Have you ever been fired? Have you ever wondered how to overcome being fired?
Getting ‘fired’ is a scary word. It’s just another NO, however, we know how to handle the word NO. As entrepreneurs in those 24/7 sales jobs, we know that hearing a NO is inevitable. And, when we hear a NO, we learn how to bounce back from the NO.
I’ve heard NO quite a few times in my entrepreneurial journey.
A job I had in college told me NO.
My job at a mortgage company told me NO.
FITzee Foods even told me NO!
And, I’ve certainly experienced my fair share of NO’s when it comes to enrollment sales calls I do.
However, each of those NO’s sent me on a different phase in my journey, and each has created new opportunities for me. I learned how to get better after each firing and NO I heard.
I wouldn’t have my career today, training entrepreneurs to be more successful in sales, if I hadn’t heard NO!
It just so happens that hearing “you’re fired” was one of the best NO’s that I could ever hear.
Alice Lewis, a guest on the Success Unfiltered Podcast, was working for a small startup, but she didn’t fit in with the company culture. When she was eventually fired, she was able to start her own company, and now believes that NO was the best word she has ever heard.
Alice learned how to overcome being fired!
How a NO Pushes Towards Entrepreneurship
Alice wanted to be an entrepreneur, but it wasn’t the right time. She had an idea for a business, but wasn’t ready to make that leap.
She had a job with a small startup company, as one of their two employees. While she was passionate about the work that she did, Alice wasn’t a fit with the company culture.
When the founders fired her, Alice knew that it was time…
She started her own company, Alice’s Table, to help female entrepreneurs have a place to connect and encourage each other.
It wasn’t easy. Being fired from a company leaves you floundering, not knowing when you’re going to get paid next.
To keep the lights on, Alice took on whatever odd jobs she could. She even sold flower arrangement subscriptions to friends and family, to help keep ahead of her finances.
“If you really care about your passion enough,” Alice says, “Don’t be afraid to find the scrappy things. Even though it wasn’t part of the vision of Alice’s Table, it’s what I had to do to start the business that I that I wanted to start.”
In the end, learning how to conquer being fired and hearing NO helped push Alice to take that leap of faith and go out on her own. NO was one of the best things that could have happened to her!
In the Face of NO, How to Overcome Being Fired
Being fired is just another form of NO, right? Instead of being a NO from a pitch or a future client from a sales call, you’re hearing NO from the job that you already have!
How can you help your mindset in the face of that NO?
Have Confidence in Your Abilities
Hearing NO can be completely devastating! Often, we take NO personally, and have an emotional response, our self-confidence is often shaken.
Take time after hearing NO to look at yourself, look at what you have to offer, and…
Learn Where You’re Lacking
Sometimes entrepreneurs hear a NO because they don’t have certain skills or abilities. If that’s the case, and you’re passionate about coming back and getting a YES, then this is easy to fix!
You can always get more knowledge and education. Go find a course, go find YouTube videos, go find a coach or mentor. They will be able to teach you what you need to know to get the YES you want!
We’re going to talk more about this later in this post, but it’s important to take time to personally learn from the NO. Taking time to think about the NO, and everything that you can learn and apply to your business is very important: so important, actually, that Alice has made it part of her weekly routine.
How “Think Time” Can Help You Learn
When you hear NO, whether it be in sales, or even being fired, it’s important to learn how to move past that NO, and ultimately being fired.
Alice shared how she takes “think time” every single week. That is time that she uses to introspect, to process, think, and learn.
She fiercely protects this time, because it helps her to be better in her business.
As CEO, after all, you have to be able to learn and lead your business effectively. When you have employees looking at you for answers, you need to confidently lead them through the process.
However, before she became CEO, Alice had to learn how to take that time to learn from her mistakes. At one point, after hearing a NO, her boss turned to her and said, “you know that you’re the problem, right?”
As devastating as that was to hear, that truth helped Alice to learn that she needed to take that time to learn and grow.
While that event happened years ago, before Alice started her own business, she applies that lesson to her own business. As CEO, she is driven to learn and grow, and part of that process is learning from both mistakes and successes.
In Conclusion
Being fired is scary. It can instantly cast doubt on your personal abilities, and cause fear about what will happen next, and how you’ll be able to pay your bills with no current source of income. However, that NO can often be the best thing that you have ever heard, and can propel you towards the life that you want to live.
So tell me: have you ever been fired, and how did that impact your entrepreneurial journey?
