A lot of my team coaching focuses on being more self-aware and vulnerable so that we can connect and collaborate better with others. I often say, “You have to feel uncomfortable to learn and grow.”
To be authentic in this, I have to apply it to my own life. And it’s hard.
The biggest, most recent example of this is asking for help. I’ve written about the power of asking for help, and have facilitated countless team building exercises asking people to share stories of risks they’ve taken to ask for help in a situation where the other person might say no. Through these reflections, we get to explore power dynamics and reflect on our own willingness to be vulnerable.
I had to practice what I teach and get uncomfortable by directly asking a lot of people for help with my Indiegogo campaign.
I individually text messaged 120 friends in the three days before the campaign started to ask them to contribute at least $5 so we could try to get 100 backers in the first 48 hours. Some friends had already given so much to me in the past, and I felt really uncomfortable asking for more. In the last two weeks of the campaign, I personally emailed 500 more people I’ve kept in touch with over the years, letting them know how to contribute in case they wanted to help us meet our stretch goal. I was grateful to everyone who responded, even those who let me know they couldn’t contribute. The most uncomfortable part was following up with friends who had said they'd contribute to see if they'd still be willing to do so.
I didn’t just announce the campaign, I had to directly ask individuals for contributions. As a result, we surpassed our stretch goal and we raised $21,720 (207% of goal) and have 313 backers, which not only funds the book, but also funds improving the technology of the tool and additional marketing support.
Thank you to all of my supporters. You not only helped make the book possible, you also reinforced what can happen when people ask for help.
Julie
P.S. All last week, the CuriosityBased team took a vacation. I was writing. Hnin went on a solo road trip to California.
Hnin kept the team updated in Slack on her solo road trip to California!
Workshops
While we’re not doing any community workshops for the rest of the year, contact us if you want CuriosityBased to take your company, team, or with a group of friends through an interactive learning experience. Here are workshop offerings:
