By Paul-Miki Akpablie, co-founder & CEO at Akos Applied sciences Inc.
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As entrepreneurs, we’re usually advised to embrace failure and be taught from our errors. However what about rejection? Rejection is one thing that many people expertise frequently, whether or not it is a buyer declining to purchase our product, an investor passing on our pitch or a possible companion saying no to a collaboration.
As a first-time entrepreneur, rejection may be particularly powerful to deal with. Once I based my first firm on the age of 20, I skilled rejection firsthand. Traders advised us no, the market was typically telling us no and our suppliers had been largely telling us no. It wasn’t straightforward to embrace rejection at such a younger age, however I rapidly realized that it was an inevitable a part of the entrepreneurial journey.
Over time, I developed just a few techniques that helped me navigate rejection and use it to my benefit. The primary was to deliberately put myself in positions the place I might obtain extra “nos.” Whereas it is pure to need to keep away from rejection, searching for it out can really enable you to construct resilience over time. Simply as relationship specialists suggest relationship techniques that contain placing oneself in conditions the place rejection is extra doubtless, deliberately searching for out rejections in enterprise might help put together you for the instances when issues do not go as deliberate.
The second tactic was to attempt to have enjoyable with rejection and never take it too significantly. When one among my buddies obtained a string of rejections from VCs, he determined to take a shot for each “no” he obtained. Whereas I do not essentially suggest this method, discovering methods to make rejection much less daunting might help put issues into perspective and cut back stress.
Finally, it is necessary to do not forget that rejection is just not a mirrored image of your price as an individual or an entrepreneur. Whereas it is pure to really feel discouraged after being turned down, it is essential to take care of a development mindset and consider rejection as a chance to be taught and enhance.
So how can younger entrepreneurs be taught to embrace rejection? Listed here are just a few suggestions:
1. Search out rejection: Do not be afraid to place your self in conditions the place rejection is extra doubtless. This might imply cold-calling potential prospects, pitching to buyers who might not be an ideal match or making use of for alternatives which may be a stretch.
2. Follow resilience: While you do obtain a rejection, attempt to view it as a chance to construct resilience. Take a while to replicate on what you possibly can be taught from the expertise and how one can enhance for subsequent time.
3. Do not take it personally: Rejection is part of the method. Even probably the most profitable entrepreneurs have confronted rejection in some unspecified time in the future of their careers.
4. Discover help: Encompass your self with a supportive community of mentors, advisors and friends who might help you navigate rejection and keep centered in your targets.
5. Preserve a development mindset: As an alternative of viewing rejection as a failure, attempt to see it as a chance to be taught and develop. Ask for suggestions from those that have rejected you, and use it to enhance your product, pitch or method.
In conclusion, rejection is an inevitable a part of the entrepreneurial journey. However by studying to embrace it and use it to your benefit, you possibly can construct resilience, enhance your expertise and finally turn out to be a extra profitable entrepreneur. So the following time you obtain a rejection, do not forget that it is not the tip of the highway—it is only a detour on the trail to success.