Asking for Help & Getting It.

This information really could be for anyone, however I generally address yoga teachers and yoga business owners since this is the field I service. One thing that happens to me on a weekly basis is someone ask me for help. I actually love helping others and it makes me so happy when someone actually gets what they need and it improves their life and they tell me about it. It makes me feel useful.
On the other hand one thing that really frustrates me and it is becoming a real struggle is people calling and asking me for favors that create a lot of work for me.

Here are some tips (and examples I deal with) on how to promote yourself and your career that are actually more likely to get you what you want and be beneficial to the other person as well. Consider the fact that when you ask for help one of two things need to happen.
1. You need to also be benefiting the person you are requesting help from.
Or
2. You need to benefiting someone else in the process and let it be known your goal to help someone else by being helped yourself.

See below for an explanation.

Examples of request I get and when and how I am willing to help.

1. A call to put a link of my website. It generally goes like this "Did you know yoga is good for xyz, and we offer this service. Could you put our link on your website?" Well "No", I would have nothing but links clogging up my web page. What would work is this "Hello, my name is xyz and I offer this service ______. We see that you are a professional in your field and would love to work with you. Would you be interested in having us submit a blog post and if it meets your standards would you please post it on your blog page. We will then share it with our clients via email and social media. Hope to have the pleasure of working with you."
2. People ask me to have meetings all the time and give me examples of their work then ask me to promote them. I simply do not have time to do this. I have a busy life and business and can barely keep up with my marketing plan. My goal is to support my family through my work so I need to promote my business, however if it's a win win I'm happy to help. Here is what does work. "Hello my name is ____________, I am a yoga teacher specializing in __________. I hear you are the go to person for yoga in this area and I am offering such and such. I would love to give you a free ticket to my event and if you will share it with your clients I will gladly share your events on my page as well with my clients." By the way it would be good if you attended the persons class, buy and read the book, read over the webpage etc... before you meet with them. I actually had a person ask me to promote them on a day of my big workshop in the same town. Had they read my webpage or looked at my social media they would have known this and probably thought better of it. 
3. If someone is already my student and has spent countless hours training with me and spent money to work with me then I am going to promote their work because it is dear to my heart to help those people. I do not mind doing this. If someone calls me looking for a restorative yoga teacher and my student has a passion for this I am going to promote them. If you are my student and reading this know that I don't mind helping you, especially if your request takes me 15 minutes or less to handle. If you have not been a client of mine and you want to work with me please read my book, my blog, my web page or look at my You Tube Channel for the answers you are looking for and if you want to work with me give me a call or email me and we can book a consult. My rates are very reasonable. 
4. Can you help me plan a retreat? Did you go to school with me or are you already a client of mine ? If so yes I can spend about 15 to 30 minutes giving you some pointers. No worry, no cost, I am happy to help you because you are already a client of mine and I appreciate you choosing to work with me. Do you need additional help? Then please book a call with me for a consult and I will give you a detailed plan. OR even better,  I wrote a book on the subject and you can buy it for $14.99. If you need more after that then book an appointment and we can build a detailed plan. I know the cost of my time will save the person more than they spend with me. I've spent a ton of time and money honing my skills and I love to help people be successful.
5.  My student has severe pain in this area and I want to help them. Are you my student, client? Have you spent time working with me in the past and paid me to train you? Absolutely, you want to help someone else I will help you help them as long as we can figure it out in a reasonable time frame. Do you know me but are not my student? Is this going to take more than 10 minutes? If so then please book a phone call with me to do a consult. 
6. Would you come talk to my group about xyz for free? I spent enough money on training to pay for 6 years of college and have worked countless hours to do what I do. If you want me to take time out of my day there is a fee, on the rare occasion that I can volunteer my time like this it is going to be for a cause I truly believe in and or I have no one else I can send you. I'm often going to send you one of my student teachers who is working in the field you are requesting because they are building a career and it would benefit them. I recently was asked to speak to a group that is likely not going to be able to afford even to pay me a small fee,  because it is a cause dear to my heart I said yes. 

The bottom line. When you are asking for help think about the other person. This is their career. They are making a living doing this. If you want to be on their podcast how are you going to promote them? If you want them to promote you how can you help them. If you want them to come speak to your group tell them what you have budgeted for this.  If you are are afraid you don't have the money to pay then ask them how much they charge. Be considerate of their time and consider if you were being asked to help someone what you would feel good about.

Hope this helps you be successful in asking for help.

Love,

C

Courtney is Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT), long time yoga teacher with all registrations with Yoga Alliance, She owns two schools (RYS 200/300), is a published author with the "The Mud & The Lotus, A Guide and Workbook for Students of Yoga" and her ebook "Hosting Successful Yoga Workshops, Retreats, and Yoga Events", she also has published meditations on the app "Insight Timer" . She teachers workshops and does public speaking online, for podcast, webinars and conferences.