Dealing With Rejection in Business & Life

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Rejection is something we all face at some point in our business or in our life. Some of us deal with it better than others. 

In some cases, it can be a polite rejection and in other cases, it can be a sarcastic, painful insult.  It can be rejection of our love, our emotions, our values, our morals, and so on.  It can strike us where it hurts the most.

I remember when I started in my first retail sales position.  Rejection was everywhere, until I learned how to ask the right questions. I developed my skills, so that I could convert a person browsing into a buying customer. 

It’s not that easy though, especially when it’s on a more personal level. 

So, why does it bother us? 

I believe that it negatively affects our psychological well-being.  We all want to belong and rejection makes us feel less important, less loved, less of a person. 

It can make us question ourselves, and our decisions as well as reduce our self worth and self esteem. And if we are rejected in business, then our confidence in what we are promoting starts to erode away. 

People are smart. They will notice if you don’t believe in your product or service which then results into them not being interested. If this happens often enough, it can lead us to failure or quitting our business at an early stage.

Rejection affects everyone differently. 

For some it can lead to depression, for others it can lead to success.  It can temporarily reduce your IQ.   

It really comes down to how prepared you are, how you cope with it, and whether you want to fight it or give in to it.

So understanding how to deal with rejection is key to building a successful business and life. Here are some tips to consider:

1. Rejection is not about you. 

Most people take rejection personally.  We automatically assume that the rejection is about us, not about the business. 

You do not know what is going on in a person’s life, and in many cases they will not tell you.  So the rejection can be for many reasons that are not associated with you or your business.  The timing may not be right.

Once you understand that what you have to offer is not for everyone, then rejection becomes more of a confirmation.  It allows you to move on to someone else and not waste any more time with that individual. 

“A clear rejection is always better than a fake promise.” Zig Ziglar

2. Understand that rejection is good – it can make you better.

I have faced rejection in my business on numerous occasions. For example, when a prospect doesn’t show up for a meeting, or someone not texting or calling me back as they said they would, or someone deciding not to become one of my customers, or joining my team, or buying my training program, etc, etc.

So, did I quit my business?  Of course not – I learned from my experiences and became better, more knowledgeable and more confident of what I was doing and how to react to certain situations.  It made my belief in myself and my business, with even more conviction.

There are so many inspirational stories of how people dealt with significant rejection in their life and became successful.  You can be one of those stories too, as long as you keep the faith, the belief in your self and the unwavering focus on your end objective.   

3. Review your affirmations every day.

This is extremely important in reducing the impact of rejection and to maintaining a positive mindset to address rejection.  If you don’t have any affirmations, then I highly recommend you write them down and post them where you can see them every morning before you start your day.

Affirmations remind us who we are (intelligent, dynamic, etc.), what we are doing (our offering, etc.) and why we are doing it (value, lifestyle, future, etc.).  By starting with this process every day, our mind is set to take on any kind of rejection and deal with it in a positive way.

4. Seek rejection help.  

I recommend that you read motivational books and talk with your mentors. Get their perspective and knowledge on how they dealt with rejection. Listen to them and not to the naysayers, that keep criticizing you and your business.  As your business grows, your naysayers decrease, but there will always be rejection.

It is time to deal with it, positively.

In the end, dealing with rejection in business is a skill you really need to develop. It is not about you. It is not personal. Your business is not for everyone, and rejection just confirms that it is not for that person. 

Learn to not be attached to the outcome, move on, build a thicker skin, read your affirmations daily, stay motivated and be knowledgeable about it.  It is a skill that we all need to develop to be successful in business and in life.

“Rejection is nothing more than a necessary step in the pursuit of success.” – Bo Bennett  

About the author 

Deborah MacDonald

After almost 25 years as an entrepreneur, I continue to grow my business, my passive income streams and my wealth. And now I mentor others on their wealth journeys by teaching them how to fund their own freedom lifestyle.

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