Episode 337. You don't get what you don't ask for
This episode of The Art of Entrepreneurship is about why you have to ask for what you want—because if you don't, the answer is already no.
This is the mantra that's stuck with me the longest, and probably made me more money than anything else I've ever learned. It's a mindset that's shown up across my career, from waiving classes I didn't want to pay for in college, to asking my corporate employer to fund my MBA, to negotiating a raise every single year by saying the number out loud instead of hoping someone noticed my work.
Today, thirteen years into running my own company, the asks have gotten bigger: I ask for the sale directly, and I push for budget I'm not sure we'll get. I've taught my team to do the same.
I break down what's actually stopping most people: it isn't the ask itself, but the fear of what happens after it. A no just puts you back where you started, except now you have information you didn't have before. From there, I share the actual mechanics behind a good ask: how to make it specific, who to direct it to, why silence is your best tool right after you've made it, and how to separate a no from your worth as a person.
Tune in if you're ready to stop hoping someone hands you what you want and start asking for it directly.
If you like this episode, here are some others you'll enjoy.
Episode 304. Your prices aren't too high; your perceived value is too low — Why confidence, not the number, is what buyers are really pushing back on
Episode 298. Credibility isn't about age, it's about how you show up — Earning authority through action instead of waiting for it
Episode 210. Create the professional and personal life you want now w/ Nat Berman, Co-Founder of Brand Built — Why you don't have to wait for permission to go after what you want
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