Ask For Help

By Larry Hochman
Posted Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Asking for help is how you move your home business forward. It's also how you help others move their businesses forward! This one's a little complicated, so stick with me.

One of the options we have in our Work from Home business program is to call people who have left their telephone number on our work from home website. We only call the ones who are serious enough to leave a phone number. I don't like telemarketing (although I have great respect for telemarketers).

What I like to do with people who've joined our group and want to build their business this way is to let them listen in on calls we do. I let them listen to me explain the home business program by reading an outline to the prospective builder, who then says yes or no to purchasing a refundable Work From Home information package.

For many people the idea of doing these calls is a very uncomfortable proposition. I do them with some of my leads so they can let me hear how it's done.

The fact is, it's very easy to do. Anyone who can read can do the call. The difficulty is in the discomfort of possibly being yelled at by the person whom your calling.

I understand it completely. And the truth is, about ten percent of the people we contact actually go ahead and purchase the package.

Now here's the funny thing...I've noticed that people who listen in to me doing these calls seem to feel just as good when I have an unsuccessful call as when someone goes ahead and orders the package.

Success is great and wonderful and exciting and profitable.

Failure is comforting. When you listen to someone hit bottom on one of these calls and realize they're still standing and just fine, it's very reassuring. You begin to learn that when you put information out to people, they're not making a judgement about you.

Our system works wonderfully, and ten percent from calls such as these is an extremely high success rate in direct marketing. We've made a lot of money from doing these calls, and have developed some very good friends along the way.

What's important to the new person...they realize it's OK to be uncomfortable when trying something new. There's honor in the struggle, in the discomfort. There's humor in the crashing and burning.

And there's lots of celebration in the success.

Now, let's talk about YOU.

Do you see any similarities in your own life in this little scenario? When you attempt new projects or new behaviors, are you paralyzed by fear?

Are you worried people are going to laugh at you?

Are you worried you're going to lose your status in the pecking order?

Who do you have for mentors and role models? Who is there to show you the way?

Whatever it is you're trying, there's always someone who's trying the same thing. You're both terrified, and probably standing right next to each other, wishing for company.

My buddy Eileen, who lost 130 pounds and got her life back was helping me do a training call for my group and had them write down three very important words:

ASK

FOR

HELP.

She's absolutely right. It's a sign of strength and it's the height of relief to hear someone besides you fail at a task you intend to do.

Ask for help. From your family. From your mentors. From your coworkers. From God, however you perceive him/her/it.

About the Author
Larry and Diane Hochman operate New You Marketing, a successful home business training and development program, in addition to their own home business from their residence in Bristol Connecticut. To receive Larry's FREE on-line four week home business development course, send a blank email to HomeBizMiniCourse@infogeneratorpro.com To subscribe to The Next Wave, Larry's free newsletter about home business development, email to: TheNextWave@infogeneratorpro.com