No Shame In Needing Help

The Daily Stoic for June 16th. “No Shame In Needing Help”.

“Don’t be ashamed of needing help. You have a duty to fulfill just like a soldier on the wall of battle. So what if you are injured and can’t climb up without another soldier’s help?”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.7

There’s some confusion between the terms “micropreneur” and “solopreneur”. Most of the times the two terms are used interchangeably, and even I do that sometimes. The accepted difference between both is that, while the micropreneur works mostly as a freelancer, deliberately trying to stay small, the solopreneur has a more entrepreneurial mind, trying to build a business and grow.

For me, these differences are not that important, as I have switched back and forth between both states. What’s important for me -and relevant for today’s stoic- is how our businesses are in our own hands.

We take care of everything: business stuff, marketing, the product, the technical aspects, acquiring customers… Everything’s on us.

No Shame In Needing Help

And that’s important because we develop this superpower of doing it all ourselves, but at a high cost. We find it hard to ask for help. Maybe we have VAs, but it takes us a lot of time to convince ourselves that what we pay them is worth the time they save. Maybe we hire some freelancers to help us, but we keep on thinking that we would do the job better.

I’ve been there, and maybe I’m still are. I am a micropreneur. I love taking care of my business, staying small, and building something I feel proud of, something that allows me to balance my life with my job… And hopefully, enjoy the process.

But sometimes you just need to ask for help. We cannot do everything on our own. We need to let go, learn to delegate and understand that doing everything yourself is not a superpower… It’s actually harming your business if your pride is interfering with your ability to grow.

I’m absolutely in love with the motto of this site: “start small, stay small”… But there’s no shame in needing help or passing some tasks -especially the ones you dislike or are not good at- to someone else.

One of the hardest lessons in my entrepreneurial journey. I am still learning and improving in that area myself.

What are your thoughts?

Conclusion

Today’s Daily Stoic, “No Shame In Needing Help”, discusses how all of us need help sometimes. No one is equipped with the right tools for solving all problems ahead of you, so if you need help, just ask mate!