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This is an All Ears English Podcast, Episode 191: “Just Ask For Success.” Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, where you’ll finally get real, native English conversation with your hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the ‘English Adventurer’ and Gabby Wallace, the ‘Language Angel’, from Boston, USA.

In today’s episode, you’ll find out about one surprisingly simple way to get what you want in your career and in your life.

Oh, my gosh Lindsay. We only have five more days to reach our Kickstarter goal to keep All Ears English going and to build an app to help everybody and I just – I wanna serve everybody who wants to learn English, but I’m not sure if we’re gonna make it.

Yeah, I know. And guys, if you haven’t donated to our Kickstarter campaign yet, then maybe you don’t know what the prizes are for donating. Well, if you donate at least $25, you’ll get a shout out. We’ll shout out your name on the podcast to recognize you as an awesome All Ears English listener.

That’s awesome.

If you pledge $45 or more, you’ll get a special photo of Lindsay and Gabby with a short, personalized message just to you.

You know that’s our most popular gift so far. I think that’s awesome. You guys, come check it out. See what gift you want. There are more gifts on our KickStarter page, but you’ll have to come see to find out at AllEarsEnglish.com/Kickstarter. That’s K-i-c-k-s-t-a-r-t-e-r.

Hey, Gabby, what’s shaking?

Hey, Lindsay. What’s up?

(You know), I’m feeling super motivated today by different people that I’ve talked to recently who are really pushing the boundaries of life and who are stepping out of the norm.

What we norm. Yeah. What am I talking about here? Well, I’m talking about the concept of just asking for something when you want it.

So not.

Waiting to be given something, but asking.

One of them. And also not assuming that you can’t have that thing just because maybe you don’t have the number that you need, the score, the amount of money you need. Everything in life is negotiable. Don’t you think, Gabby?

I agree 100%. Absolutely. (You know), we share some examples that would be encouraging. I know you had a great example. You were telling me about a student of yours. Can you share that?

Yeah. I have an awesome student. I’m sure he’s probably listening to this podcast right now.

So one of my students felt that – well, he didn’t have a TOEFL score that he needed, right. So… For, for getting into school or?

For getting into a school.

Into a Master’s program.

He didn’t have the TOEFL score he needed. (You know), the school lists their TOEFL score on the website, right.

Every school does that. They say, “Hey, you need this…” Since there was a minimum listed?

Right. But his score was just slightly below that.

Like, like how much below?

Oh, so about four or five points below.

Okay, okay.

So we’re not talking about 50 points, but maybe even if, (you know), like there’s no limit to this.

Anyway, so he was a few points below what the school wanted, but what he did have, the school also wanted was experience in the working world.

Experience in the business world. In American classrooms, they want you to come in and participate and use your examples from your business experience to make the class richer.

Ah, so your experience is really valuable to them because that makes their classes better for everyone.

Exactly And, so what did he do? Well, he called up the school and he said, “Hey, look, this is the situation. My TOEFL score is not exactly what you, you’re asking for, but I’ve been working the business world for whatever it is, 15, 20 years…” Yeah.

And I can share all of these examples of what I learned.” Nice.

And guess what happened?

What happened?

He got in!

That is awesome. Just because he asked, he put himself out there and I think it was reasonable. (You know), what he was asking was not irrational and so he just asked. He, he gave reasons to support his request.

I think that’s pretty key, (you know), he said he has business experience. Said he could add a lot to the class and his TOEFL score was not that low, so I think having some support when you ask makes a big difference. (Um)… Yeah, and I think the key Here is thinking about it in terms of a negotiation. (You know).

We were talking a lot about negotiation theory, how to negotiate in, in the 21st century and what you want to do, is you wanna (want to) focus on the needs of the other party.

So what were the needs of the business school? Well, the needs were they need good people in class with experience.

Absolutely.

He had that. So, of course, they’re – (I mean), n-not of course, but in this case, they let him in. So that was fantastic.

Thinking of what do you have to give and what does the other party need. I think that’s great. I actually have an example that’s a little different, but I think it goes with the theme of ‘just ask’.

I was working with a student who was studying for the IELTS and she needed a seven on the IELTS across the board, and, and we were working hard together and she got a really great score, but she was just a little bit low in the writing section. And well, she did two things, (right).

She decided to register to take the test again, but she She also submitted to her test to be re-scored. She asked them to reevaluate her writing because She knew how hard she worked, she knew her skills, and she felt like the score didn’t reflect that.

So, what happened, She took the test again, and she actually got the score that she wanted, but also, her reevaluated test also got the score that she wanted.

So she, she got her score through and through. (I mean) the point is, ask for that reevaluation.

Yeah. And in order to do, do that, we need to have the confidence to know that we’re gonna add something of value to whatever we’re asking to be accepted into, right.

So it really does start with (kind of) – even if you don’t believe in yourself, just try to believe it, just push yourself And say “Hey, I deserve this.

I have something to give that’s valuable. I’m going to ask for it.”

Yeah, Absolutely. Have another example. Actually, I was thinking about our podcast and, (you know), we have a lot of guests on here. Some people we know from, (you know), our, our connections or, (you know), our networks, but we reach out to new guests all the time. And (you know), we have to – I’ve had to overcome many ideas, “Well, I can’t, I can’t talk to them because I don’t know them,” (you know).

Right. So I just reach out and I ask. I say, “Hey, would you like to be a guest on All Ears English?” I just ask and I think 99% of the time, they say yes.

Yeah, there’s no harm in asking. (I mean), people are so busy these days that even if they read your email and they, they think, “Oh, that’s silly, why would I waste my time.” Yeah.

They’re gonna forget about you and you’re gonna (going to) forget about them in a day because we’re all so busy.

Exactly.

So who cares?

Yeah. Yeah, I think there’s a saying that goes something like, “Well, what’s the worst that can happen? Oh, they can say ‘no’,” (right).

How bad is that really?

What’s the worst that can happen?

And a final example on a more practical level, this month.

I was able to lower my phone bill by 50% because I’ve been with the same cell phone company, mobile phone company for seven or eight years and I’ve been paying my bill on time.

So I just called them up and I said, “This is ridiculous. The bill is too high.” “But I’m and I’m thinking about moving to another service provider.” Yeah.

Ad they said, “Okay, we’d, we’d like to not lose you as a customer, so we’re gonna cut your bill in half.” Wow!

Fifty percent cheaper I’m saving. I’m saving, (uh), 50% every month. So that’s a more practical life, life level thing, daily life thing.

That’s fantastic. And I think that’s, that’s actually amazing that you can save that much money by just asking.

Yeah. It’s incredible. So imagine what you guys could do in your life, for your learning, for your education, for your connections in the world and for your bill.

It’s a real shift in mentality to realize that not everything is set in stone. (You know), it’s okay to negotiate, but I do want to emphasize – because I, I know that some of you guys are great negotiators and I just wanna emphasize that, (you know), be fair and be reasonable and have support for your reasons and also, most importantly, think about the other side, for example, like we said, the university. What does the university want?

The phone company. What does the phone company want? Think about what do our guests want. Well, they wanna connect with you all, (you know). So think about what is in the other person’s interest as you go into the negotiation and I swear this will help a lot.

Yeah Always present it as something that they can win from.

Exactly Awesome.

I love this.

Thanks for listening today guys.

Thanks guys.

Remember.

Just ask.

If you wanna put your ears into English more often, be sure to subscribe to our podcast in iTunes on your computer or on your smartphone. Thanks so much for listening and see you next time.