I know asking is hard, and uncomfortable, but I feel like you are coming up with excuses to avoid the hard and uncomfortable thing. But I also suspect you know

I know asking is hard, and uncomfortable, but I feel like you are coming up with excuses to avoid the hard and uncomfortable thing. But I also suspect you know you have to do uncomfortable things to make this succeed. Asking/pulling extends the network, pushing does not. Certainly you aren't the only one reluctant to ask, but I think there's room to experiment with creative ways to ask, ones that will feel more authentic to you. Also I'm going to pull out the Lesson In Humility card.