{"id":44595,"date":"2023-10-20T15:37:06","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/how-startup-founders-should-actually-ask-for-help-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:37:06","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:37:06","slug":"how-startup-founders-should-actually-ask-for-help-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/how-startup-founders-should-actually-ask-for-help-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"How startup founders should actually ask for help – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Old<\/div>\n

I get a lot of emails asking me for help. They\u2019re entrepreneurs and creatives who are struggling with their careers, and they want guidance and advice.<\/p>\n

I love offering that to them, and when they come to me and say they need someone to show them a path, I don\u2019t whip out Xero and start billing them.<\/p>\n

I remember what it was like when I was at the start of my career, had no idea what I was doing and felt lost roughly 24\/7. So I do whatever I can to help them out.<\/p>\n

The problem is, a lot of people don\u2019t make that easy for me. When I\u2019m asked for help, and the request is really vague, I have no idea what to do. I\u2019ll receive an email that says, “hey, I want to run my own business, what should I do?”<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s just so much scope, and so many possibilities, and so little information that I don\u2019t know how to respond.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been thinking about the way people ask for help, and how clear it is that when they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re asking for, they won\u2019t know if they\u2019ve heard the right answer.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s incredibly important to think about how you ask for help, the way you phrase it and the questions you\u2019re seeking a response to long before you reach out to someone.<\/p>\n

This is going to apply in almost any situation, it\u2019s definitely not limited just to when you\u2019re talking to me. Any time you want to ask for help, I think you should do it \u2013 but do it right.<\/p>\n

Have up to 3 questions locked and loaded<\/h3>\n

When I ask someone for help, I like to have my top one to three questions already good to go. The top things that I want to learn from whoever I\u2019m reaching out to. I find any more than three is going to blindside someone and make them think twice about responding.<\/p>\n

Additionally, nobody wants to get an email that says, “hey, can I ask you something” – then they have to respond and say, “sure”, and wait for the question, then answer it and get a bunch more.<\/p>\n

I have up to three questions, I make sure the questions are detailed enough that I won\u2019t need to clarify them when I get answers back, and I send through those questions in my first outreach.<\/p>\n

Be detailed and brief<\/h3>\n

Nobody wants to answer a vague, open ended question, or one with so many facets that they have to analyse it over and over again. When I reach out I provide enough information in each question that anyone reading the email in a hurry can blast through their responses as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

I also keep the information in each question to just three bullet points. Let people scan and answer, don\u2019t make them sort through a jumble of confusing sentences to get to a badly worded question at the end.<\/p>\n

For example, I recently wanted some feedback on using Squarespace, so I got in touch with a blogger who I know swears by the platform. What I was really curious about, was whether it\u2019s worth using. But that\u2019s too vague, and it\u2019s not going to get me much more than a response of yeah, obviously it is, because the blogger keeps using it.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s what I asked?<\/p>\n