couple of years, and I really enjoy those, even though they can be really time-consuming.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: I've given talks for a local business group, for conventions and churches.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: I spoke at a graduation service last year, as well as some other small events.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, I think local libraries are great venues for giving a talk, although I haven't done that in a while.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: The greatest thing about giving a talk or a presentation is that you get almost immediate feedback from it.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, while you're talking and while you're presenting, you're getting feedback from the audience because you sense whether they're engaged and interested or whether they're falling asleep or completely disengaged.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: You find out what's working and what's not working almost immediately.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, when we talk about giving presentations or talks, it doesn't necessarily have to be something that you go out there, quote unquote, and do.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a day job, you might have a really great opportunity for doing this right in front of your nose.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: For example, could you do a presentation or a talk for your employer?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe a lunchtime thing where you're teaching a group of team members or employees or clients or customers about some sort of topic that you're interested in.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe your team needs training on how to write and communicate more effectively.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe your clients need some training related to communication or writing or books or blogging or whatever it is that you do.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Those can be really great ways to get some experience and get some feedback while at the same time adding value to your employer if you have a day job.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of a double win right there.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Number four is write a blog post.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now I know that podcasting and audio is all the rage these days, and obviously I'm a fan of that because I'm podcasting right now.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: But let's not forget about the humble blog post.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: A blog post is a great way to share your ideas with the world in written form.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, if you want some tips on writing a great blog post, listen to episode 125, which is entitled The Number One Writing Lesson from Disney's Star Wars trilogy.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: I talk about how to craft an effective blog post in that article.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Even though I think the title of that episode is not very good.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: I should have titled that something different.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: But when I wrote it, I thought, hey, I'll talk about Disney Star Wars.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: That'll get people's attention, but who knows?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you live and learn.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: So whenever you write a blog post, make sure and share it with people.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: I recommend that you send it out to your email list if you have one and that you share it on social media.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Or you can do it vice versa.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: If you have an email list, you can start out writing your thoughts to your to your audience via email and then repurpose that content as a blog post or as a podcast episode.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, that's what I'm doing right now.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: This material actually started out as an email to my subscriber list a couple weeks ago.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And oh no, I'm sorry.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, it was just last weekend as I'm recording this.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: And now I'm repurposing it as a podcast episode and as a blog post.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: So whichever way you slice it, I always recommend that at some point your content ends up in written form because it's way easier to repurpose that way.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Number five, record a podcast episode.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now this goes along with what I was just saying about repurposing, but I do want to say this about podcasting.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: The reason I love podcasts is that you can easily talk out ideas, concepts, and stories.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: My friend Vincent Puglisi on his Total Life Freedom podcast does this very, very well.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: He's probably the best storyteller that I know personally.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: He is a master at it, and that is the that's actually the only podcast where I have listened to every single episode.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, granted, the episodes are really short, they're like five or six minutes long, but I still love it and I I just devour the show because he is such a great storyteller.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you might ask, what if I don't have a podcast?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if you don't have a podcast, you can accomplish the same sort of thing by using something like Facebook Live or doing a video on Instagram or LinkedIn or whatever your favorite platform is.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: And you can do that video and people can hear the emotion in your voice.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: We are creatures that naturally like to talk.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: We're just wired to talk.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: And we can process things way faster whenever we talk than whenever we write.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why I'm a huge fan of using audio and then repurposing that audio into something else later on.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now, another thing that you can do, if you don't have your own podcasts, uh or even if you do, is you can get on other people's podcasts to share your ideas.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: I just did an episode uh last week.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: This was episode 135, where I had my friend Millette Jones, and she talked about how to get on other podcasts as a guest expert.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So go back and listen to that show if that sounds interesting to you.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: All right, number six, ask someone who is one to two steps ahead of you for feedback.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: I have a lot of friends in the writing and the author space, and whenever I have a question about something, I often go to one of those friends for help.