The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

April 26Ask for Help

We must not contend against love, or deny the substantial existence of other people. I know not what would happen to us. We have social strengths. Our affection towards others creates a sort of vantage or purchase which nothing will supply. I can do that by another which I cannot do alone. I can say to you what I cannot first say to myself. Other people are lenses through which we read our own minds.

Ralph Waldo Emerson—“Uses of Great Men” (1849)

It's easy to take all this self-reliance business to mean going it alone, singularly braced against the wind and cold as you trudge through the night. Kind of dramatic sounding, isn't it?

Well, that's not it at all. The success of any entrepreneurial journey relies on providing value to someone. That would seem like a hard thing to do if you simultaneously “deny the substantial existence of other people.”

As you've likely already discovered that self-reliance requires substantial self-awareness and that no matter how often we turn inward, we require the reflection and interaction of others to help gauge where we are.

Simply put, you need the help of others to succeed and you should actively seek it. Remember the goal in all of this isn't to protect your ego; it's to allow you to serve your purpose.

If you refuse help and try to go it alone, you'll learn very little about those you hope to serve and even less about yourself. In the most practical business terms, asking for help is customer discovery—the practice ...