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Lessons Learned from Getting 1,000 Rejections in 5 Days

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

By AceadiaPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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You know those annoying people that stop you in the middle of the street to ask you for something?

Yeah, that was me these past two weeks.

I recently picked up a side gig canvassing for signatures. I basically just asked strangers everywhere if they would like to sign a petition to help someone get on the ballot.

In this process, I was able to receive over 700 signatures. But what did it really take to get those 700 signatures? More than 3,000 rejections.

But here's what I learned from that experience:

1) When you're not getting the YES you want, it can mean a couple of things

  • You're not getting enough NO's. I met a friend who was also canvassing, and he told me, “For every seven NOs there’s three YESes'”
  • You need to change your approach. When I was on the streets asking people walking, I would get a disproportional amount of rejections, rather than when I went up to people who were stopped and waiting for something.
  • You need to grow a little. The script I was given to speak to people was, "Are you a registered voter? I'm trying to—" But after a quick research through google, I learned most people would assume I was asking for money. So I learned to change my script to, "Would you like to sign a petition to help....?" People, more often than not, just said YES.

2) "Hi would" "— NO"

Sometimes when people reject or judge you they just already had an image before hand and don’t know the full story. Some people think you’re asking for money, some people just are busy or overwhelmed. Some people are not feeling well on the inside. Sometimes people think they know what you’re doing if they have an preset assumption about you so they automatically say NO. You can’t let rejection stop you because it’s so small and one person can never know everything about you your full story and all you have to offer

3) The world's reactions to you can be diverse.

In canvassing, I experienced many NOs, many "I'm not sure, if I'd like to sign, tell me more about the candidate," and many YESes. Everyone's different responses can help you in seeing that nothing is ever personal.

4) Your job is not to avoid the NOs, it’s to find the YESes.

There are rejections all around. But there are acceptances and YES' all around as well.

5) Sometimes you get 5 YESes in a row sometimes you get 20 NOs in a row.

But no matter how many NOs you get, that never stops the YESes hidden all around you... they’re still there.

6) After a while it’s just a numbers game, YES or NO.

People can be mean and yell at you; I’m focusing on finding my next YES.

7) Meet every rejection with kindness and appreciation, you leave more people happy.

I never mean to actually annoy people or bother them. I just have to do my job. But when someone says NO, no matter how mean it can be, I just smile and say okay, or thanks. And that sometimes puts a smile on their face. I want people to know they're loved no matter what.

8) Always add value even if you don’t think you’ll get anything back.

When someone tells me they won't sign, I don't mind. Sometimes I get curious and ask about something I notice, whether it's the book they're reading or where they are visiting Chicago from. It makes you feel good internally when you just decide to love on people, or add value how you can even if you know there can be nothing done back for you.

This has been the mindset that's helped me be extremely successful in canvassing.

Now the real work is transferring this mindset to relationships. Whether that be my friendships or the love life.

Thank you so much for your time, I'm excited to speak to you again soon to share more.

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