The Power of Admitting Ignorance: How Asking for Help Fuels Business Growth
Have you ever walked into a room and felt like you were the least qualified person there? Maybe you’ve even thought, “What am I doing here?” Well, let me tell you—I’ve been there. Trying to be the expert on every single aspect of your business can be overwhelming and downright impossible. But what if being the "dumbest" person in the room is actually your secret weapon to success? Stick around, because in this episode of Weeniecast, I’m sharing the mindset shift you need to be okay with admitting, “I need help.”
Imagine the relief of being able to focus on what you do best, while bringing in top-tier experts to handle the rest. This simple yet powerful strategy could be the game-changer you’ve been searching for. Your business—and your sanity—will thank you for it.
If you're pressed for time, jump straight to [00:04:49] where I share a personal story that might just revolutionize how you approach your entrepreneurial journey.
So, if you’re ready to see massive growth without burning out, this episode is for you. Tune in and discover why embracing your inner "idiot" could make you a genius in the long run.
Your next steps after listening
Get my popular free download for all coaches, consultants and service providers!
https://weeniecast.com/highticketoffer
We'd love it if you'd drop us a review via your favorite podcast app (scroll to find the app link):
https://weeniecast.com/reviews
Want to come and experience a free monthly group session with me one Friday soon?
https://weeniecast.com/brave-biz-labs
Realizing it's time to work with me? Book your free initial strategy call with me - weeniecast.com/strategycall
Or hop straight into my BYOB program -
Want to just buy me a coffee in return for some helpful insight? Thank you! Here's where you can do that - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/katiethecoach
Mentioned in this episode:
If you're a coach or consultant - find out how to attract your ideal clients
This is for your if you're working in the coaching and consulting space and want to attract your ideal clients, buying your higher ticket offers, so you can make more money, quickly, and will less time input, so you can focus on sharing your gifts with the world!
Are you the dumbest person in the room?
Katie McManusLet's find out.
Katie McManusHi, I'm Katie McManus, business strategist and money mindset coach, and welcome to the weeniecast.
Katie McManusThe three phrases that are hardest for people to say are one, I love you.
Katie McManusTwo, I need help.
Katie McManusAnd three, Worcestershire.
Katie McManusWorcester Worcestershire sauce.
Katie McManusWorcestershire sauce.
Katie McManusOkay, I'm fucked with that last one, but anyway, we're not talking about I love you, although I do love you.
Katie McManusOn this podcast today, we're talking about the second one, saying I need help.
Katie McManusBecause there is absolutely no way for you to build a massively successful business, to launch a seriously impactful nonprofit, to have a really successful career without admitting that you don't know what you don't know.
Katie McManusThe most successful people in the world have one thing in common.
Katie McManusThey admit when they need help, they're okay with not being the smartest person in the room.
Katie McManusOftentimes, they're actually the dumbest person in the room.
Katie McManusTheir intelligence and their potential for success lies in them realizing that they the best way forward is to bring in the best brains that have knowledge and experience that they will never acquire to do the things that they can't do.
Katie McManusSo I've noticed something in my clients that seems like a paradox.
Katie McManusMy clients who come from fine careers, careers where they did good work but didn't reach a certain pinnacle of success, actually have an emotionally easier time building their businesses than my clients who had very, very successful careers.
Katie McManusI'm talking they were in the C suite, they were professors at renowned universities, they were given awards for certain things.
Katie McManusBut the difference is the person who had kind of a ho hum career, that was fine, they made good money, but, you know, it didn't reach those higher levels.
Katie McManusThey were used to not being the smartest person in the room.
Katie McManusRight.
Katie McManusBecause often they were the person that had their sphere of knowledge, they were the expert on their little area, and they were in rooms with other people who had their own sphere of knowledge and were experts in their own little areas, and they were advising the person who was in charge.
Katie McManusMy clients, who have been so successful in their careers, who reached the pinnacle of whatever it was that they were doing and then decided, hey, I'm not happy here, I wanna start a business.
Katie McManusThe leap is so dramatic.
Katie McManusThe client who was the top of their field, who then has to jump down into being the beginner in starting a business, it is incredibly jarring to their psyche to go from being the expert in the room of all the things to being the beginner in the room of all the things, they're also usually hyper independent.
Katie McManusThey're used to being able to figure out every single thing themselves.
Katie McManusIf they're ever in a situation in their previous roles where they were outside of their own depth, they didn't understand all the nuances of the thing.
Katie McManusThey would just delegate the project to someone else.
Katie McManusThey didn't have to dive in and be the person who's trying to figure it out, who's information gathering and then trying to be an expert where they have no experience.
Katie McManusSo it seems like from the outside, the people who are super successful in their careers before starting a business should be the ones that are most successful in starting a business.
Katie McManusBut often the hit to the ego is the thing that holds them back.
