When your job gets tough, focus on someone inspiring who has successfully accomplished something similar. It’s such a motivational push when you visualize the other person succeeding with the same struggle.  In my work, I admit making a cold call without an  introduction is not my favorite activity. But as it happens, I need to do this to continue to grow my business. So what helps me when I’m about to make these calls is to focus on an inspirational business owner I met. She made candles from her home and had to call the big guys if she ever wanted to grow sales. She continued calling buyers at national department chains – and they were not responding to her calls. She religiously called the large buyers for months and months enduring the agony of rejection. But she kept going because she believed in her products and in the power of aligning with a national company.

After a year, finally a new buyer on the job agreed to see her products. Sure enough after seeing and smelling her candles the company committed to buying her line for stores nationwide. That was the big break for Mei Xu, founder of the Chesapeake Bay Candle Company. It’s really inspiring how her basement business in Maryland turned into a huge success because she continued to make uncomfortable phone calls. I heard her tell this story in-person in her own words. Now I think of Mei a lot when I need a push to make that cold call. Who can you focus on? Take a little time to identify a few specific people who can help you accomplish something great.

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