No is one of the hardest words for most people to hear. We want what we want, and when don\’t get what we want, we can feel angry, hurt, sad or disappointed.
As a young man breaking into sales in the early 90\’s, I was tossed into survival-of-the-fittest situations. The managers at my company didn\’t care who made sales. They just wanted sales. And they knew that whoever was able to hear the word \”no\” again and again were the ones most likely to get to \”yes.\”
It takes a lot of fortitude and persistence to push through all the no\’s to get to yes.
It takes courage to turn a no into a yes.
And it takes creativity and ingenuity to embrace no as a welcome obstacle that is seen as a blessing in disguise.
I\’ve discovered that opportunity is often shrouded by the obstacles placed in our path. And when we recognize those opportunities, the doors that can open before us are often bigger and better than the ones we initially knocked on.
I\’ve got three examples I\’ll share with you to illustrate my point.
In 2009, I was served legal papers by a competing application company stating that I unfairly made sales of my app through unscrupulous means. The company demanded that I send them $50,000 in order to make things right.
Rather than pay them for something they didn\’t deserve or quietly manage the issue, I contacted my lawyer and suggested that we make a public spectacle of the whole thing.
The result was more media coverage than ever before, which included a segment on John Stewart\’s The Daily Show.
In 2010, I submitted an app to the iTunes appstore which Apple rejected. Rather than put my tail between my legs and give up, moving on to the next project, I decided to create a video appeal directly to Steve Jobs. Accompanied by a press release, the story got picked up by major tech publications, the video was viewed tens of thousands of times, and my app was approved into the app store a short time thereafter.
And just this week, Facebook illegitimately closed my account. It\’s been re-opened, but I\’m grateful for the experience. By reaching out to the right people, I was contacted by a real living, breathing person at Facebook. I now have a contact at the mysterious headquarters so I may address my concerns and have them managed in a more personal manner.
Getting served papers and being threatened by a competing app company opened the doors to an opportunity to get more media coverage than I thought possible.
Getting rejected by Apple allowed me to publicly tell a story that I never would have crafted had the app been accepted.
And having my Facebook account closed became the doorway to making contact with someone at the company. It was totally worth it.
These are just a few of my personal experiences, but I\’ve got many more to share.
The bottom line is this.
How you view your obstacles has a lot to do with how successful you will be. When you hit a wall, put a big smile on your face, think about how you can make lemonade out of your lemons and seize the opportunity that is before you.
Be thankful for the obstacle and watch it become a pogo stick that will take you higher
What obstacles have you faced which you discovered to be the greatest opportunities? Please share your story with me in the comments below!