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And many of those people are a few years ahead of me in terms of building their business.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: And they still remember what it's like to be in that building stage, and you're kind of bootstrapping your way through it and figuring things out and all those kinds of things.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason that I say ask someone who is one to two steps ahead of you instead of 15 steps ahead is that these people are usually more accessible than the quote unquote experts in your field.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: These are people who you probably have personal relationships with, who are willing to set up a meeting with you in person or over Zoom or a phone call or something.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: And they're just gonna probably be a lot more available to hop on a call and to talk through your ideas with you, which can be really valuable.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's go to number seven, which is kind of the opposite of the last point.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Number seven is ask an expert via social media or email.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you do need to get an expert opinion on your idea.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where social media can be really, really helpful.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: And likewise, you can do the same thing via email if you have that person's email address, or maybe you're on their email list and you can just, you know, reply to an email that they sent you or something like that.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: That can actually be a really great way to connect with an influencer, and we're going to talk about that on an upcoming episode, in fact.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: But back to social media, most everybody these days is on Twitter or LinkedIn, which are probably the best platforms to get feedback from an influencer or from a leader in your space.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I say probably Facebook, I would rank a little bit lower than that because Facebook tends to be more about personal relationships.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um whereas LinkedIn and Twitter, in my mind, those those are better platforms for engaging on and for engaging someone on more, I guess, like a professional level.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Other people might disagree with that, but that's how I use it, so that's what I'm going to say here.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um and if you feel differently, that's totally cool.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Many times I have sent a quick message to an influencer, and by the way, I hate that word influencer, but that's what I've chosen to use here, and I think you know what I mean.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Many times I've sent a quick message to an influencer on Twitter, and I've gotten a very quick response to a question about something.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing, though, if you want a long-term relationship with highly successful people, don't abuse this privilege.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, don't find somebody and shoot them a message like every single week on Twitter because that'll get annoying really fast.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: I encourage you to be a giver first.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Take the time to develop a relationship with that person.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Take the time to be a giver and to promote their stuff, you know, and to feed into the things that they're doing and that are important to them before you are constantly asking them for something.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the reason why is that those people who are highly successful, they're not really looking for fanboys or fangirls.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: What they're really looking for are people who put their material and their ideas into practice.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: And if you do this process right, you will be amazed at how easy it is to develop a friendship with somebody who is far beyond you.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I've seen it happen in my own life, and I think it's really, really cool.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go to number eight, which is join a group on Facebook or LinkedIn.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Groups can be really helpful because you can have a focused conversation about a topic of common interest.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: But along with the last point about being a giver, don't join a group and then just pummel people with constant questions.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it goes back to relationships.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Be a giver, help other people, follow the golden rule when it comes to relationships in groups or on social media, as well as in real life.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that is where you go in, you answer people's questions, you be a helpful resource, you be a giver and someone who is there to lift up other people, but then also ask questions whenever it feels appropriate.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, one thing that I want to say about groups, in particular Facebook groups, is that I don't recommend starting a group unless you want to maintain and manage the group, which is a lot of work if you do it right.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: I would join an already existing group and try to add value there in addition to asking questions whenever it's appropriate, instead of starting your own group and then trying to get everybody to join your group.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Number nine is take a survey.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: A survey can be a really great way to get feedback.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you have an audience, even if it's a small audience, I recommend doing an annual survey of that group because you can get feedback that you wouldn't be able to get any other way.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: I recently put together a very simple writing survey using SurveyMonkey, which is a free tool where you can put together a survey and send a link to people and they can reply and it's totally anonymous.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's an amazing tool.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: I would use the free version.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: You can pay for it, and you can get a bunch of additional features, of course, but I just use the free version because I like to keep my surveys really, really simple.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this survey was really helpful because I got clear responses from people that were helpful, but they were also really surprising.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: They told me what their needs were, and I wasn't expecting what some of those things were.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'll talk about that on an upcoming episode.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: But the point here is that when you do a survey, you can't argue with the data.