Get Rejected Early and Often
In-your-face rejection is a central experience of an entrepreneur. The Masters of entrepreneurship are both familiar with it and embrace it. My wife and I are in the initial launch of our physical product business. For a half a year, we’ve interacted with manufacturers, evaluated samples, ordered our first wave of units, etc. As with any initial leap, there are anxieties abound. One troubling thought that often comes to mind is “What if no one likes our product?”.
Now, we did all of the “newbie” market research — surveying family and friends — but let’s be honest, they are not the first people who are going to crush our dream project, but the general public will! I had heard of some aspiring entrepreneurs going to Starbucks, incognito, to ask patrons about their product. For me, the thought of randomly asking a stranger to give feedback on a product is more reminiscent of door to door sales rejection than a pleasant experience, but there is significant value in rejection. Ask the Master entrepreneurs. They get it.
Rejection is for the Masters
In-your-face rejection is a central experience of an entrepreneur. The Masters of entrepreneurship are both familiar with it and embrace it.
Why? Because they realize getting a firm “No” is another opportunity to gain feedback, pivot, and be one step closer to their ultimate success. Masters feed off of failure, because failure is this signal of forward momentum. It’s like getting smacked around in the ring. It’s a fight. A quick shot of pain. For the Masters, pain let’s them know they’re still alive and pushing. Hanging their gloves up isn’t an option. I’m not a Master (yet), but I’m learning the ropes.
Enter my story…
A few weeks ago, I grabbed a quick bite at Chipotle before a meet-up. When I sat down, I noticed another guy in his late 20s sitting at a table behind me. With our new product line on my mind, I immediately thought of the Starbucks test, and I made a quick glance at our car. The prototype was only steps away. Instantly, that pit of fear bubbled up for a split second, before I tried to “mind it out”. I sat, ate, and thought of what the next 3 minutes would look like after I finished. The pressure was on.
(Cue the mental cacophony.)
“Just do it.”
“Put your money where your mouth is.”
“Make it happen.”
“You’re never going to see this guy again.”
“The worst that can happen — he says, “No”.
At that point, I knew that if I didn’t act quickly, this moment of opportunity would walk out the door. I also knew that if I thought too hard about what I was going to say, fear would overwhelm me, mental wordsmithing would paralyze me. I’d end up sitting alone, no closer to my product, with only a few Chipotle wrappers as my friends.
Inaction was just around the corner.
I turned, stood up, and took the step and a half to the other fella’s table and went for it. “Excuse me, do you have a few minutes?” Looking back, I would definitely change the things I said. Better context, more clear, concise language around my purpose, etc. But in reality, the most important part of this exercise wasn’t to grab a few pointers on our product, it was to overcome my fear and put myself in a position where I get rejected. And not get rejected for anything, but rather something I’ve put myself into for a long time. With all of the entrepreneurial dreams behind me. Sound dramatic? It may be, but after working very early mornings, long night and weekends, it does become personal.
… I’m not going to become a Master without putting something on the line, particularly my pride. As an aside, I did receive good feedback on the product, too.
Join the rejection club
There’s a whole movement of people who are working to defeat the fear of rejection. They go out of their way and ask strangers for random things, often funny, knowing they will get rejected.
Some of the questions:
- Can I have $100?
- Can I pump your gas?
- Can I speak over the intercom (at a supermarket)?
Jumping in the rejection club is more than a laugh. It’s an opportunity to fight against one of our basic human instincts — the flight side of fight or flight. When you can learn to recover, pivot and move forward when you get rejected, you’ll be unstoppable.
Do you have any stories of fruitful rejection? Share it in the comments below!
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