diff --git a/pkg/odo/cli/deploy/deploy.go b/pkg/odo/cli/deploy/deploy.go
index 89753c9d61b..8ad6d84872f 100644
--- a/pkg/odo/cli/deploy/deploy.go
+++ b/pkg/odo/cli/deploy/deploy.go
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ func (o *DeployOptions) Complete(cmdline cmdline.Cmdline, args []string) (err er
 		return err
 	}
 	if isEmptyDir {
-		return errors.New("this command cannot run in an empty directory, you need to run it in a directory containing source code")
+		return errors.New("This command cannot run in an empty directory. Run the command in a directory containing source code.\nIf you wish to initialize a new project with sample source code, use 'odo init'.")
 	}
 
 	initFlags := o.clientset.InitClient.GetFlags(cmdline.GetFlags())
diff --git a/pkg/odo/cli/dev/dev.go b/pkg/odo/cli/dev/dev.go
index 5de1427cff4..5d2abc94b11 100644
--- a/pkg/odo/cli/dev/dev.go
+++ b/pkg/odo/cli/dev/dev.go
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ func (o *DevOptions) Complete(cmdline cmdline.Cmdline, args []string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 	if isEmptyDir {
-		return errors.New("this command cannot run in an empty directory, you need to run it in a directory containing source code")
+		return errors.New("This command cannot run in an empty directory. Run the command in a directory containing source code.\nIf you wish to initialize a new project with sample source code, use 'odo init'.")
 	}
 	initFlags := o.clientset.InitClient.GetFlags(cmdline.GetFlags())
 	err = o.clientset.InitClient.InitDevfile(initFlags, o.contextDir,
diff --git a/tests/integration/devfile/cmd_dev_test.go b/tests/integration/devfile/cmd_dev_test.go
index 9a640564a16..d3083d311f1 100644
--- a/tests/integration/devfile/cmd_dev_test.go
+++ b/tests/integration/devfile/cmd_dev_test.go
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ var _ = Describe("odo dev command tests", func() {
 
 		It("should error", func() {
 			output := helper.Cmd("odo", "dev").ShouldFail().Err()
-			Expect(output).To(ContainSubstring("this command cannot run in an empty directory"))
+			Expect(output).To(ContainSubstring("This command cannot run in an empty directory"))
 
 		})
 	})
diff --git a/tests/integration/devfile/cmd_devfile_deploy_test.go b/tests/integration/devfile/cmd_devfile_deploy_test.go
index d2fef1e61a9..9d5ac9ae0e4 100644
--- a/tests/integration/devfile/cmd_devfile_deploy_test.go
+++ b/tests/integration/devfile/cmd_devfile_deploy_test.go
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ var _ = Describe("odo devfile deploy command tests", func() {
 
 		It("should error", func() {
 			output := helper.Cmd("odo", "deploy").ShouldFail().Err()
-			Expect(output).To(ContainSubstring("this command cannot run in an empty directory"))
+			Expect(output).To(ContainSubstring("This command cannot run in an empty directory"))
 
 		})
 	})