I recently starting coaching one of my mentors around her abundance mindset. She has a fear of rejection when it comes to asking for money and we’re working together to help her get over it.
(Ironically, I don’t really care about getting rejected in business and I never really have, but she has to help me deal with rejection in my personal life. I consider this an example of what happens when people who need each other work together.)
The fear of rejection in business is major for people. It’s one of the reasons so many great ideas go unfinished or unseen. Unfortunately, it’s the name of the game if you want to run a business. The truth is you’ll likely go through a lot of rejection before you start seeing some success.
Seeing as how that’s the case, here are some of the tips I’ve shared with my client on how to get over the fear of rejection in business.
Realize it’s not personal.
There is absolutely nothing personal about asking for money and not getting it. It’s just a piece of paper (or numbers on a computer screen).
The truth is we’re the ones who inject emotion and meaning into money. If someone rejects our offer we’re the ones going into a tailspin over how it’s a rejection of us as a person when nothing could be further from the truth.
So the next time you start questioning your self-worth because someone rejected your quote, just remember that a piece of paper can never really be equal to your worth as a human.
You’ll eventually reach a tipping point.
Once you’ve had enough doors slammed in your face, you eventually reach a tipping point.
This is the moment when some of those previous no’s turn into yeses.
It’s the moment when you quote bigger numbers and you actually get it.
It’s the moment where you’ve been in the game long enough to have built some clout.
The thing you have to remember is you have to go through the tough spots first. You don’t get to the good parts without experiencing some rejection first.
You’re building thicker skin.
There’s always a lesson to be had and learning how to handle rejection is no example.
Twitter trolls and nasty Instagram comments don’t really get under your skin once you’ve been rejected in your business enough times. You literally just don’t care because you have more important things to worry about.
If there’s one thing that rejection in business as taught me it’s to discern when something is a big deal versus when it’s not. For example, a Twitter troll is not a big deal. Not even someone ripping me to shreds on their Facebook business page is a big deal.
What is a big deal is making sure I’m moving my business forward by any means necessary, so I don’t really have time to get in my feelings.
I’ve also learned how to be a better closer thanks to all the rejection I went through in the beginning of my business.
Have compassion.
One thing that helped me get over my own fear of rejection was to learn how to have compassion for potential clients.
Making financial decisions is not easy. I know that because I have to make them all the time. With that being said, if it’s not easy for me then it’s certainly not easy for someone on the other end of my proposal.
By remembering that, I’m actually able to create the space where they feel more comfortable talking money. And lo behold, being able to do that more often than not leads to getting paid in the end.
