Years ago, I took my car into a local gas station for service. As I was about to hop on my bike for the short ride home, a white Mercedes wagon pulling a small boat stopped just beyond the pumps. A short man jumped out of the car and headed toward the office. As he approached, I realized in amazement who it was: Jason Robards. And he was hopelessly lost.

I screwed up the courage to greet this movie legend as he approached me with that familiar gait. He put his hands in his pockets, looked me straight in the eye, and said in that unmistakable Jason Robards' way: "How the hell do you get to Centerport?" Holy sightings, Batman, I was directing Jason Robards!

I recall this story because being able to ask for directions has a lot to do with running a business. As an actor, Robards evidently knows the value of good directions. At any rate, he wasn't too proud to ask.

The stereotype is that men won't stop to ask the way, no matter how lost they are. Not me -- not anymore. I, too, ask for directions. Does that make me a better man or more of a woman? Let's not go there.

Anyway, this wasn't the case before I started my business. The secure embrace of the corporate mother ship can give you a false sense of infallibility, which extends outside the office: "Hey, I manage 40 people. I'm not about to puncture my ego and ask a perfect stranger which way to go. I can do this." Meanwhile, you're running in circles -- not unlike some corporations.

There are many things involved in this change in character. But the most important is that I now do whatever it takes to achieve my small-business goals, even admitting that I'm lost. The fact is, business isn't for the shy or the overproud. Clients will cure you of pride, and the need to keep your business going will overcome shyness forever.

Several weeks ago, I was turned down by a local bank for a line of credit. It seemed to me at the time that I had no recourse. After a few days of thinking about this, however, I realized how foolish I was to stop pursuing my goal. So I wrote a letter to the president of the bank, pointing out that its marketing about catering to small business was hype when you considered what had just happened to me.

I didn't know it at the time, but two days after the president received my letter, the bank held an executive dinner for all its branch managers. Guess who mentioned my letter to the person who runs my local branch? My request is now being "reviewed and presented again." I still don't think the bank will give me the loan, but at least it's alive. Plus, a competing bank has offered to look at my request, so I have a better chance of achieving my goal than I did a few weeks ago.

The truth is, you don't get anything in business unless you speak up and ask for it, exhausting all the angles several times. Swallowing a "no" and retreating into yourself is like driving around in circles for hours because you think you'll lower yourself by asking for help.

Thank you, Mr. Robards.

George Giokas is the president and CEO of StaffWriters Plus, a specialty agency that places writers in temporary and permanent positions with corporate and other employers. It also provides editorial consulting work. His database includes 2,500 writers and editors specializing in more than 60 categories. His Web site is located at www.staffwriters.com, and you can E-mail him at george@staffwriters.com.