Activity 22 - 30 Days of Asking

Yes, after three years I am doing my first 30 day activity; it's exciting! There was a small activity in mid-2013, but this is was very minor in comparison. I decided to do this to coincide with finalising the book and launching it into the world - you'll get why as you read on.

The Talk

Of course, this activity is based on Amanda Palmer's fantastic TED Talk The Art of Asking. I have to say that it will also be based on her book, since I've read it there is little chance of being able to truly separate the two experiences. I posted a review of her book, The Art of Asking, a couple of months ago - so I'm not going to go into too much detail here. The talk focuses on the changing relationships between artists and audience; and if you ask people to pay for art, they will.

The message is far more basic than that - I see it as being about valuing yourself and what you do; then making yourself vulnerable to others by asking for help or support of some kind. It was a message that helped me deal with the process of doing markets, among other things.

The Challenge

This should seem pretty clear, but I'll explain in more detail. The challenge of this activity is to completely put myself out there and ask people to help me; ask people to buy my book; and support me in a variety of ways. Again, it is a huge vulnerability activity for me - what's new?

I mentioned in a post earlier this year about how much I have improved in asking people for assistance. In that post I mentioned that I think my aversion to asking for help was a mixture of four reasons:

1. I didn’t want to admit that I needed help, that I wasn’t perfect.

2. I didn’t want someone to help me with something that I was then unable to complete or follow through with in some way – I hate disappointing people or feeling indebted to people.

3. I didn’t want to risk being rejected (this probably should have been number 1).

4. I didn’t like to impose on people.

So, the challenge is to continue to push through these issues, step even further outside my comfort zone and go for it. This is particularly applicable to the finalisation of my book, and marketing it - it makes me feel queasy to think about marketing. Some of this has already been happening, but the big push will come later this month and in early November.

More than anything though, this is a challenge about believing in myself and the product I have created - believing that what I have to offer the world is worthy, and then asking people to pay for it is simply a normal thing to do.

The Activity

In theory, this is a very simple activity - I know it won't be the case in practice. This activity will focus on asking for support and promoting the book. This will include:

• getting it published and priced accordingly

• asking friends, subscribers and followers to help promote the book - includes providing some incentives :-)

• asking people to provide reviews of the book online

• asking the TED Speakers (whose talks I used) to share

• sending out press releases to try and get media coverage

• asking some local bookstores to stock the book.

There will be a few other things as well, a couple freak me out so much that I can't even write them here - yep, it's dangerous because it means I might not do it.

So, in line with all of this - are you willing to help? Are you willing to support? If you are, you could start with sharing this blog post or subscribing to my email list. Or contact me if there is anything else you can suggest or offer. There will be more posts on this as we go through the month (the activity starts on 15 October), including opportunities to put up your hand for a preview ebook for review. Let's see how we go.