When X Doesn't Mark The Spot. Dealing With Failure Or Rejection In Your Business.

“Oh, Rats.”

I imagine that Stephen Spielberg said this to himself when he found out that he'd been turned down to make the next James Bond movie.

It was 1977. He told his friend George Lucas about the rejection, and together they decided to take a crack at making their own daring, handsome hero to melt people's faces off at the movies:

Indiana Jones.

(Of course Sean Connery had to later play Indy's father in “Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade"; Indiana Jones was his progeny in more ways than one!).

So here's my question:

(Well, aside from asking whether you caught the “Last Crusade” quote I began this email with…).

What if Stephen Spielberg had given up after that rejection? 

What if he'd assumed that his dream of making a James Bond movie was the only way to create this kind of character?

As solopreneurs, we often think we have a clear picture of what we want our end-product to look like. 

Sometimes we face rejection or failure; sometimes the Grail we're seeking tumbles into the crevasse, never to be seen again.

But more often than people realize, the backup plan or the “second-string” version ends up being better than the original goal. 

When I first started business coaching, I assumed I had to create a big, scaled operation to make money, so I tried to start a complex membership program from scratch.

It didn't fit my strengths, nor my ideal clients' needs, so it never took off. 

I had barely any money left to refund the handful of people who'd bought memberships, so I offered a substitute: They could choose to apply their refund to 1-1 coaching sessions instead. Thankfully everyone said yes.

It was during those sessions that I discovered how much I love individual coaching: how impactful it is to customize sessions to people's needs and use my therapy-background to tackle the emotional side of business-building.

And thus, out of failure, my current, thriving coaching practice began.

Sometimes your “Indiana Jones” reality surpasses your “James Bond" dream.

So take action, even if it doesn't go well. Let your inspiring vision move you forward, accepting that the end product may look different from what you originally pictured on the map. 

In the words of Indiana Jones, “X never, ever marks the spot." 

But that's okay. 

You'll still find treasure, and maybe even have a rollicking adventure in the process.