I’ve been doing this 10 With Tom interview thing here and for the Huffington Post, and I’ve noticed something interesting with the people I interview. They are not shy about asking for changes to the questions, content or even publication dates. I’ve been interviewed many times myself and it never dawned on me to ask for anything, except a few years ago, I would ask publications to refer to me as Tom Falco, cartoonist, rather than writer or editor.

I’ve had subjects for 10 With Tom ask me to remove certain things and to replace certain questions and to change a word here or there and to even publish on certain dates to coincide with something they were promoting. I don’t mind, I’m not doing investigative journalism, so I’m glad to do it, but I learned from these successful people to ask for what you want.

I used to have a boss so many years ago. He used to tell us in the advertising department of the newspaper we worked for, “Ask or you won’t get. Ask 10 people and maybe one will say yes.”  Words to live by.