You need help. | Hacker News Reader

You need help.

notmylawyer.com

21 pointsjesselamb8 comments

Admitting you need help is the first step. The second step is planning forward what help you will need / want when.

For example: if you're bootstrapping it makes sense to use a second-hand photocopier yourself; at some future point, all things going to plan, your business will need a more reliable machine being operated by your secretary. Most business owners make that decision reactively - they wait until the old copier dies or they're too stressed out and need admin support.

Great business owners put in a little bit of time to capacity planning, so they have the milestones (eg, when I hit $X revenue per month for 3 consecutive months) for adding resource to maintain profitability and sustainable growth. As a spreadsheet-literate business geek, helping them do that planning is one of the more fun elements of my career.

Of course, my career would be more profitable is more business owners read Jesse's blog, and made that first step.

Mine too. :P

Does this ring true for most of the readers here, or is it just the author's self-reflection? I had something similar to that mindset into my early 20s and then grew out of it (which coincided with a professional life after college, with working with intelligent people). I have no problem asking others for things/help, and I can still give it in spades.

It rings true for me (I'm 31, but act like 20). I've known for a while that I need help, I'm just having a terrible time actually getting it. (HN user skmurphy has recently offered some assistance though!)

The article's description of the way in which I got into this position sounds right though -- you start out resourceful, people rely on you, and that makes you reluctant to rely on others.

Yeah, finding help is a skill you have to develop like any other. It's not easy, but it scales better than doing everything yourself, and you get better at identifying problems and who might be able to help the more you try.

I'd be curious to hear people's thoughts too. It's definitely a lesson I've had to learn myself, and one that I'm still learning to apply.

I've just noticed that clients of all ages have trouble bringing themselves to get the right help they need when they need it. Coming into your own in business and in your career is not a linear progression, so people learn different things at different stages. You're lucky to have learned this early. :)

I think "help" for many people means "just get it done, and I don't care how". When I ask for help, it's usually from people who are more knowledgeable than me; and it's usually in the form of "how does this work?" rather than "can you do this for me?".

Maybe this is holding me back in some way that I don't realize?

I think it depends. Sometimes all you need is someone who can get you to an answer faster. But, at least when you're running a business, it's often more efficient to have someone else take care certain things for you instead of doing them yourself. It's an obvious point but it's easy to miss in practice when you're starting out if you're accustomed to handling everything yourself.

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