One of the short-comings of working as solo entrepreneurs or as small business owners is that because we spend so much time working on our businesses alone, we appear to have glossed over the fact that there is often a simpler approach to receiving the things we need for our lives and business. Due to limited cash flows and lack of extra support at times, we personally handle every task in our offices and are ruthlessly commitment to the mantra, “I’ll do it myself”. However, this takes a toll on our ability to refocus, and sometimes, in order to receive the outcome we are looking for, our focus and actions need to be shifted to allow others to help us.
A few days ago, I was out with some friends and I was reminded of one of the biggest secrets to receiving those things you want in life and business. And, this is not so much of a secret really, as it was a reminder. To get what you want, you must ASK for it. Now hear me out, this is not meant to be cheeky. I know you know this but, I guarantee if you are like me, sometimes we forget how much power there is in Asking—especially for the really big stuff. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not afraid to ask for those little things I need help with, but, it’s the bigger items that I stumble over at times because I forget to ask for those things, too.
The power of asking was brought back into my awareness by recently watching my friend just effortlessly ask for something very large, very specific, and very last minute. This person pulled out their phone, quickly dialled an acquaintance they thought might be able to assist them, and asked for the favoured request. Again, this is not rocket science, but the favoured item they were looking for was not some small gesture either.
However, my lesson did not stop there. What struck me most was what happened when the conversation had ended and the person on the phone was not able to yield the response hoped for. My friend let go of that outcome and went into action thinking of another way they could find what they wanted—without feeling the least bit slighted by the fact they did not receive the favoured item they were wanting. So, after the first unsuccessful try, they just moved on to the next idea of who might have what they wanted and went into action, once again, to ask for it. Eventually, and with no more effort from the initial start, they successfully found what they wanted.
From this experience, I came away with some take-away points which I can see TRAP entrepreneurs around the idea of ASKING for the help we may need to assist us in growing our businesses—especially the bigger things.
- We DO NOT ASK enough for help in our business and lives for big or little items which could substantially move us into action faster.
- We UNDER ESTIMATE that people are genuinely willing to help us be successful—if only we would ask them for what we need.
- We ASSUME that we know HOW the things we want will come to us and WHO will or will not help.
- If our request does not appear the first time, we “mistakenly” LET GO of the idea instead of moving on to the next person or option.
- If someone can’t help us, initially, we FORGET to ask them “Who do you know that could help me then?”
- If someone was unable to help us with that ‘item or project’, we tend to AVOID ever asking them again—when in fact they may hold the key to another request.
- The WORTH of the request in UNDER VALUED by our own beliefs in the request itself or within our selves.
