Grow Your Business and Career by Asking for Help - مجله خبری کنترل کیفیت

The flip side of all this is when someone asks something of you, don’t reply with the pat “no.” It’s an easy answer to give. It obligates you to nothing. Unfortunately, not only have you reinforced a fear of rejection in someone who summoned the courage to ask you for help, but you’ve damaged your personal brand (word gets around). You’ve probably missed out on some cool opportunities. Graciously consider the request and, if you’re able, help out or offer alternative assistance. One day you will probably be on the other side of the request, and you’ll want the same.

The result of such behavior was I probably got off to a slower start than I should have. I missed a few opportunities. I probably blew a couple of deals. And for what? So I wouldn’t hear “no” or so I wouldn’t be uncomfortable “imposing” on someone. Stupid, huh? Sometimes we’re our own biggest impediments to our own success.

It’s hard asking for help. Getting rejected stings. But by not asking, you’re probably missing out on some great opportunities.

Net net, both audiences win, as did Ed and I because I wasn’t afraid to ask for help.

He was interested in what people had to say, and he seemed very willing to help someone out if he was able. One day while I sat thinking about new blog topics, I had this brain fart of “I should ask Keith if he’d write a guest blog.” Then that rejection fear kicked in, and I almost stopped myself in that self-defeating way. “Nah. He’s probably too busy writing his next bestseller or giving a keynote speech somewhere important. There’s no point in asking him because he’ll have to politely decline or, even worse, he just won’t respond to the request.”

Did you catch this guest post by Joseph Michelli? Read it here. Again… busy guy, bestselling author. Again, fear. I asked anyway. He said yes, and it became a great opportunity for both of us. He gets to promote his writing and his books, The Starbucks Experience (McGraw Hill, 2006) and The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company (McGraw Hill Education, 2008). I’m even quoted in the latter book, and I get to expose his readers and fans to my blog and my business. We’ve both benefited from me overcoming that silly little rejection-protection monkey on my back.

However, someone has to pay for this content. And that’s where advertising comes in. Most people consider ads a nuisance, but they do serve a useful function besides allowing media companies to stay afloat. They keep you aware of new products and services relevant to your industry. All ads in Quality Digest apply directly to products and services that most of our readers need. You won’t see automobile or health supplement ads.

Published Nov. 22, 2023, in The thoughtLEADERS Brief on LinkedIn.

“Sure! Why don’t you write one for my blog while you’re at it?” (You can get to my post by clicking here).

Not only did I get what I asked for, I got a whole lot more—I got a guest post and became linked to his very successful blog. New opportunities to help him also popped up. (I’ve been adding to his newly launched Keith Ferrazzi Community and wrote a guest post for his blog.) That one request has blossomed into cool content for my readers and stronger links between my business and his. And to think I almost didn’t send it because I was afraid of “no.”

I’m sure you also caught Ed Ruggero’s guest post here as well. Another exceedingly busy author, businessman, leader, and public speaker. The conversation went:

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I finally decided “Why not?” and realized the worst thing that could happen would be someone would say no. I wouldn’t die or be maimed, and my psychologist said I was past all my childhood rejection fears (well… mostly past them). You know where this story goes, right?

However, although request avoidance as a mechanism for pain avoidance is wholly appropriate as a skinny, pimply teenager, it can destroy business opportunities as an adult. As I was launching thoughtLEADERS LLC, I had this fear of asking people for favors or help. Why? I don’t exactly know. It was a combination of not wanting to impose upon them and not wanting to hear “no” or be rejected.

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Quality Digest

منبع: https://www.qualitydigest.com/inside/management-article/grow-your-business-and-career-asking-help-121823.html

Grow Your Business and Career by Asking for Help

You’ll perform better and achieve more if you do

I hope you’ve heard of a very talented guy named Keith Ferrazzi. He’s a busy guy—very busy. Bestselling author of Never Eat Alone (Crown Business, 2005) and Who’s Got Your Back (Currency, 2009). Huge keynote speaker. I met him at a conference once, and he was a genuinely magnanimous person.

I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up I was a little bit of a dork. OK, OK… a huge dork. I sold comic books (and incidentally made 100 times what my contemporaries made in allowance, but that didn’t stop them from teasing me). I weighed 98 pounds and my nose was 11 of it.

“So what?” you say? “So you didn’t ask for help. No big deal, right?” Wrong. Credit: Maksym Tymchyk on Unsplash

What came along with this dorkiness (aside from therapy bills I still pay today) was a fear of rejection. If you ask out enough girls and get laughed at enough times, you become conditioned to not asking for things in the purest form of Pavlovian conditioning a young man can endure.