Katie McManusThe most smart, independent, capable people set themselves up for failure every single day because they look back at their track record of doing hard things and being able to figure it out and overcoming, and they think, okay, cool.
Katie McManusWell, because I've done it here, here, and here in my life, I should be able to do it here.
Katie McManusAnd when you're starting a business, yeah, absolutely.
Katie McManusThere's stuff you can figure out.
Katie McManusYou can figure out how to get a few clients.
Katie McManusYou can figure out how to use social media.
Katie McManusYou can figure out how to put together a proposal.
Katie McManusThe question is, how long is it going to take you to figure it out?
Katie McManusHow much trial and error is going to happen?
Katie McManusAnd do you have the time?
Katie McManusDo you have the confidence to spare?
Katie McManusBecause it will eat away at your confidence, and do you have the money to invest in all that trial and error?
Katie McManusAnd I'm saying this like, I'm perfect at it.
Katie McManusI'm not.
Katie McManusThere are a lot of areas where I think, oh, well, I've never done this before, but I'm smart and I'm capable, and I've figured shit out before.
Katie McManusI should be able to figure this out on my own.
Katie McManusI recently did this.
Katie McManusWell, recently, over the last year, in launching this nonprofit that I've recently finally launched.
Katie McManusI talked about it a couple times, the Gay Birthday Club.
Katie McManusIt's a nonprofit where we call folks in the LGBTQ community who do not get phone calls from their loved ones on their birthday.
Katie McManusAnd we sing them happy Birthday.
Katie McManusWe're the family who gives them a whole bunch of, like, really cringy love.
Katie McManusIt's a pretty simple concept.
Katie McManusAnd so when I had this idea and thought, oh, my God, I'm going to.
Katie McManusI'm going to start this, this nonprofit.
Katie McManusThis is going to be where I'm going to have some Impact outside of my business, I figured, cool, I'll order some books on Amazon.
Katie McManusI'll read some stuff.
Katie McManusYeah, I can figure this out on my own.
Katie McManusAfter about eight months of half reading these books and half kind of searching online and not really making any progress because I was so intimidated by the fact that I didn't know what was best, I finally decided to reach out to my lawyer and ask for a referral to a lawyer who specializes in launching nonprofits.
Katie McManusAnd really, we only made progress in starting the nonprofit when I reached out for help, when I invested in it, When I admitted, I need help, I don't know what I don't know, and I am so glad I did.
Katie McManusIn what they were able to accomplish in a matter of weeks, I couldn't even get close to starting in two thirds of a year.
Katie McManusImagine if I had been dead set on trying to figure it out myself.
Katie McManusI don't think the nonprofit would have ever happened.
Katie McManusI don't think it would have ever launched.
Katie McManusIt would have just been one of those ideas that I was, like, constantly talking about for a while and then realized I was only ever talking about it and gotten embarrassed about because I never launched it and then hoped that no one ever brought it up to me again.
Katie McManusIf you're starting a business or a nonprofit and it's kind of just this hobby thing that you're doing for fun, you're not taking it seriously, and you don't really care about it being massively successful, then sure, figure it out on your own, Play around trial and error, buy the books to kind of read about how to do the thing, and then try it from there.
Katie McManusBut if you want it to be massively successful, if you want to run a business that eventually makes multiple millions of dollars a year, if you want to launch nonprofits that change lives, that actually have influence and reach, the only way to do it is to let yourself be the dumbest person in the room.
Katie McManusIn my very cool and hip twenties, I was a knitting teacher.
Katie McManusI taught women.
Katie McManusI'm.
Katie McManusI mean, not just women.
Katie McManusIt's just no men ever signed up for the class how to knit.
Katie McManusAnd invariably, the first lesson, they would, you know, get their supplies and they'd sit down and I'd show them the first couple steps, and here's how you do this.
Katie McManusAnd everyone would go from zero to a thousand on the frustration scale, getting so angry with themselves for not being able to do it perfectly, this skill that they literally just sat down to start learning 15 minutes before.
Katie McManusI found myself constantly saying, you didn't learn how to use a fork overnight.
Katie McManusHow many of you can use chopsticks?
Katie McManusCouple people would raise their hands.
Katie McManusEveryone else couldn't.
Katie McManusSo here you are using two sticks very much like chopsticks and a piece of string and trying to make a piece of fabric out of it.
Katie McManusWhy are you expecting it to be easy?
Katie McManusWhy are you expecting yourself to be inherently good at something that is actually quite complicated?
Katie McManusAnd not only that, there's the understanding of it and then there's the doing of it.
Katie McManusIt's not just understanding the concept of knitting, it's developing the dexterity to do it with your hands.
Katie McManusMany of these women had tried to learn how to knit on their own.
Katie McManusThey'd bought a beginner knitting book and tried to follow along with all the little graphics.
