Asking For Help.....correctly

Many people have asked me how do I get so many press features and how do I manage to get sponsors for my fashion show. Sometimes I get a little angry when I hear this. Because their tone seems to suggest that I was plain lucky and "help" just fell like rain from the sky.

Perhaps I was blessed with abit of luck. But more importantly, perseverance,and wit is essential to getting help successfully. I suffer demoralising rejections too. For every "yes" that I get, there are numerous numerous rejections which people dont see. Asking help is an art itself. Some people dont ask and wish for help so they never get it. Some people ask for help wrongly and they get ignored. Excluding loved ones and friends, people will only help you if there is a reason and usually there must be something in it for them. And you must provide the reason for them to help you.

When I approach sponsors, first I study their organisation and their clientele and find out why they have to help me and what I can offer them. The proposition must be compelling and summarised as sponsors are BUSY. Then when you are ready, the scariest thing is making a cold call. And if you are lucky, they grant you a meeting to hear you out. But this is only the beginning of a marathon. There are many layers of approvals in an organisation and you must pass thru them where each have different agendas. This process will take few months at least and rob you of your strength and stamina. The faint hearted will have given up by now. But the determined will perservere and tackle every meeting with wits till you win the battle. So this is how some people get sponsors eventually and some dont.

Applies to press features also. I have to analyse the magazine and think of interesting news angles to pitch to reporters. I write all my own press releases as I have no budget to hire PR firm which charges arm and leg. And the most exhausting part is follow up, follow up, follow up every few days with the reporters, maintaining a thin line between perservering and pesky. And I do get ignored, chided too. This is reality. But when you get a good feature, you taste the sweetness of success

There was once a film student approached me to sponsor outfits for her graduating work. I asked her why she approached me. And she said she like my outfits and thought I could reach out to the students in her school. And when I asked her what's her film about, she emailed me a script more than 30 pages long. She did 3 mistakes. Liking something is not a reason for the person to sponsor you. My clientele are mostly working executives not students. And I do not have time to read a 30 page script. And needless to say, I did not sponsor as it just did not make sense for me.