The time was 8.00 am in my watch, the day was bright and unshaven. I was determined and totally prepared for my 60-minute cardio workout. After successfully finishing my time on the treadmill, I was moving to the Exercycle, when I met my personal trainer. I could sense that he wanted to talk to me other than the usual protein, glutamine and “how to get those 8 pack abs”. Apparently, he had a fight with his employer and he was not been treated well by his employer (He was the head trainer and has been loyal to the same gym for 9 years, yea – 9 fricking years!). The conversation was something like this,

Personal trainer: Hi Shreek, please can you do something and try to get $250,000 for starting a new gym, I will take care of everything and see to it that the gym beats every competitor in this geographical area.

Me: (Pondering to myself): My company makes $250,000 revenue after a 2-year stint. Even if I had money, would I invest in a traditional business like this, oh god what’s happened to me, why am I thinking like a bloody tech. investor?

Me: Sir, I don’t have that kind of money but the day I do have that money, I will straight away invest however right now I will have to pass…

The trainer obviously got the vibes and he left, I continued with my exercycle, thinking, how would he be feeling about this rejection, I was watching him from the glass and I could see a little pain on his face however, after about 5 minutes, I found him alright and he continued his job as if the conversation never happened.

The time was 12 noon, It was the time for a conference call with an investor, investor made us wait for 15 minutes over the phone till we decided to hang up since I had to get on a call with our long term client, after about 30 minutes, I get an email from the investor apologizing for the delay and to get on a call immediately if possible, which I obliged. After explaining about our company for about 30 minutes, the investor hung up saying, he can comment more after seeing the financials, which was again a euphemism for a “NO”. I felt a bit bitter, however being a sales guy, rejections had been a part of my everyday life! Maybe I felt bad because I felt in someway that it was the bad karma being rebound to me because of the rejection of the proposal made by the personal trainer in the morning, I needed a break – so I interviewed a prospective employee and gave him a job! There was still something which was hitting me at some corner of my brain and thats when I realized the first lesson on rejection,

1. Rejection is not personal: Entrepreneurs shouldn’t ruin their day because of a simple “NO”. Remember its not about “YOU” being personally rejected, in fact the moment, you get a rejection, it means you are one step closer to a “YES”

After a small break, which consisted of a great meal at a restaurant and beautiful women at the restaurant, I wanted to get back into action, which is what I did,

2. Move on: Yes, that’s right, pick up that phone, call the next client/investor/girl and move on in life – personal or professional. I feel, life is all about numbers. When I run a online CPM campaign, the click through ratio on the campaigns is on an average 0.1. Man, which means only one out of 100 people who see the ads click on it. Love it! I hope you got the point!

3. Knowledge is power: Most of times, rejection might mean that the other person is simply demanding for more information and it is the next step, a step closer to a “YES”. Maybe in my case, the same thing had happened, the investor had demanded for the updated financials! This is especially true when the client is more detailed oriented and to take a more calculated decision, he needs more information from you, which is what you will furnish when asked! umm- I guess, here I will write, “Applied Knowledge is power”

4. Be positive, ALWAYS!: Positivity dwells in people who have the courage to face rejections, yea, endurance comes when the mind and body tries to go that extra mile. Did you know that J.K.Rowling had faced rejections from various publishers for one year. Some pubs, din’t even bother to open her proposal letter, that’s life but we all know who J.K. Rowling is now, thats life again!

5. Ponder,analyze, improve: Self criticism and improv. is the key to every question. Learn from every meeting, denial, experience (good/bad), take mental notes and try to feed them in your grey matter forever!

The time is 11.46pm, looking back, it feels a total roller coaster ride, however that reminds of one of my fav. bands song – watch it, I am sure, you will love the video and song too!