--- title: 5 Characteristics of an Effective Small Business Advisor description: Canadian small business owners are wise to engage effective advisors, like InHouseCFO, to assist them in doing the things that need to be done. image: https://www.inhousecfo.com/hs-fs/file-709108798-jpg/images/professional-resized-600.jpg --- [Home](https://www.inhousecfo.com/) [Contact Us](https://www.inhousecfo.com/contact/contact-us/) [Blog](https://inhousecfo.hs-sites.com/blog) [![InHouseCFO logo](https://www.inhousecfo.com/hubfs/inhousecfo/inhousecfo_logo1.jpg)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/) ![inhousecfo](https://www.inhousecfo.com/hubfs/inhousecfo/header-images.jpg) - [Home](https://www.inhousecfo.com) - [About Us](https://www.inhousecfo.com/about-us/our-people) - [Our People](https://www.inhousecfo.com/about-us/our-people) - [Philosophy](https://www.inhousecfo.com/about-us/philosophy) - [History](https://www.inhousecfo.com/about-us/history) - [Future](https://www.inhousecfo.com/about-us/future) - [Our Services](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-services) - [Special Projects](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-services/special-projects) - [CFO for Canadian SMB's](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-services/business-oversight) - [Risk Management & Insurance](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-services/risk-management---insurance) - [Investment](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-services/investment) - [Planning](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-services/planning) - [Our Solutions](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-solutions/overview/) - [Overview](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-solutions/overview) - [Small Business Software](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-solutions/information-systems) - [Accounting solutions](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-solutions/information-systems/online-accounting-software-for-small-businesses-in-Canada) - [Marketing Software](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-solutions/information-systems/marketing-software-for-Canadian-SMB) - [CRM Software](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-solutions/information-systems/crm-software-for-SMBs-in-Canada) - [Investment](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-solutions/investment) - [Insurance](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-solutions/insurance) - [Structural](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-solutions/structural) - [Banking](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-solutions/banking) - [Pricing](https://www.inhousecfo.com/pricing-for-services) - [Blog](https://inhousecfo.hs-sites.com/blog) - [Contact](https://www.inhousecfo.com/contact/contact-us/) - [Locations, how to reach us](https://www.inhousecfo.com/contact/contact-us) - [I'm interested, let's talk](https://www.inhousecfo.com/contact/why-did-you-visit-us-) - [Partner Sites](https://www.inhousecfo.com/contact/partner-sites) # InHouseCFO's Small Business Blog ## 5 Characteristics of an Effective Small Business Advisor Posted by [Donald Cameron](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/author/donald-cameron) on Thu, May 01, 2014 - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) As a small business owner, in addition to a part time small business CFO, it's wise to engage advisors to assist you in doing the things that need to be done and you're not that good at doing.The nice thing is that there are plenty of advisors out there.![Canadian small business advisor](https://www.inhousecfo.com/hs-fs/file-709108798-jpg/images/professional-resized-600.jpg?width=400&height=300&name=professional-resized-600.jpg) How do you find the ones which will deliver the most value? We have found that the good ones all possess 5 common characteristics: ### Experience: This is the most obvious one. Without experience, advice can be useless and outright dangerous. ### Opinions Good advisors have opinions and are not afraid to share them. As with experience, it's important that these opinions draw from knowledge that is sufficient for these opinions to make sense. ### Willing to Listen, but... There's a big difference between having opinions and being opinionated. One is a skill, the other is a fault. A good advisor will always listen to anyone, using that information to form, adjust, enhance, and ratify their own opinions. ### Will (Politely) Disagree You don't want an advisor who "sways with the breeze". If, after listening to everyone else's views (including yours) , an effective advisor will stand by their point of view and, if necessary agree to disagree. ### Accuracy of Predictions Lastly, and second most importantly behind experience, the best advisors have shown time and again a very high accuracy rate for the ultimate outcome of the topics behind their opinions. Being open-minded and aware of one's own shortcomings are important traits of a successful small business owner. Finding advisors with similar beliefs and principles who also have the above 5 characteristics can pave the way to increased results.                                    [![Download The InHouseCFO Small Business Financial Review Checklist](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/282492/b106424b-a3ac-419d-9c3c-5197c3fcd4f7.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/282492/b106424b-a3ac-419d-9c3c-5197c3fcd4f7) Tags: [Picking a Professional](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/topic/picking-a-professional) ### Subscribe by Email ### Latest Posts ### Browse by Tag - [Big Data (2)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/topic/big-data) - [Budgeting (2)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/topic/budgeting) - [Business Intelligence (5)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/topic/business-intelligence) - [Business Processes (3)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/topic/business-processes) - [Business Reading (1)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/topic/business-reading) - [CFO for small business (8)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/topic/cfo-for-small-business) - [Cloud Reporting (7)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/topic/cloud-reporting) - [Investments (2)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/topic/investments) - [KPI (2)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/topic/kpi) - [Marketing (2)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/topic/marketing) - [Picking a Professional (9)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/topic/picking-a-professional) - [Remote Working (1)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/topic/remote-working) - [Sales (3)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/topic/sales) - [SMB Systems (8)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/topic/smb-systems) - [Tax Planning (1)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/topic/tax-planning) ### Follow Us ### Posts by Month - [May 2020 (1)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2020/05) - [September 2014 (1)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2014/09) - [May 2014 (2)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2014/05) - [March 2014 (1)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2014/03) - [February 2014 (1)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2014/02) - [January 2014 (2)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2014/01) - [December 2013 (1)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2013/12) - [November 2013 (3)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2013/11) - [October 2013 (1)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2013/10) - [September 2013 (3)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2013/09) - [August 2013 (3)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2013/08) - [July 2013 (3)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2013/07) - [June 2013 (2)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2013/06) - [May 2013 (2)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2013/05) - [April 2013 (5)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2013/04) - [January 2013 (1)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2013/01) - [September 2012 (1)](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/archive/2012/09) - [Home](https://www.inhousecfo.com/) - [About Us](https://www.inhousecfo.com/about-us/our-people) - [Our Services](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-services/) - [Our Solutions](https://www.inhousecfo.com/our-solutions/overview/) - [Pricing](https://www.inhousecfo.com/pricing-for-services/) - [Blog](https://www.inhousecfo.com/blog/) - [Contact](https://www.inhousecfo.com/contact/contact-us/) © 2015 InHouseCFO