Starting a new business is an exciting moment filled with hopes, opportunities and, inevitably, fears. Being a business owner means putting yourself out into the market and promoting your product or service.

To some people this seems to come naturally, but to a lot of new IT business owners, selling yourself is a frightening thought.

It's obvious that to grow your business you need to grow your exposure, and that means facing your fears of possible rejection.

Fear of rejection is the number one fear among new business owners. And fair enough, rejection is emotionally painful. We are social beings and we have a need to be liked and accepted by our peers. Rejection is tough to deal with, but it is part of running a business. Many new businesses fail because the fear of rejection cripples the owners from moving forward and reaching out; in fact fear of rejection can be the biggest obstacle to business success.

A simple strategy to help you deal with the fear is to identify the thoughts that trigger your fear, and challenge them. When the fear comes up observe yourself, notice what you say to yourself and what images you see in your mind. You will notice certain thoughts and images cause your stomach to sink. 

For example, you are about to make a phone call and you notice  you say to yourself: 

• "There are so many other IT businesses, why would they chose me.

• "He is so busy, he would not want to talk to me.”

• "I'm shy and I'm not good at selling. They'll never buy from me.

• "What if they say no?”

These statements are neither right or wrong, they are simply ideas you came up

with, but they are probably the least useful ones in terms of helping you feel good and

confident. Don't simply accept these ideas as true. Challenge them.

For example:

• "If he is busy and cannot talk to me, I can ask him when a good time to call would be

and call back then.

• "If I do not ask, answer will definitely be no. If I ask, I might get a yes.

• "I don't like to hear ‘no'. But ‘no' is the second best answer, because not knowing where I stand is the worst position to be in.”

Have fun playing with these. Remember the only limits to your  business success are those you impose on yourself.