Starting from No: 10 Strategies to Overcome Your Fear of Rejection and Succeed in Business

by Azriela Jaffe

Azriela Jaffe shares anecdotes from entrepreneurs and salespeople and discusses effective strategies to overcome the fear of rejection in business. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1574101226
• ISBN13: 9781574101225
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Dearborn Trade
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Another Azriela winner

There is much I like about Azriela Jaffe's writing, but what I admire most is her up-front honesty. She uses examples from her own life & from her family to 'tell it like it is'.There's no writing as though she's a guru on high dispensing wisdom that's nothing more than theory.When you read anything from Azriela, be it her books, web site, or newsletters, you get a very clear picture of the woman behind the words."Starting from 'No'" is a workbook filled with self-tests, charts, checklists, worksheets, quizzes, tips, & strategies. Everything is backed-up with examples, stories, and real life experiences. The suggestions for working though problems are down-to-earth and do-able. No 'pie in the sky' for Azriela.And the examples come from small business people, sales people, home-business owners, writers, consultants, coaches, and more. These are real people, like you & me, who have come up against the same fears, problems, & rejections & lived to tell about it.Chapters cover:=> fear of rejection & why rejection is just the word we use for fears of all kinds -- failure, success, humiliation, approval (or lack thereof), and more<p>=> how to make yourself rejection proof. What concrete things can you do to overcome the fear that cripples you?<p>=> what are your limits? Can you stretch them? Are you taking on more than you can handle & setting yourself up for failure?<p>=> the power of your mind. The only thing you have to fear is fear itself -- now who said that!?<p>=> resiliency & flexibility -- do you know when to hold fast & when to give in? Do you see yourself as a victim? Do you see negative situations as everyday occurrences, use them, & move on?<p>=> maintaining detachment -- take a step back & assess situations.<p>=> asking for referrals, building rapport, keeping yourself motivated, & knowing when to take a break.<p>=> staying in the game -- do you know the difference between temporary setbacks & when to throw in the towel?<p>Shall I go on with more examples? Nah. Just know there's much more.<p>I found so much useful information in this book. One section that caught my attention while thumbing through the book is what Azriela calls "The Jaffe 3-5 Rule". <p>Many of us were taught the '3-Foot Rule'. It means that anyone within 3 feet of you is a possible prospect.<p>Talk about pressure! I never could figure out how to bring up products while standing in line at the post office. <p>Azriela rejects this notion, too. Her '3-5 Foot Rule' has no pressure attached & reads like this:<p>"To prosper in your business, focus your efforts on no more than three to five major target markets, using no more than three to five primary marketing tools, and making the most of your three to five greatest business skills. Be sure you spend your time in three to five major business responsibilities, and if possible delegate the rest." (p. 144)<p>You're not left in the dust after this statement. Azriela walks you through a step-by-step way

A Good Book For Dealing With Rejection

Are you sitting in front of the phone, but can't stand the thought of making your daily sales calls? Are you extremely nervous before a speech you must give tomorrow and afraid someone will humiliate you? Are you feeling down because a customer criticized your product? Feeling bad because you've been voted off a desert island?Dealing with rejection is something we all need to learn. Successfully bouncing back from rejection and staying in the game is crucial to success in business and in life. If you are looking for ways to strengthen your resolve, confront rejection wisely, and bolster your self-confidence, I highly recommend "Starting from 'No'" Jaffe identifies some of the underlying psychological reasons we fear rejection, including 1) A fear of not being liked; 2) A fear of being humiliated; 3) A fear of success which might force us to "abandon our comfort zone" and 4) A fear of financial disaster.For each fear, Jaffe offers self-tests and projects to see how badly the reader is affected by the given fear. For those who fear humiliation, Jaffe suggests taking an acting or dancing class, or even trying stand-up comedy. Jaffe says you should confront your fear where you objectively have little at risk and can afford to look silly. The newfound confidence will probably transfer into your business dealings.Jaffe hits a key point, when she gives her best advice about public speaking, "When you look out at that huge sea of faces and you are scared to death about your performance, shift your focus from trying to impress the audience to how you can best serve them. When you take the focus off of yourself and place it where it belongs-on the client-you will be much more effective."Today, this is the hallmark of performance psychology. Once we start worrying about how well we are doing, we won't be at our best. Just as an actor or athlete watching and judging his performance won't be "in the moment," self-preoccupation only makes us more susceptible to feeling rejection and bringing it about.One of my favorite chapters discusses finding what motivates you in your business. It discusses the value of strengthening your motivation for success to help you overcome difficulties and rejection. Jaffe writes about positive motivation (moving toward a dream goal, for example) and negative motivation (moving away from something, needing to prove your worth to others, for example).However, rather than just saying negative motivations are bad, Jaffe shows us how some negative motivations can help propel a person toward success. It is a matter of accepting a balance among all of the forces motivating you. Jaffe writes, "Although positive visualization and goal setting is essential to business success, the drawback to positive motivations is that they can be vague, elusive, and not powerful enough to get you to do what you need to do today to succeed." Too true!!Peter Hupalo, author of "Thinking Like An Entrepreneur"

Starting from 'No' : 10 Strategies to Overcome Your Fear

This is a great book, with many helpful business ideas. What is great about this book is that in every chapter there is a section that says try this, and some of these ideas are very good and ideas that I am looking forward to trying.

Interesting, user-friendly, packed with useful suggestions.

I loved this book. Not only was it interesting and easy to read, the suggestions offered were y useful for life's rejections as well as business. I appreciated the self-tests at the beginning to help me analyze what I am most afraid of (i.e. cold calling, rejection from a friend) and suggestions on how to deal with these. The cartoons were delightful and the "Try this" section at the end of each chapter gave me specific goals to work on to deal with the fears. I admire Ms. Jaffe's openness about her own family's difficulties in starting a business and appreciated the stories gleaned from 120 interviews with business owners. This book was recommended to me by a fellow intrepeneur and I will certainly pass it on to others. Deb K.

More powerful than a thousand books on sales motivation.

Keep trying and you will eventually succeed at whatever it is you are trying to accomplish. My 25 years of experience as a salesman and entrepreneur has proven this axiom to be true, but how does one persist in the face of constant rejection? Azriela Jaffe has the answer in her new book, Starting from "No": 10 Strategies to Overcome Your Fear of Rejection and Succeed in Business. She first explains the origins of our fears of rejection. These can be as different as are our personalities and life experiences. Understanding the origins of our fears of rejection ultimately gives us an understanding of the integral role rejction plays in success. This understanding provides the foundation from which to attack our fears of rejection. Ms. Jaffe provides numerous strategies and techniques for overcoming our individual fears of rejection. These strategies and techniques are gleened from the experience of seasoned salespeople and entrepreneurs. This stuff really works in the real world. The book is comprehensive in that it discusses forms of rejection we may not even recognize such as customer complaints. I would trade a thousand books on sales techniques and motivation for this one book because all of the techniques and motivation in the world will be ineffective unless a person has an understanding of the role rejection plays in success. Starting From "No" not only provides the reader with that understanding, it gives the reader the tools to transform rejection into a force that drives success.