Three Words That Could Save Your Venture

What problem are you facing right now in your business that has got you completely stumped?

When you’re in the middle of building your company, it’s so easy to let days and even weeks go past grinding away on a problem that you believe YOU have to solve. After all, you’re the CEO or co-founder. You have to have all of the answers. Right?

One of the things that’s been consistent across so many of the interviews with company leaders on my podcast is that they are willing to say “I don’t know.”

It’s not enough, however, to say you don’t know. You then have to be willing to send the email or make the phone call to that person in your network who can help.

How do you know when to ask for help and when to keep grinding? Here’s a simple decision framework you can use:

• Is the problem something that’s unique to my business or has it been solved before?
• If it’s not unique to me, who do I know that can help me answer the question as quickly as possible?
• If it IS unique to me, do I have a clear picture of what success looks like, and if so, am I making steady, measurable progress toward that end goal?
• If I am making progress, keep grinding.
• If I’m no closer to a solution today than I was a few days ago, it’s time to raise my hand.

Don’t let your most precious asset, your time, slip away just because you’re unwilling to say those three most difficult words: “I don’t know.”