Yes to Me

(Photo by Mr. Greenjeans)

Asking for what I want – politely and clearly

I think there is a huge myth about asking. That asking is not appropriate, or even rude. I think that is a very self-righteous way of thinking. If you don’t want to help others, of course you’d feel bad when you have to ask for help, so you rationalize that asking for help is bad. The truth, however, is we are all connected and inter-dependent. I can’t be an isolated island, nor do I wish to be.

I like helping people, and I get a lot of help from people. The people who help me out are not necessarily the people I helped. Reciprocity is a fair idea, but there are more to life than strict reciprocity.

Really, this blog, Yes to Me, is based on this idea of helping one another. Why do you think busy business owners like Laura Bennett, Tony Lawrence, and Naomi Dunford spared time to do interview with me? (I just named the last three guests – to see the list of all interviews, please check here) Because I asked, and they felt for the idea of “Entrepreneurs helping aspiring entrepreneurs”

Everyone can benefit from the art of asking, but especially for entrepreneurs, this is a critical skill. Even if you are self-employed, your business relies on a lot of people – your business outsources, strategic partners, suppliers and venders. . . So learn how to ask – politely and clearly.

I asked Guy Kawasaki to add Yes to Me

Yes to Me has been on Alltop in Life section for a few months now. But this is a blog of “Life Purpose, Entrepreneurship, and Spiritual Growth” so I emailed him to please add Yes to Me in Entrepreneurship section as well. He responded immediately. Nice guy (He is cute, too, by the way. Check this out.) We even had a few additional email exchanges about how to improve Alltop.

Thank you, Guy. Thank you, all my readers and fellow bloggers.

And if you know successful entrepreneurs who want to be interviewed, please let me know. (Please check this post about my definition of “successful entrepreneur”) I also ask you to please support this blog and the Interview With Successful Entrepreneurs series by talking about it in your blog and in social media. Thank you!

Business ideas? What business ideas?

Some of you may be wondering why I don’t discuss business ideas. Isn’t this an entrepreneurship blog, and don’t all entrepreneurship blogs talk about business ideas?

Because ideas come from within. An excellent business idea for me may not work for you, and vice versa. So one of the best advice I can give you is to see what you call “problems” with entrepreneur’s eyes. You can build a business for the problem of “big vet bill”, for instance. Check the aforementioned interviews to see what specific problem each entrepreneur is solving.

The problem can be your own. Cath Lawson just wrote a great post about this. Maybe I can add yet another line of service – there must be plenty of things I suck at, both ones I know and I don’t – and now I’m encouraged to turn them into business. Thank you, Cath.

The Law of Attraction and my dream money project

This week, I wrote a post on how to utilize the Law of Attraction, especially to attract money. And now my own dream money project, week 2. (Please see my last week’s post about how this project works.)

Week 2, How I use my $200
I want an iPod nano. Green one. I like working on the elliptical machine in the fitness room, but I get bored as I work for 25 minutes on it. With iPod and a cute band clip or wrist band to wear it, I can listen to music while I exercise. I guess I can use the change to download music. I will try something new – any suggestions?

I like looking good and do my best to eat healthy and exercise. I think this iPod adds a bit of fun in my effort. Thank you.

And I’m grateful for the sunshine. Living in Oregon, it’s hard not to become a sun worshipper. I love the cool mild climate here.