Editor’s note

Just a reminder, I sometimes use this medium to ramble and this may very well be one of those occasions. Over time, you will see other editors ramble here as well.

I was told recently by a friend that I am great at prospecting, while she cannot do it, she is too afraid of rejection. I have a secret to tell you? I am great at starting stuff, a great organizer, a great motivator, great at idea generation, but I have a massive fear of interviews, tests and being rejected. Yes, I am afraid, and yet I am in school long enough to get my doctorate (lots of tests), need to prospect many strangers/entrepreneurs for the magazine (interviews and rejections). At the start of the magazine, I could only get two persons to say yes. For each person who said yes, there was a hundred requests that went out. Eventually, I must ask twenty persons for each yes. The probability of receiving yeses are increasing and getting better, with the success of the magazine; however, I am still getting rejection all around. So why and how do I keep doing this?

I know many persons who do not try because of fear, but here is the thing, the very dream you want the hardest has an obstacle called fear, I do not care who you are. This magazine allows me to combine and execute my many passions, which are learning, helping people, business consulting and entrepreneurship. Safe means building someone else’s dream and that is just silly. I may end up putting in the same amount of work but have fewer rewards. We all have strengths and passions, focus on those, focus on developing your zeal and your strengths and use someone else to help with the fear. At first, I felt crushed that very few believed in my vision, especially those who said they would help, but they did not. I eventually realized that they did not know how to help or just could not. Some did not even hear my call for help. Eventually, I did not care enough to feel fear when faced with no. If one person said no, I asked someone else, it is all part of the job. Fear of rejection was reframed into something else. In the meantime, negate your fear with your strengths and your passions.

KAREN M. LOWE Executive Editor Stay Motivated!