Everybody needs help, at some point. (Entrepreneurs need the most help.) 

You will need help. Sometimes, the less you want to ask for help, the more you stand to benefit from it.

People can’t help you if they don’t know you need help. Asking for help is your responsibility. Be open about your problems.

People will want to help you. An opportunity to help might be the best thing that happened to them all year.

It’s difficult to ask for help. Sometimes, the kindest thing you can do for somebody else is to help them ask for help. You can also ask somebody else to help you start to ask for help.

Let other people know how they can help. It should be clear what they need to do to help, and how much help you need. Spend time refining this. Be pointed and specific. 

If you ask someone to pick their brain or get coffee, you are not at the level of clarity you need to be. (Sometimes, you need to do this anyway—in order to get to the level of clarity you need. But if people aren’t responding then you will need to adapt.)

People are busy. You will receive more help if you can make it convenient for people to help.

Tell your story. People want to be motivated or inspired to help. Give them an opportunity to help, and keep the obligation to a minimum.

When you ask for help, new possibilities emerge. Help may not show up in the form you expect it. It’s worth being open to these possibilities.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to Faiz’s campaign.