I Tried to Help People Last Month -- This Is What Happened

This month, I’m pulling back the curtain on five hard-earned lessons I picked up about helping people—good, bad, and occasionally ugly.

These five snapshots might strike you as useful, entertaining, humorous, sad… or maybe none of the above.

But they’re honest.

They’re real.

And they’re a bracing reminder that help comes in many colors, shapes and sizes.

In fact last August, friends tried to help me when I left a good paying job to build personal media brands for business owners. It came in the form of a question:

“Um… why are you doing this?”

Fair question. There were lots of reasons, but at the heart of it, I realized the one thing that lit me up — every time — was helping people one-on-one. It’s been the best part of every role I’ve ever had.

So I decided: I want to do more of that.

It’s a work in progress. But I'd love to hear about yours as well, I’m collecting your stories of being helpful (successful or otherwise) for a future episode of my podcast. Just email me, [email protected].

With that said, let’s get on with the helping lessons.

“I have to pause our work.”

A great client decided to pause future work due to a slowdown in business.

Was it a gut punch? Sure. My first reaction was to trot out the old adage:
“When business is slow, that’s the time to invest in your marketing.”

But then I asked myself: What would I want if I were in their shoes?

So I replied, No problem, and added:
“Are you taking full advantage of your email list? If not, let’s hop on a call this week and hit three things you can do right now — for free.”

Lesson: Real help isn’t about what’s best for you.

“Two people in this room experienced CDV.”

The room went silent.

That’s how I introduced a new screening tool we developed with the Childhood Domestic Violence Association to my local business group.

Hard truth: 1 in 8 people are impacted by CDV — and the worst part is, most don’t know it.

That’s why we created a 30-second, two-question survey to give people a private way to find out, and see the next steps if needed.

Take the survey and find out for yourself.

Lesson: People won’t seek help if they don’t know they need it.

“This is gonna wreck your reputation!”

A quote from filmmaker Khoa Le during our recent podcast.

That was the advice he got from friends when he agreed to take on a full-length feature film project — for what they thought was a below-market rate.

Khoa’s response?

“I’m like, what reputation? I haven’t made a feature yet.”

Lesson: Help means listening without judgment.

“You want my help or not?”

That’s what I didn’t say to my 24-year-old son, who was moving to Houston.

I offered to drive down with him and help him get settled.

He said he’d think about it.

It took him three weeks to decide… maybe Dad could be helpful after all.

It reminded me to have patience with people who want your help, but need time to come to terms with accepting it.

Lesson: Offered help and accepted help are on different timelines.

“I know what I’m doing.”

That’s what I told myself while designing a booth for upcoming trade shows in Philly and NYC. After all, I know how to lay out a design file based on ad specs and a template. Right?

Turns out… not quite.

When you’re working with images that are 6-feet tall, it’s not as simple as it looks.

I swallowed my pride and asked my rep for help and she came through with actual flying colors.

Big thanks to Nina Atkinson from Get Noticed for my new display—literally couldn’t have done it without you.

Lesson: It’s okay to DIY, but sometimes you need the help of a pro.

If you need a little professional help growing your customer base or building your personal media brand, let's talk. Just reserve 30 minutes to chat. I promise it's a free, no-judgment-zone experience.

Pathfinder is written by Bright Trail founder Jim Thompson who's grown digital audiences for some of America's top media brands including Fox Interactive, Billboard, Hollywood Reporter, Modern Luxury and Gary Vaynerchuk's personal brand.