I wanted to build on my recent emails about marketing and switch gears to talk about the step beyond – actually selling your product and how to overcome the fear of selling.
Without a doubt, this has been one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced in building my business, and I still struggle with it sometimes now.
Before launching the Part-Time YouTuber Academy back in 2020, I had this visceral aversion to the idea of “selling.” I genuinely believed that selling was somehow bad or manipulative, and in my head, I’d conjured up this image of walking into a dodgy used car dealership where someone’s trying to pressure me into spending $20k on a car I don’t need and can’t afford.
That association made me deeply uncomfortable with the idea of asking people to buy anything from me.
Fast forward to today and a few months ago, I did a whole month of one-on-one sales calls with prospective Lifestyle Business Academy students. They went really well and I actually really enjoyed them.
But that doesn’t mean my fear has completely disappeared – it’s just that I’ve learned to work with it rather than let it stop me.
And the thing is, selling will probably always feel at least a little bit scary, especially when you’re just starting out.
Why? Because you’ll need to put yourself out there publicly on social media if you’re going down the content marketing route, or reach out to strangers if you’re doing one-on-one sales.
You’ll have conversations where people say “no” to what you’re offering. You’ll risk looking foolish or being judged by others, and you’ll need to claim the identity of “entrepreneur” in front of friends and family who might not understand exactly what you’re doing.
That’s a lot to face all at once, especially if you’ve never done it before. And for me personally, I was particularly afraid of rejection and looking stupid.
But there’s one thing that really helped me reframe my relationship with these emotional hurdles.
A few years ago, I recorded a podcast with Noah Kagan, author of Million Dollar Weekend, and during our conversation, he mentioned this exercise where you basically ask for discounts at coffee shops – not because you need the discount, but purely to practice getting comfortable with hearing the word “no.”
It honestly sounds ridiculous, and trust me, I know exactly how you’re feeling… even just thinking about going into a local coffee shop and asking for a random discount makes me literally start sweating 😅
Yet Noah practices this “coffee challenge” all the time. He’ll even go to hotels and ask for free upgrades or do the same when he’s boarding a flight.
He does this because when you’re practicing rejection in situations where it genuinely doesn’t matter, it makes it way easier when the stakes are higher, like asking someone to buy your product or service.
And Noah’s really bullish on the idea that if you want to succeed in business, it’s really important to get comfortable with asking for things, being rejected, realising it’s okay, and then moving forward.
The other thing I constantly remind myself is that when someone says no, they’re not rejecting me as a person. They’re saying no to my business, my offer, or the specific thing I’m proposing at this particular moment in time, and that distinction is crucial.
Once you separate your self-worth from your business outcomes, rejection becomes significantly less paralysing and you can keep making progress in your business without spiralling into self-doubt.
So if you’re sitting on a business idea but the thought of actually selling something makes you want to hide under the covers – I totally get it. I’ve been there and I’m still working through it myself. (To this day, I still haven’t asked for a discount at a coffee shop… sorry Noah 🫣).
But the fear of selling definitely gets smaller every time you face it and realise that being rejected isn’t that bad in the grand scheme of things.
Plus, every successful entrepreneur has felt this exact fear and done it anyway. The only difference is they took action despite the fear.
I’d love for you to let me know whether any of this resonates with you. Feel free to also share your biggest fear (or fears) when it comes to selling. Is it rejection? Looking stupid? Or something else entirely?