Katie McManusSome of them had gone to YouTube University and watched videos online trying to figure out how to do it.
Katie McManusGuess what?
Katie McManusThey still ended up in my class because figuring it out on their own was not working.
Katie McManusNow you might be like me, where there are some things that are really hard to admit that you need help with, and other things you're like, no, no, no, I'm not even touching that with a 10 foot pole without hiring an expert.
Katie McManusThis podcast is the latter.
Katie McManusThere was no way on this earth I was ever going to try to do a podcast without the help of a professional.
Katie McManusAnd thankfully, on my first try, I got one of the absolute best professionals in the business.
Katie McManusWhich, if you are thinking about starting a podcast, I cannot recommend my producer, Neil Valeo, enough.
Katie McManusI don't brag on him enough.
Katie McManusHe's incredible.
Katie McManusAnd when he and I work together, I am absolutely the dumbest person in the room.
Katie McManusI don't understand half the things he tells me about this podcast.
Katie McManusThe numbers.
Katie McManusCool.
Katie McManusI like numbers.
Katie McManusThat's nice.
Katie McManusHow different podcasting platforms work.
Katie McManusAwesome, dude.
Katie McManusI have no interest in even learning about any of it.
Katie McManusAll I know is I show up and I talk for about an hour or two every week.
Katie McManusHe does his magic and he turns it into a podcast and you guys listen to it.
Katie McManusWhich thank you for listening, by the way.
Katie McManusIf you enjoy this podcast, if you wouldn't mind going and leaving us a review wherever you're listening, we'd really appreciate it because I'm good at admitting I'm bad at stuff in some areas.
Katie McManusI don't always catch myself when I'm being stubborn and assuming I should be able to figure it out myself and others.
Katie McManusOne of the most humbling experiences since I've started the nonprofit has Been running the board meetings, my board, which I love.
Katie McManusI love every single person on my board.
Katie McManusSeveral of them are former and current clients.
Katie McManusAnd I can't tell you how hard it is for my ego to be leading a meeting and realizing I don't know what we should be doing next.
Katie McManusBecause I've never been on the board of a nonprofit, much less been the president of one, whereas multiple of my current and former clients have been on boards before.
Katie McManusAdvise boards, Right?
Katie McManusBut the power dynamic is so weird for me because I'm used to being the person that they turn to for all their answers.
Katie McManusAnd here I am.
Katie McManusAnd I have to admit, I don't know what I'm doing.
Katie McManusAnd I have to ask them, what should I be doing?
Katie McManusI wish I could give you an exercise that would solve this for you.
Katie McManusI wish I could tell you, here are those three steps to make it easier to ask for help.
Katie McManusTo admit that you don't know what you don't know, and to turn to experts and say, hey, listen, I need you to guide me step by step through what I should be doing here, because I don't even know where to start.
Katie McManusAnd I hate that I have to tell you that really, for you to get better at it, you have to just go and do it and do it again, and do it again and do it again and show your nervous system that it's actually safe for you to admit that you don't know.
Katie McManusRight?
Katie McManusBecause what's actually happening for you on a chemical level is because it's so unfamiliar to you to not be the expert.
Katie McManusYour nervous system is telling you this is dangerous territory.
Katie McManusWe're not in charge here.
Katie McManusAnd you're so used to being in charge that.
Katie McManusThat not being in charge feels like life or death.
Katie McManusThe only way we train our nervous systems to be okay with, with things that seem life or death, that aren't is to just go and do them over and over and over again and show ourselves that we won't die by doing that.
Katie McManusI'm so sorry that that's the answer.
Katie McManusI wish there was a hack to make it easier.
Katie McManusBut I will tell you this.
Katie McManusYou do have a choice.
Katie McManusAnd that choice really boils down to one question.
Katie McManusWhich matters more?
Katie McManusDoes it matter more to you to be the smartest person in the room all the time?
Katie McManusOr does it matter more to you that this business, this non profit, whatever this project is, this thing that you want to be massively successful, does it matter that you really reach your goals with it and it's absolutely okay if you get real with yourself and you say, you know what?
Katie McManusI really value not looking stupid more than anything else.
Katie McManusCool.
Katie McManusYou know what?
Katie McManusThis is your life.
Katie McManusYou get to do whatever the fuck you want to do.
Katie McManusYou get to be whoever you want to be.
Katie McManusIf you want to be always the smartest person in the room, good on you.
Katie McManusOwn it.
Katie McManusMake that your life.
Katie McManusBut if you want to achieve more, if you want to do work you love that actually changes lives and helps people on countless levels and be massively successful doing it, then I'm sorry to break it to you, but you're going to have to commit to being the idiot in the room.
Katie McManusWelcome to the club.
Katie McManusIf you enjoy this podcast, if you wouldn't mind going and leaving us a review wherever you're listening, we'd really appreciate it.