Leverage is making it hard for people to say no to you. Build it before you ask for anything.

Getting a yes is rarely about the wording of the ask. It is about what already exists when you ask: the work people have seen, the times you showed up, the fact that saying no costs them something. That position is built quietly over months. Asking with nothing behind you is just hoping.

Think about what you will want in six months and start building toward it now. Be useful to the people who will decide, do the thing nobody else wants, become the obvious choice before the choice comes up. Then when you ask, you are not persuading anyone, you are collecting.