Strategy #10: Earn your whale skin — the art of handling rejection.
“Earn your whale skin” this mantra has been uttered to me many times throughout my business career purely because there is no other way to go about it. It’s a symbol for your ability to handle rejection and move on within seconds without dwelling on it too hard. Your ability to handle rejection is what is going to see you through some of your toughest hurdles, accepting rejection for what it is, nothing more than just words and emotions — people’s emotional reaction to what you are offering — not a personal affront to who you are. Rejection is a necessary part of growing your personal business as it gives you the opportunity to overcome it, discover what is holding your customers back from making the purchase and moving forward with the buying conversation.
How to make this actionable:
Doing more to solicit rejection is going to be the fastest route to growth for this skill. Simply doing more, more prospecting, asking for the sale, asking more questions, asking for the sale again, asking for recommendations, asking for collaboration, asking for partnership, these are all going to solicit rejection. You do however have to put yourself in the position where that can be a possibility — most people shell up and fear rejection — this is the wrong action set to take. Rejection is going to happen, accept it as emotional reaction, and move on. You should see rejection as something that inches you closer to your goal every single day. If you make $1000 on every transaction and 100 people reject you before you earn that sale — think of every rejection as a $10 bill. Make it a goal to get rejected and have the literal physical reaction of “I understand (3 second pause)… ok… who’s next!”
Strategy #11: Master the art and science of “doing” and getting more done.
In the same way that rejection will allow you to master production, simply doing is going to help you master your production, dominate your competition and grow. Action is the mother of production. Taking action and doing are going to get you farther ahead in life, far faster than those that follow the mantra of “study first.” What I mean by this is simple, learning about what to do and what not to do beforehand is not the only path to business success! As a matter of fact it is probably one of the slowest, most expensive, and most inefficient paths that you can take. Instead of spending $20,000 learning how to develop website from your local college over a 2 year program (which is time expense and money expense) you could simply go to YouTube, and learn how to program something from start to finish for less than $1000. Learn how to run Search Engine Optimization for less than $100. Then learn basic to intermediate graphic design for less than $500 with a significantly shorter time investment as well. Most people don’t see “studying” for what it is… expensive procrastination.
Taking action, even if it is in the wrong direction is still better than studying about it and then taking action. At least, you’re going to learn that you are headed in the wrong direction along your path to success much faster than someone who might learn about it in a traditional education setting after a year or two of study. Discovering that you’re headed in the wrong direction from the art of doing will allow you to immediately correct course and take a different series of actions that will move you closer to your goals — without the added expense of having to sit through another 3 months of classes because you chose the wrong class, the wrong major, etc. You see — making mistakes, failing, is ultimately what is going to see you through your greatest hurdles and put you on the path to your greatest achievements. The great secret, fail faster than the person next to you!
Making this actionable:
Again, “action is the mother of productivity” — I can hear some of you saying “But I don’t know where to start” this is not what is important. Simply starting, doing what you think MIGHT be right and attacking it with action is better than worrying yourself into inaction. Get to work, go and “screw it up” and enjoy the bloody process along the way! I promise you, if you take a learners mindset, you wont be able to lose!
What do you think? Do you agree, disagree? Do you think there is a better way to grow in business?
Please Comment below! I would love the discussion!
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