Rejection is only for people that try

If you're not getting rejected, you're not really trying

Some entrepreneurs like to gloat about their successes. Me, I like to brag about how often I've been rejected. And with the number of times people have shut me down, I have a lot to talk about. Unfortunately many entrepreneurs don't share my brazen approach to utter failure. They look at their own failure and rejection as a Scarlet Letter to be worn shamefully which is a bunch of bull! As far as I'm concerned, if you’re not getting turned down, you're not really trying. And the only thing you should ever be ashamed of is not trying.

Rejection Represents Potential

Let me start by explaining what's so great about rejection and why you should take advantage of every opportunity to seek it out. Rejection delineates the limits of your potential. Said differently, until you get rejected, you don't really know how much potential you have.

I learned this lesson not in the office, but in the weight room. For the longest time I thought the limit of my bench press topped out around 225 pounds. To me that seemed like a lot of weight to keep off my chest, and so I assumed that my potential stopped there.

One day, a friend of mine challenged me to push more weight. We slapped 275 pounds on the bar he told me to give that a shot. In this case, lifting the bar wasn’t my only concern, I was afraid of crushing my whole body in the process! Two things happened when I took that leap. First, I pulled and strained just about every muscle north of my waist (I was sore for weeks). And second, I benched 275 pounds.

So I did what any ambitious entrepreneur would – I put on more weight. We jumped up to 305 pounds and I got ready to test my potential one more time. It took about one second to learn that 305 pounds was well beyond my potential – I'm an entrepreneur, not an NFL running back.

I didn't limp away that day ashamed of not lifting 305 pounds. I was ashamed that I hadn't tried it sooner. Until I pushed myself to utter failure and rejection, I never really knew just how much was possible.

My Goal – Utter Rejection
Since that moment in the weight room, my goal has been to get rejected as often as possible. I've come to embrace rejection as the only goal that is worth fighting for. Anything less than utter rejection means I've left something behind or gave less of myself to my goals. Nowadays I want to get rejected in everything that I do.

I want to get rejected when I call on new customers. I want to present prices that are far higher than they are willing to pay. My fear is not the word “no” when it comes to price, it’s the word “yes” while wondering if I charged enough.

I want to get rejected when I present to investors. I want them to think that my plan is overly optimistic, and that my financial projections are far too aggressive. I fear only two words from an investor – “reasonable” and “conservative”. If I’m ever called either of these things I'm going to storm out of the room ashamed.

I want to get rejected by the media when I write about startups. I want them to think my approach to startups and entrepreneurship is far too pessimistic and polarizing for mainstream businesspeople. If my editor stops rejecting my submissions I’m going to get pretty upset. If I stop getting letters from entrepreneurs complaining that I’m shooting down their blue sky dreams of entrepreneurship I’m hanging up my spurs.

I don't fear the failures that others would fear. I fear the implications of what acceptance leaves on the table.

Rejection Builds Great Companies
If you want to trade war stories with me, don't sell me your success stories. Success whispers little about who you are. Utter rejection and the ability to bounce back is what really make an entrepreneur.

What makes the entrepreneurial mindset so much different than that of your average worker is that an entrepreneur not only embraces risk, they embrace rejection. For every documentary that you read about the birth of a great company, there are endless stories about the failure and rejection the entrepreneurs faced to reach that destination of greatness.

Great companies are built on rejection. They are built on the resilience of the founders who took and endless barrage of punches to the chin and kept on fighting. Seeking rejection as a goal to find greatness is the only way to maximize the potential of what you really are and what you seek to achieve.

Wil Schroter is the Founder and CEO of the Go BIG Network, the largest network of startup companies and entrepreneurs at www.goBIGnetwork.com. He is also the author of the new book “Go BIG or Go HOME”.

You Have NO IDEA...

You have no idea what you’re doing, and that’s just fine.

If you're like 99% of the entrepreneurs in the world that have never started a company before, then there is one trait you inevitably share – you have no idea what you’re doing. And that's just fine, because despite how much we pretend otherwise, none of us really know what we're doing.

Entrepreneurs are Type-A personalities comfortable taking charge and leading the way, so it generates anxiety when they realize (often without telling anyone) that despite all of their capabilities and for the first time in their lives, they really have no idea what they're doing.

If you're one of these entrepreneurs, you're probably wondering how everyone else pulls off the launch of a startup company without having the same anxieties. The reality is they don't. They're all in the same boat because none of them have ever done this before. It's all a matter of figuring out as you go.

There are lots of reasons why you have no idea what you're doing, most of which amount to the fact that you've never had this type of experience before. Realistically entrepreneurship can only be learned through a little on-the-job training. So let's take a look at why you haven't had any up until this point.

You've never started a company before. Sure, you may have worked at a small company or had a big title in your last job, but until your home equity is the company's line of credit, you've never really started a company before.

If it feels like your days and nights are consumed with anxiety and doubt, you're definitely on the startup path. Most entrepreneurs confuse this anxiety and doubt with doing something wrong, as if they could somehow avoid it. You can't.

You're jumping head first into the great unknown. There is no way to know exactly what to expect or how this trip will end. That’s why so few people begin the adventure, and those that finish it are so highly regarded.

Of course you can try to hold your head up and pretend like everything is OK, and you probably should. It's OK to realize you have no idea how this thing is going to end. It's your job to fearlessly lead your team into the black hole, even when deep down no one has any idea what’s on the other side.

You've never raised capital before
How many people do you personally know that have raised investment capital? Probably none. So how could you possibly know how the capital raising process works? You can't.

You can read books about it, you can visit Web sites, and you can ask around, but generally speaking, the process of raising investment capital is something you learn by doing, not through osmosis.

If you've never pitched a venture capitalist before, there's no reason you would have ever looked at a term sheet. There's no reason you would possibly know why some financial projections are reasonable and others are ridiculous. You have to do it, take a few in the teeth, and move past it all in order to know how it works. That's the process.

You've never been the Founder before. Maybe you've had a VP title or C-level title in your last company, but compared to the Founder, that doesn't mean squat. The difference between an executive and the Founder is that the executive can quit and go somewhere else when things go poorly. The Founder goes down with the ship.

You can no longer complain about working for the “The Man” because now you are “The Man,” and it's not always a great job. Unless you've started a company before though, there's no way to get the experience of owning every last fault and benefit of a company.

Even though everyone is expecting you to have all of the answers, there’s no way you can always know what to do next. So you do what every other startup Founder does – you guess, and hope your best guess works. We all just keep making really good bets and hope we walk away from the table ahead of the game.

Just admit it – you're lost – and that's OK
You don't need to admit to me that you're lost - I’m just as lost as you are. But at least we can both agree that we're all lost together and that there's no point in thinking we're the only ones that are dealing with the anxieties of starting a company.

The entire startup experience can be altogether humbling until you understand why you don't know what you're doing. It's because until you've actually experienced a startup, there is no way to really get any valuable startup experience.

So take heart my friends, we're all pretty much walking around in the dark. Anyone that tells you've they've got all the answers is just giving you a line of bull. There are really only two kinds of first-time entrepreneurs – those that have no idea what they're doing, and those that lie about it.

Wil Schroter is the Founder and CEO of the Go BIG Network, the largest network of startup companies and entrepreneurs at www.goBIGnetwork.com. He is also the author of the new book “Go BIG or Go HOME”.