Overcoming Obstacles in the Business World
Owning your own business isn’t an easy task, and business owners constantly come up against obstacles in their work. Whether you are dealing with day-to-day difficulties or a major market shift, as a business owner you are constantly faced with new challenges.
Jesse Jacobs, founder of Samovar Tea in San Francisco, has come up against many obstacles in starting and maintaining his business. Though Samovar has grown to four store locations and a thriving e-commerce site, Jesse faced a lot of rejection and obstacles before his ideas came to fruition.
On our recent podcast, Jesse talks through the difficulties he faced as he brought the concept of traditional tea houses to the San Francisco area and how those obstacles ultimately changed his business for the better.
Don’t Take Rejection Personally
Before starting Samovar Tea, Jesse had worked in telemarketing and door-to-door sales, so he had developed a thick skin against rejection. But even though Jesse was prepared to face criticism, it was still hard when bank after bank denied him a business loan.
Rejection is tough, even when you are accustomed to it. It can be difficult to accept when someone else doesn’t understand your goal or idea, especially when you are just starting a new venture. But if you take that rejection personally, it will be much harder to pursue your goals. Accept that you will face rejection and allow yourself to move forward toward your objectives.
Jesse found that the practice of mindfulness allowed him to look at the rejection of his business ideas with objectivity: “No doubt it’s discouraging, but with detachment it’s, ‘All right, that was a no.’ I can either get consumed by that, depressed by that, caught up in that, and project that into the future, or I can let it go and plant a seed of optimism into the future.”
Jesse used meditation and mindfulness to help him face rejection head-on without becoming discouraged by it. Practicing mindfulness allowed him to detach himself from rejection so that he was able to continue to pursue a business loan. And after 71 rejections, bank number 72 — the last bank on Jesse’s list — finally said yes.
Business owners, how do you move past a rejection or criticism? What practices help you to avoid taking negative responses personally?
Be Open to Criticism
When Jesse first began seeking out a loan for his business, he noticed that many of the banks that were uncertain about his proposal asked lots of probing questions about the logistics of Jesse’s future business. These questions, while challenging, helped finalize answers about staffing, marketing, and their menu — questions which Jesse had needed to ask, but hadn’t had time to figure out upfront.
Jesse used the uncertainty and questions from different banks to help solidify his business plan and set down concrete goals and expectations, which helped him to get his business off the ground.
When other people — friends, staff members, or potential business partners — ask questions about your plans, don’t jump to defend your ideas. Instead, use their questions as a starting point to push your business to become even better.
During our interview, Jesse talked about matcha tea and how the growing process affects the taste and potency of the caffeine. When matcha leaves are grown, they are shaded by a black mesh so that it is more difficult for them to get adequate sun.
The struggle of this process makes the leaves more flavorful and higher in caffeine, according to Jesse: “Preventing the sun from getting through to the plant at specific intervals keeps the plant slightly stunted and hungry and struggling to get to the sun, and that struggle intensifies the vibrancy of this plant.”
While uncertainty and obstacles can be frustrating, often these struggles help you ask hard questions and reevaluate your business plans for the future, which in the end can help your business to succeed.
Know what your plans are and develop tangible steps to achieve those goals. If you set concrete objectives for your business, it is easier to make those dreams come to life.
Pivot Your Focus
Sometimes it takes seemingly impossible circumstances for you to try something different. This is true in all aspects of life, but it is especially true when you own your own business.
When the pandemic first began, Jesse didn’t know how his company would survive, since his business relied on customers physically gathering in his various stores. So Jesse put all his energy toward enlarging Samovar’s e-commerce site, which customers flocked to during the shutdowns.
Samovar even began to offer a virtual tea tasting and mindfulness workshop for local tech firms such as Google, LinkedIn, and Adobe, something Jesse says they never would have done if it weren’t for the pandemic. These virtual tea tastings have benefitted not only Jesse’s company, but the many people who participate in the workshops.
Jesse loves how these tea tastings can offer people a respite from the virtual world: “It’s amazing to see the impact that bringing something as mundane as tea lights people up. And so in less than an hour, their worldview has changed. And it’s my hope that they can simply have a new practice and healthy routine.”
When obstacles arise, be open to the possibility of trying something new. Challenges can push you toward something different, something even better. Don’t let an obstacle make you lose sight of opportunities for growth in your business, because you never know what possibilities can arise from difficulty.
Coexisting with Obstacles
As a business owner, you have to accept that obstacles and rejection are a part of your life. There will always be people who don’t understand your idea or who won’t believe in you.
That’s why it is vital to look at rejection objectively, be open to criticism, and be willing to change your plans or pivot your focus to something new. Let your struggles make your business stronger.
Jesse forged ahead time and time again in the face of rejection and difficulties to make Samovar Tea a success. Don’t let challenges keep you from pursuing your goal. Instead, allow these obstacles to push you in the direction you need to go.
