You Can't Lose If You Reach Out

One of the most crippling things we can do is not take action. How can we expect anything to change if we don’t do something different? 

This next angle is within the context of reaching out to someone. And this is someone you don’t have a relationship with. Either you’re trying to expand your network, you’re trying to generate a new lead or partnership, or you’re hoping to make a new friend.

We’re afraid to reach out because we’re afraid we’ll get rejected. Yea, that sucks, but what’s the underlying, real consequence in that? I took the time to think through the real consequences and this is what I found.

So, the person you are targeting in your outreach, they currently are blind to you and your work. This means that they are not supporting or discouraging you in any way. What changes when you reach out? You briefly come into their awareness, and they make a decision on next steps. They either reply or schedule or whatever, great that's a mission accomplished! Or they ignore and dismiss. It’s in that dismissal where our fear lies. The embarrassment of not being enough, the foolishness for thinking it would work. But, those are your interpretations. You want to hear their interpretation? They treat you exactly as they did before, literally no different, not supporting or discouraging you. 

This is a powerful realization because, you can not lose if you reach out. You either make it better, or it stays the same. This is a hot take, what are your thoughts?