42 | No One Succeeds Alone: The Art of Asking for Help

Ever felt like you're shouldering the world's weight all by yourself? You're not alone. In today's upbeat episode of the Annoyingly Optimistic Show, we kick off our fresh new season with a hard-hitting truth: it's okay to ask for help. Through a heartfelt voicemail left for my friend Tim, who's been having a tough time running his small business, we explore how reaching out to others can be the ultimate game-changer. I even share my own lightbulb moment when I finally decided to contact an old acquaintance, saving me hours of frustration and dead-ends. Get ready to discover why letting go of pride and tapping into the wisdom of others can turn your struggles into triumphs.

Expect a mix of inspiration and practical advice as we break down the barriers that stop us from seeking assistance. If you're feeling stuck, this episode is your friendly nudge to remember that you don't have to go it alone. Whether it's competitors, experts, or just someone who's been there, there are people out there willing to offer a helping hand. Tune in to hear why seasoned professionals are often eager to share their hard-earned insights and learn how to spot the genuine helpers from those who hold back. Let's turn Tim's rough patch—and maybe your own—into a stepping stone for success.

If you are self-employed or run a small business and feel more like you're self-annoyed then get in touch, visit the website www.theannoyinglyoptimisticshow.com where you can submit a question or problem and start your journey to becoming self-enjoyed! 

The majority of 'business advice' out there isn't aimed at self-employed or micro businesses, following it leaves you frustrated and chasing quick fixes. I specialise in tools, systems, techniques, inspiration and help specifically designed for YOU, the person who has to do it all, who doesn't have a team of people, unlimited resources or the time to spend months learning complicated techniques. 

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

Hey there, listeners, it's your annoyingly optimistic host here bringing you another season of the Annoyingly Optimistic Show. Welcome to Season 2, voicemails to Tim. Now let's meet Tim. He's been running his own small business for almost three years now and let's just say he's hit a bit of a rough patch. You know how it is Sometimes you get so stuck, you make yourself busy and just avoid finding the real problems. Well, that's Tim. So, as a good friend, I decide to leave him a daily voicemail, if I can't get hold of him, filled with nuggets of inspiration, insight and wisdom and downright brilliant ideas to help get him unstuck Every day. In just under 10 minutes, I'll share some tips, tricks and a healthy dose of optimism to get Tim, and maybe even you, back on track, because, let's face it, we're all a little tired, in need of help and muddling through. So here we go. Oh wait, never mind Tim's being busy. Here's the voicemail I left him today. Hi, tim, have you had a good break? I hope you can catch up soon.

Speaker 1 0:59

This is one that it struck me because I was on the receiving end of my own advice or at least I would have been with what I'm about to say to you, and it kind of struck me that, yeah, we don't do this enough and it's ask for help. It sounds silly and I know. You know I'm sending you these voicemails and kind of firing little bits at you and kind of encouraging you to send me back questions and things like that which you're doing, which is great, so I'm kind of forcing you to kind of do this. But before we kind of started this and say it came to me the other day we don't ask for help enough. You know we get in our own way, we let pride get in the way. We assume that we have to do everything on our own, that we have to find the knowledge. We have to fight and battle and earn it, because that's what we're here for and it's just not the case.

Speaker 1 1:54

You know there are experts in their fields, people that have built up knowledge and experience and love what they do, which can be competitors. It can be, you know, anybody. When you get to a level that you're really, really good at something, you will happily share that experience and knowledge with others, because you know it's taking you a long time to build up and all the rest of it. The ego kind of gets out of your way, when you ask the right people, you can tell those right people. Because if you ask them a question, ask for their help, ask how they've achieved something, if they become very cagey, then they're not quite at that kind of mastery or expertise level. If they're kind of well, happily, you know, talk behind their foot, leg off a donkey, at that point, then it means they've reached that level of experience and knowledge that they're more than happy to to share that. And you see this time and time again in people that have written books and people that have achieved a lot.

