There Is No Shortcut

There Is No Shortcut

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Colonel Sanders and rejection

A tough week for me. I received disappointing news which is playing against my 10K. It really bruised my ego as I had high hopes for the venues I was taken. My accounting 10K has a lot to do with other people’s decision to invest time into me. I can sharpen some skills on my own, but the core of my work has to be spent working for someone else.

2 things came to my mind. The first this post from Seth Godin ;

Reject the tyranny of being picked: pick yourself

Amanda Hocking is making a million dollars a year publishing her own work to the Kindle. No publisher.
Rebecca Black has reached more than 15,000,000 listeners, like it or not, without a record label.
Are we better off without gatekeepers? Well, it was gatekeepers that brought us the unforgettable lyrics of Terry Jacks in 1974, and it's gatekeepers that are spending a fortune bringing out pop songs and books that don't sell.
I'm not sure that this is even the right question. Whether or not we're better off, the fact is that the gatekeepers--the pickers--are reeling, losing power and fading away. What are you going to do about it?
It's a cultural instinct to wait to get picked. To seek out the permission and authority that comes from a publisher or talk show host or even a blogger saying, "I pick you." Once you reject that impulse and realize that no one is going to select you--that Prince Charming has chosen another house--then you can actually get to work.
If you're hoping that the HR people you sent your resume to are about to pick you, it's going to be a long wait. Once you understand that there are problems just waiting to be solved, once you realize that you have all the tools and all the permission you need, then opportunities to contribute abound.
No one is going to pick you. Pick yourself.



The second, the story of Colonel Sanders or the Kentucky Fried Chicken(KFC) old man. This a guest post from American Underdog.

He started travelling by car to different restaurants and cooked his fried chicken on the spot for restaurant owners. If the owner liked the chicken, they would enter into a handshake agreement to sell the Colonel's chicken. Legend has it that Colonel Sanders heard 1009 "no's" before he heard his first "yes".

Ok, let me repeat that.

He was turned down one-thousand and nine times before his chicken was accepted once!

The deal was that for each piece of chicken the restaurant sold, Sanders would receive a nickel. The restaurant would receive packets of Colonel's secret herbs and spices in order to avoid them knowing the recipe. By 1964, Colonel Sanders had 600 franchises selling his trademark chicken. At this time, he sold his company for $2 million dollars but remained as a spokesperson. In 1976, the Colonel was ranked as the world's second most recognizable celebrity.

So you may ask ; How did I react to the rejection? I believe that if something fails, it is because you had a part in its failure. Maybe I was too confident. Maybe my pitch was too strong. Sometimes, external factors such as being too experienced for a certain position or fear that you are overqualified might interfere with your great intentions. In my case, it was both.

When I deal with failure, the only logic response that comes to my mind is; reaction. Take another step, try another approach and reflect on what went wrong .Most importantly, do not dwell on this failure ,make the most out of it.

I guarantee you that I will have better news soon.

Cheers,

Yvens


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