I don't know if the statistics the Small Business Administration are true or not... but I suspect they are are pretty close.

The SBA reports that 80% of all new businesses fail within the first year.

Combine that with the well known fact that public speaking is the number one most feared event in a persons life (rated higher than "death" itself!) and you start to understand what could be causing the high new business failure rate...

After all, what does it mean to be in business for yourself?

Being in business for yourself means (if you want to be successful!) constantly communicating with potential prospects urging them to buy your product or service!

And whenever you are communicating with someone, especially in a selling situation, you are squarely face-to-face with someone who might - and probably will - REJECT your offer the first time you contact them!

Even if we know that the people we are trying to sell to are not rejecting US personally (just our product) ... There are only a very few people that would not also feel personally rejected.

Hey, we're only human, after all!

My belief is that not being able to handle rejection is the number one reason new businesses fail... a new business owner has a difficult time distinguishing between a rejection of their product and a rejection of them personally.

In business there is no room for anything except a completely objective view of yourself and your products. And, as hard as this might seem, there is no room for emotion in business.

If you are a business owner, you should not let your emotions influence your decisions in any way. Your objective must be clear: Providing high value products and superior customer service at a price that will make you a good profit.

Any decision that is not held up to the light of this objective should be discarded. I know, easier said than done. But if you let your emotions run your business decisions, then you will constantly make the wrong decision and force you out of business.

Emotions have a place in your personal life, but when it comes to business you are making an investment. The worse thing you can do with investments is let your emotions make your decisions for you.