All you have to do is ask.
People say that every day.
But you ask and it doesn’t work. Why is that?

I remember when I wanted to learn how to set up an ebook, I asked and asked and asked. You might think with the group of friends and connections that I have i might have been able to find one, two, or twenty, who already had dome something like that. In fact, I did.

And I asked.

But what happened next … became 6 of the most frustrating weeks of my life.

The 7 or 8 people I asked all told me the same things …. things like

1. what a great idea
2. it’s easy to do
3. I can show you how to do that in less than 20 minutes.

Then they talked about random things for over an hour and still never showed me how.

I’d see them on Twitter and say hello. We’d chat. We’d update each other on progress. I’d mention that I’d still not figured out my way through the ebook maze. And again I’d hear something like

1. what a great idea
2. it’s easy to do
3. I can show you how to do that in less than 20 minutes

But they never did.

All you have to do is ask.
It’s more complicated than that. What I’ve learned since then is that

1. people like to help people who help themselves first.
2. when you help yourself first your questions are specific and answering them doesn’t feel like work
3. helping someone is even more meaningful when it moves our own cause forward too.

Now, before I ask, I learn all that I can learn on my own — read all my friends and connections have written about what I’m trying to figure out. Then when I still have question I can start with

I’ve read your blog and there’s one part of this process I don’t understand. Could you help me with it? You might get an idea for a new blog post out of it. I might even offer to write that blog post in return for the advice that I’m getting.

It’s always more attractive to help someone who has started by helping herself.

Be irresistible. Help yourself first and show how helping you will move them forward too.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!