Make helping easy

Last year, my goal was to figure out my next career move. I had recently stepped down as CEO of the startup I led for more than a decade. 2019 was a period of deep reflection and introspection. I spent most of my time alone or with close family members and friends. Promoting myself and my new ventures was not a priority.

This year, my goal is to grow LegUp Ventures monthly revenue to $10K+. To grow revenue, I'll need new customers, new partnerships, and new connections. I will also need to tap into existing relationships for help. Promoting myself and my new ventures is now the priority.

As I ramp up promotion, I worry about asking too much of others. I don't want to weaken existing relationships and create bad first impressions.

Successful promotion results in mutually beneficial relationships. Mutually beneficial relationships depend on overlap.

But we make it hard to identify overlap. We focus on what we’ve done in the past, muddying the immediate opportunities to help each other in the present.

Maybe the best way to promote is to make helping easy. Make it easy for others to help you. And make it easy for you to help others.

This make helping easy approach requires honesty about what you want and what you’re willing to give. It also requires transparency that allows others to identify potential overlap. 

Today, I added a /help page to my personal website: ricklindquist.com/help. This forced me to clarify both how I can help others and how others can help me. I plan to use it as a script and resource in my promotion efforts.

It’d be pretty cool if other people had a /help page too. I’d use it to identify overlap and to prioritize new and existing connections.

I’m early in my thought process on this approach. If you have thoughts, please leave a comment or contact me. How do you make helping easy?