Some people (including me at one point) are too proud to ask for help. They think success will come if they sit for hours trying to do everything themselves and getting assistance is a sign of weakness. Today, I’d like to squash that theory.
Ask for help. It is one of the smartest moves you can make: getting something done better and faster because you asked someone else to help you make it happen. Even the most legit “experts” are only experts because they asked a lot of people for a lot of help along the way to learn what they learned.
I ask a lot of people for help. When I don’t know how to code something, I gchat Kirill Klimuk. When I have an operations challenge, I call Ryan Durkin. And if I can’t get the P&L statement to look right, I shoot Ed Jaworski an email. If you’re smart, you should compile a list of people like this and ask them for a lot of help. Each time you do, you learn a little bit more and get smarter.
At the same time, you should take every opportunity you can to give help. I talk to Jacob Mulligan about his career options and Phoebe Farber about how much forming an LLC should cost. Do this – and do it a lot. The more people you help, the smarter they become and the smarter you become from teaching.