Rejection Therapy

Last Thursday, I packed three glucose monitors into my backpack and walked to a 2,000-person night market thinking, "How hard could it be to sell just three of these?"

Turns out, very hard.

I spent 45 minutes pacing up and down the street pretending like I was looking for the right spot when I was really just stalling. I couldn't bring myself to talk to anyone. Right next to me was a guy pushing a shopping cart trying to sell... a puppy, and he was doing better than me.

I told myself not to bitch out because I was already there, so I raised my right hand in the air, glucose monitor in hand, and shouted, "Who wants to try a glucose monitor!?"

Not a single person acknowledged my existence except the one guy who said, "What the hell is a glucose monitor?" No sales, lots of weird looks, but I learned something important: I needed a way better way to break the ice.

The next morning, I bought a spin the wheel from Amazon, took a lot of almonds and fruit snacks from the office I work at, and set up a folding table on Polk Street Saturday and Sunday afternoons. I had the great idea of spinning the wheel and offering whoever spun the wheel almonds, fruit snacks, fruit bar, or a chance to win a half price glucose monitor assessment.

Thankfully, no one won the half-price glucose monitor assessment. But I did quickly run out of food and snacks with this strategy. But the pitch was getting better, it pulled more people in, and I was starting to figure out what to say, who was interested, and how to frame it so it made sense quickly. That only happened because I heard "no" 87 times. (But who's counting?)

I didn't write this to brag about hustle. I wrote it to show how scary stuff like this can be even when you've done significantly harder and scarier things in your life. I've spoken with 200 people at a cold plunge event. I've hosted parties and pitched ideas on stage, but for some reason, walking up to strangers and trying to sell something they didn't ask for is absolutely terrifying.

But this is how I learned the only way to get over the fear of rejection is to get rejected over and over again

By the end of the weekend, I still hadn't made a sale, but I wasn't scared anymore, and the yips were gone.

So now you know what I'm calling rejection therapy. Intentionally putting myself in situations where “no” is almost guaranteed. That's how I train the part of me that is afraid. Instead I didn't think my way out of the fear I expose myself to it until I realized nothing bad happens when someone says no to you.

Go get some rejection therapy, a yes will come sooner than you think.

You’re Awesome,

Jared

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