Ever had one of those days when your decision to be an entrepreneur seems like a mistake? Do you ask for help? It can be tricky, especially if you are a solopreneur. Everything seems to have gone belly up and you are soldiering on trying to ignore the feelings of doom and gloom. To quote a well-known phrase, “no man/woman is an island”.
Build a network and ask for help
If you are just starting out I cannot stress the importance of building a network of support. Those early days of a business can be terrifying. If you are an established business going through change you may need to extend your network to include new skills and different contacts to help manage that change.
Nobody is good at everything. My area of expertise is finance and change disruption. I was reluctant at first to tackle marketing, so I enlisted experts. I found social media at best irritating, at worst overwhelming. That was until I understood that I didn’t have to be EVERYWHERE, just where my potential clients were. My marketing expertise is growing because I found experts who were willing to educate me as I went through the process.
Sometimes you need to ask for help on a personal level
You may be awesome at your job, but you are only human. Life can derail the best of us and that is when we need to ask for help. If you have others depending on you, don’t struggle on regardless, it could jeopardise their wellbeing. Ask for help and admit that, today, you are not handling things well. You would be amazed at how people step up when you ask and may even find an employee who could share the load in some areas. When you ask for help you often empower others and get to see the best of them.
I am reminded of several friends who used to joke that their partners would never ask for directions, preferring, instead, to get hopelessly lost. I wonder if that is the case nowadays with Sat Nav? If you are unsure of the direction your business should be going and it is giving you sleepless nights, then get some guidance.
Ask for help to get back on the right track
The UK and the USA have a huge variety of business networks, advice centres, professional associations and consultants out there all whose sole purpose is support and help. It is arrogance to think you can do everything. As an entrepreneur, solopreneur, business leader, whatever your position; you are not the fount of all knowledge.
Great business consists of great teams and your teams’ expertise is there to be used. Great business makes connections and knows where to ask for help.
Great business leaders have friends and colleagues who willingly offer support and who are happy to help. So, if today is not a great day, reach out, ask for help, share the load. Tomorrow will be better.