July 17. Day 17.
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| jamjar/flickr |
I found a cool blog post today about... asking!
Here's a snippet:
Growing up I was a very shy little guy. I was so shy that I rarely put myself out there in situations that I was unfamiliar with and never asked other people for favors unless I was either in desperate need or very familiar with the other person.I remember my mum telling me on numerous occasions when I was too shy to ask people things – ‘you’ll never know unless you ask’.It struck me today that while I’m still pretty shy that I wouldn’t be where I am today if I’d not overcome my inability to put myself ‘out there’ and had I not learned to ‘ask’ others for help.
It focuses on asking in the blogosphere -- asking for interviews, attention, publicity.
The author, Darren Rowse, continues:
This post might make it sound like I never do any work for myself and am constantly living off the generosity of others - but this isn’t the case. The key that I’ve found with ‘getting’ things off other bloggers is to ‘give’ them something in return. Win/Win interactions are key.
This reminds me of an earlier takeaway, learned when I asked a friend for tea and offered twizzlers in return: Leverage the concept of quid pro quo. If you offer something when you're asking, the other side sees it has something to gain and you don't come off as selfish.
In that vein, how about I ask for something blog related? I'll email a blogger whose work I particularly respect and ask if he would mind posting a link or trading postings. Win-win.
Results: TBD.
