I Was the “Successful One” — Until Rejection Brought Me to My Knees

Hey Reader,

I used to lead boardroom meetings with C-suite execs. Signed off on billion-euro contracts. Held titles people kill for on LinkedIn.

Then I became a coach. And suddenly, I was just… Lidia.

No title.

No team.

No guaranteed paycheck.

And worst of all? No one was lining up to work with me.

It wasn’t that I lacked skills — I had more than enough. What I lacked was immunity to rejection.

Because when your identity is built on always succeeding, failure doesn’t just sting — it feels like identity death.

So you avoid rejection. You play it safe. And that, my friend, is exactly what keeps brilliant new coaches stuck and broke.

Let’s talk about it. Then let’s smash it.

When Success Becomes Your Cage

Success feels safe. Polished. Powerful. It tells you:

“You’re the one who nails it. You don’t mess up. You don’t get rejected.”

And that’s exactly how it traps you.

Because in building a business, rejection isn’t something to avoid.

It’s something to train for.

Rejection is the gym for your business muscles. Every “no” is a rep. Every ignored DM is a burpee. Every awkward sales call that doesn’t convert? That’s cardio for your confidence.

And just like the gym — it sucks at first. You want to quit. You want to skip leg day (aka follow-up). You want to go back to the comfy life of polished presentations and guaranteed wins.

But if you stay in the game — if you keep collecting rejections — you get stronger. You stop fearing the “no.” You start seeing action as success. And eventually, rejection becomes… no big deal.

That’s when you start winning. Not because you avoided failure. But because you built the muscle to move through it.

Here we go — the closing section with a confident, high-energy invitation into the 100 Rejections Challenge and your Skool community:

Ready to Get Stronger? Join the 100 Rejections Challenge

If rejection is the gym… then this challenge is your personal trainer.

Introducing: The 100 Rejections Challenge

Your mission: Collect 100 rejections — as fast as humanly possible. Yep. You read that right.

Because if you're hearing “no,” it means:

You're making offers
You're showing up
You're in the arena (not just watching from the sidelines)

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” —Theodore Roosevelt

And guess what? Mixed in with those 100 rejections will be your next client. And the one after that. And the next $10K month.

Inside the free Skool community, you’ll get:

The full challenge playbook (so you know exactly what counts as a “rejection”)
A supportive crew of other brave coaches collecting rejections with you
A safe space to post your “no’s,” laugh about the awkward ones, and celebrate the “YES” moments too
Coaching and accountability to keep you in motion — even when your ego says “hide”

Let’s stop worshipping perfection.

Let’s start celebrating action.

👉 Join the Skool Community + The 100 Rejections Challenge

Your coaching business doesn’t need more polish. It needs more you — visible, bold, resilient.

See you in the gym 💪

Lidia

P.S. Want to move through this faster, with less second-guessing and more momentum? Let’s talk. I offer a free Clarity & Connect Call — 45 minutes to troubleshoot what’s keeping you stuck, map out your next steps, and see if working together is a fit.

No pressure. Just clarity, connection, and maybe a little tough love (the good kind 😉).

👉 Book your free call here

Let’s get you unstuck and booked out.

Lidia Axe

I Was the “Successful One” — Until Rejection Brought Me to My Knees

When Success Becomes Your Cage

Ready to Get Stronger? Join the 100 Rejections Challenge

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