Speaker 1 2:52

That, um, and there was there was one the other day that he used to respond to every email he got in, people asking kind of, how did you get to where you wanted to be, and things like that, and he would literally give them a kind of like step by step and realize that people wanted the shortcut, they didn't want the long step by step. So he stopped actually sharing that knowledge just because it's like there's no point me telling you how I got here or how I achieved these things, because you're not going to do it anyway, which is there's a little bit of cynicism there, but that was after years and years and years of responding. But, yeah, asking for help. And you know I say that I was stuck on something particular and I'd been down some rabbit holes and all the rest of it, and it just popped into the head that there was a guy that I hadn't spoke to in a little while. I thought I'm sure he used to do this, and so I reached out to him just on email and he came back and we've had a quick chat and he saved me hours and hours and hours and hours.

Speaker 1 3:50

You know, just by asking for help, swallowing that pride and kind of putting your hand up and going this is something that I'm not the best at, that I don't have all the answers, that I could do with knowing more, and so I'm going to find some help, and you know this can be looking for a course, this can be reaching out to people. You know it can take a wide range, but you know it's finding someone that's going to give you the answer. Now, I wouldn't necessarily put, although you can do this, you know, things like YouTube, podcasts, things like that, as that you're much better talking directly to the person, because the information that people put out on things like that will be great nuggets of information, but you've got no two way you can't ask them questions, dive in deeper. You can't take a particular thing that they said and expand in that, because that's the area that you wanted, and that's why it's far better to speak to, to another person, someone that's achieved these things or, you know, done something that you want to emulate and and just kind of reach out to them. And, and some of the you know, the best of these can come from seemingly competitors, seemingly people in in completely different fields, but they're people that have, you know, a chunk of knowledge or something that you wish you could do better, and just ask them and say the best people will turn around and give you 500 times more help than you thought was possible or you thought you were asking for, and that's the people you want to find, and it's just ask. The worst they're going to say is no, the worst they're going to say and this is where ego comes in because you go well, I don't want them to know that I'm not very good at that and it's like, well, why, you know what's the danger in them knowing that. Does it give them some amazing advantage or hold over you, or are they going to have forgotten. They've even had the conversation two days ago to remember that you don't know about X Y, z, to remember that you don't know about xyz. You know. And so don't let that pride, don't let that ego get in the way. Ask for help, receive that help, share that, that knowledge that you get, if necessary, and and keep asking for help because you know very few and I touched upon it the other week very few of the most successful people work entirely on their own.

Speaker 1 6:09

You know they will have people around them. They will have mentors, they will have coaches, they will have contemporaries, they will have other people that they talk to in different fields or the same fields, and they will learn from each other and bounce ideas off each other. They will ask for help. You know, and that's a very, very healthy thing. We can get into this ego-driven mindset that we have to be an island, we have to achieve. If we can't achieve it off our you know, off our own back and off our own knowledge, then the achievement isn't worthwhile. You know, the journey is the achievement. So using you know, helping someone, you know, give you a more efficient paddle on that. We went from an island to a boat, but just go with this um, you know, to help you go faster and on that journey, then that's better, you know. So it's.

Speaker 1 6:58

It's ask for help. You know, when you're stuck, ask for help if you don't know something. Ask for help because that will push you further forward, faster, in a better way, in a more shortcut way, because, as I said the other week with the curse of knowledge, if you get the right person and ask that, you will actually help them combat curse of knowledge because they will realize they understand something in order to tell you about it. They will come better at doing it by explaining it to you and you're getting the benefit of the shortened version of that, with years and years worth of experience condensed down to give you the answer that you know to the question that you want. So ask for help. Put ego aside and ask for help when you're stuck because you'll never regret it. So again, just to based on a personal little thing that happened to me and I thought got to share that with Tim. So I hope that helps and I shall speak to you soon.

Speaker 1 7:53

Cheers Tim, bye, and that's it for today's episode of Voicemails to Tim on the Annoyingly Optimistic Show Now. Remember, tim might be busy, but we're all in this together. Whether you're tired, in need of help or just muddling through, tim is here for you because, well, tim is you. Yes, you heard that right. Tim isn't just my friend, he's a reflection of all of us who are struggling to make it work. T-i-m stands for tired, in need of help and muddling through. So if you're feeling like a Tim, you're not alone. For all those ambitious listeners, if you've got a burning business question, a quirky thought or just want to see if you can leave an even weirder voicemail, head over to the website voicemailstotimcom, submit your question and maybe, just maybe, you'll hear your idea in a future voicemail to Tim. So until then, stay annoyingly optimistic, keep pushing forward and remember if life gives you lemons, leave a voicemail about it.