The Joy of Asking (Why Simply Asking is Often the Hardest — and the Most Profitable — thing to do)

You’ve got a problem you’re looking to resolve.

It might be a problem with your book. With your business. With some aspect of your life in general.

And you sit on it.

You don’t reach out to anyone for help, because you’re afraid.

• You’re afraid it’ll make you look like you don’t have all the answers (spoiler alert: you don’t. Nobody does).
• You’re afraid that the people you ask will be offended or annoyed with you for asking.
• You’re afraid that people may in fact agree to help you out, but that the answer you get back is not the one you hoped for.

In every case, you’re ultimately afraid of being diminished in some way.

But here’s the thing: sitting on your problem is way more damaging to your prospects than simply telling the world about it, and opening yourself up to the wonders that flow when you do.

A case in point…

Publishing in Public

Yesterday I posted an article revealing that I’m writing a book.

This book is being written specifically for a very defined audience. That is people who want to:

• publish a non-fiction book
• as an existing or aspiring authority figure in their field
• without wasting any time (because they’re busy)
• using proven methods and frameworks.

I call these people Premium Business Authors — a category we’ve defined within our business to be our key audience moving forward. These are the people we’re built to help, and I’ll talk more about the concept of the Premium Business Author in the coming days.

I could have settled down with my laptop and written the book over the coming months. I’ve been in this game a long time, helped a lot of people to publish their books. Surely I have all the answers after 14 years, right?

Otherwise: how am I qualified to write the book in the first place?

And here we meet the crux of the issue.

Because there’s an assumption among consumers of content that people who teach do so because they’re recognised as experts.

Not true.

People are usually recognised as experts because they teach.

It’s the very act of teaching that qualifies you — if you’re not a charlatan, of course, which I’m going to assume you’re not. You’ve built a catalogue of knowledge in your head. And the act of systematising that knowledge in a sufficiently accessible form to be teachable clarifies your thinking and gives value to what you know.

One of the things that so often holds people back from publishing any kind of content about their particular area of expertise, is that they’re so close to their knowledge they suffer from two dangerous mind blocks:

1. An assumption that this knowledge is commonplace or not useful, because that knowledge comes so naturally to them.
2. A misunderstanding of exactly what parts of their knowledge are actually useful to the outside world. Because when you have a lot of experience in a subject, you can become too far removed from the steps that the rest of the world need explaining.

All of which is exactly why I reached out yesterday to ask people if they’d kindly lend me a little of their time to make my book the best it can be.

Was I worried about the response? Of course I was.

Did I do it anyway? Yeah, I forced myself to.

Was it worthwhile? Hell yes it was!

As a result of that single article, I already have the makings of a group of people who can give me their perspectives on what would actually be useful content for them were they to write a book themselves.

Without that…what’s the point in writing the book at all beyond an exercise in vanity?

Because when you write a book, you’re writing it for your audience and what they need. Not for yourself, or what you think your audience needs.

Had I not asked that question, today I’d be a team of people poorer and a whole lot greater in the solitude of that single greatest problem that sends shivers through every writer: But what should I write about?

I’ve connected with people who have unique perspectives and who will doubtless identify both areas that require greater focus, and topics that are less useful than I assumed.

I have an idea what the book will become. I have an idea about its outline and the route it will take. But it’s far better for those ideas to hit reality now than when I’ve already written the book.

(You can read Write Useful Books by the excellent Rob Fitzpatrick if you want more on this).

I’m hugely grateful to those who already reached out. If you’ve not yet done so, feel free to pop over to the original article if you think you might be interested in joining the team, too.

But above all else, if you’re wrestling with a question right now…ask people about it.

Fell the magic flow.

You’ll be amazed by the opportunities that open up.