Today I don’t like being self-employed. I think I am feeling rejected. I do a lot of speaking, which I love. So I decided to call up two places where I would like to speak this year. One venue I had spoken for before. Another was a large women’s networking organization that I admire a great deal and have always wanted to speak for. The upshot is that they both turned me down. One woman emailed me to say that there were no open spots on the speaking roster this year. Okay. That is fine. The other simply turned me down, giving vague reasons why I wasn’t a fit for their speaker series. Of course I wanted to protest. Don’t they know that I am the perfect fit for them! What women’s organization doesn’t want a proven speaker who can speak to women’s earning issue?! And truthfully, I took it a bit personal. It probably isn’t personal. (But maybe it is?) And then I had to remind myself of my own advice. Stop measuring success by the end-results. We can’t always control what happens. Start measuring success by whether or not we put ourselves out there and ask for what we want. Sure, we want it to work! But the key is to keep trying. The key is to say, “I am successful! I did it! I really put myself out there and asked for what I wanted!” I guess that makes me feel a little better….