I am sure we have all been in a position where we have been working hard to accomplish something; you invest hours and hours into reaching a goal, finishing a project, studying for an exam… only to find that as you are nearing the finish line you start to question yourself.

You start to wonder: am I good enough, smart enough, will people listen to or like me…

Self-doubt creeps into the back of your mind and you start to question yourself.  You start to lose confidence in your ability to carry through to your goal.

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Earlier in my professional life I had a fear of rejection. 

I think it might have had to do with how I was trained at a large accounting firm that I previously worked for.  At that firm, we were required to report every week how many new people we met, where we met them, and how successful we were in getting them as a new client.  Not that I wasn’t able to talk to people; on the contrary, I am very personable and can talk to anyone in almost any situation.  However, if we didn’t get them as a client, we had to explain why and what we could have done better.  It got to the point where I started to really dislike reporting my activities because you had to explain why you weren’t always 100% successful.

One day, after I started my own firm, a salesman, with whom I had been doing business for quite awhile, came into my office.  Because I always enjoyed learning other people’s strategies for getting new clients, sometimes he and I would sit and talk about sales techniques. 

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