I don’t like asking for help. Even when it’s clear that I really need it, I will resist asking for help.

Last week, I put a heavy bag and stand up for sale. It didn’t take long before someone agreed to buy it. To get it ready, I had to move the stand out into the hall of my building. Mind you, when I bought it, it came up to my apartment in a box. It was leaving fully assembled. I figured it would be difficult, but I could get it out with a little creativity.

I first tried to move it out through the hallway. Even with the most creative twists and turns, it quickly became clear that it was not going to leave the apartment through the hallway. I got frustrated and texted my boyfriend to vent and ask if he was free, just to check the “I asked for help” box. He was unavailable, which I was grateful for because I could get it done myself. My confidence didn’t change the fact that i was now stuck. Then my phone rang. It was my boyfriend. Along with the ringing phone, pangs of guilt came over me. I knew he was going to prompt me to ask for help.

The conversation was about 70% me saying, “I’ve got it! I’m fine! I’m good! I can do it.” Eventually there came a long pause in the conversation. “I think I need help,” I said. He said he’d be down shortly. In the mean time, I figured I could get the thing at least out into the hallway, but I knew it would need to come apart. This made no sense. If I could get it out into the hallway without disassembly, then I wouldn’t need it to be disassembled to move it through a much more spacious apartment hallway. But I chose mind over matter, believing that I could bend the laws of physics by sheer willpower. I moved the awkward heavy piece of equipment into the kitchen thinking if I move it base first it will be easier.

The stand was now stuck in my kitchen, wedged between the stove and the door frame. I thought if I could move the stove over I could get it out. I was wrong. The stove was going to be too difficult to move. At that point, Glenn showed up with two tool boxes and began working.

I got stuck. I gave it another shot, and got stuck again. I asked for help and the right person showed up with the right tools. In the process, I came to realize that this was a good parallel for entrepreneurship. It can’t be done alone and it requires humility. You get stuck, you try something else and you get stuck again. Then you ask for help. The right person with the right resources can help you get unstuck.

Entrepreneurship involves a lot of relying on your community, and the humility to ask for help. There’s never any shame in asking for help and to survive as a business, it’s necessary. In trying to move the heavy bag stand and asking for help, I was convicted of the fact that I can’t go at it alone. Not in life and not in business. We build our communities for a reason.