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's really helpful because people will give you information in a survey that they would not give you face to face or when they're interacting with you on a personal level.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, one little tip here about surveys is that if you want people to complete the survey, make it convenient for them.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: I recommend doing a short, compact survey if at all possible.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, it all depends on what kind of feedback you're looking for, but all things being equal, I think shorter is better.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Number 10, see if other people are talking about the same topic or issue.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you want feedback on your idea, do a little bit of research to see if other people are talking about that idea on social media or in books or articles or elsewhere.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: And this will give you an idea whether other people are concerned about the same subject or topic.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it also helps you see where the holes are in that topic and what things people are not addressing.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Then finally, number eleven, listen to your gut.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now make no mistake, I do believe in hard data, and I strongly believe in talking to other people in order to get feedback.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: However, I also believe in listening to your instincts.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's really easy to downplay or even to ignore our emotions and our gut.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think journaling is a great way to work out your thoughts and to get your head in a quiet space so that you can listen to that vital inner voice.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to encourage you to go back and listen to episode 126 where I talk about why journaling makes you a better writer.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, here's a little bonus tip on getting feedback.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: I know I said 11 things, uh, but I'm going to give you a little bonus tip here.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: And this is just based out of my own experience of not doing this, so that's why I say we should be doing this.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the tip.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: When you ask for feedback, make sure and listen to it and take it seriously.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Many times, at least this is something I am guilty of, many times we ask for feedback without truly wanting to hear what other people have to say.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: We ask a question to kind of pretend like we're listening to them, but then what we really want is we just want them to validate our ideas and to agree with us.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: So my encouragement to you is don't ask for feedback if you don't want to take it seriously.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got to be totally upfront with you.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: There have been a lot of times in my marriage where I have asked my wife what she thought about something, and but then I didn't like her answer, and so I just, you know, then it results in like this argument that we have where she says, Oh, you didn't really want my feedback, you'd, you know, you're not taking it seriously.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I would get kind of defensive and say, Well, of course I'm taking it seriously.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: I just, you know, I kind of weighed in my mind all the options and everything, and I kind of am bluffing my way through that.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: But the but the honest to God truth is that many times I wasn't listening, and she had good feedback, I was just too stubborn to hear it.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Which kind of begs the question, why are we all asking for feedback if we're not going to follow it?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: So my encouragement to myself, my encouragement to all of us is to listen to feedback and take it seriously.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Take it, uh take it for what it's worth.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean all feedback is great, but it does mean that we do need to listen to contrary points of view.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: We need to listen to ideas that we didn't think of, because the best idea should always win, no matter who it comes from.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you think about a fire, how is a fire created?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: A fire is created from friction.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want the best ideas to rise to the top, if you want to create a fire of curiosity and creativity and this blazing inferno of all the best ideas where great things are happening and we're burning at our full velocity, and my adjectives and analogies are getting way out of hand here.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: You get the point.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: If we want to create a fire, we've got to be willing to withstand the friction.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: We've got to be willing to withstand the friction.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: We've got to be willing to withstand the disagreements and the feedback that we weren't expecting.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that's something I need to work on a lot, and maybe you do as well.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, heck, we're all human.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: None of us probably enjoys conflict, but if we want real good feedback, conflict is naturally going to be a little bit of a part of that process.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: So perhaps before we go asking for feedback from other people, we've got to ask ourselves, do we really want the feedback?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: Are we willing to accept constructive feedback and criticism from others?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: And is the best idea going to win, even if it's not mine?
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, to wrap this up, I want to ask you, which feedback channels do you enjoy?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: What feedback channels did I miss on this episode?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to hear your thoughts.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: You can shoot me a message on Twitter at Kent Sanders or also on Facebook at Kent Sanders.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, I don't mention this on every episode, maybe I should, but you can find lots more resources for writers and creatives at KentSanders.net.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hey, thank you so much for listening.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, remember that your writing has the power to change people's lives.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you in the next episode.