Motivational Leadership Speaker, Bestselling Oprah Author

People don’t invest their support or money in people who will let them down, so if you lose confidence in yourself, others will lose confidence in you. Do you invest in someone who isn’t sure he or she can pull off the task? Do you give your trust to someone who thinks naked weapon free he or she can do it? Or, do you find the person who knows with absolute certainty that he or she will find a way to do the job – no matter what? You choose the one who is going to get the job done. Period. So, know you will get the job done, and know you have the fortitude to find a way to do it despite whatever obstacles come your way.

I learned this lesson during my lowest professional moment. My first book had been rejected by every major American publisher. My first agent wasn’t communicating. My dream of a life as a successful author was in tatters – and it seemed as if the gods were conspiring against me, giving me every sign that it was time to give up.

“It isn’t going to happen,” I said to my friend. “And I have to accept it.”

“If you lose faith in your product, no one else will have faith in it,” she told me.

And, I knew she was right.

But, how could I believe in myself when I hit a wall at every turn?

I took inventory.

I knew I had a good product. The book featured interviews with world-famous trailblazers who had learned how to succeed and lead – the hard way. It had information that could help other people. As a consumer, I would have loved that book because it had the mentoring wisdom I so desperately needed as a manger. And, their stories made for compelling reading. I had a good book. What I didn’t have was a publisher.

I had to find a way to get that book sold and on the shelves.

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But, how?

The hardest challenge was revving myself up to do battle again. I had to find the strength to believe in myself when it seemed like no one else believed in me. When I hit a wall, I usually need to get more information to figure out what is going wrong. So, I did some research and found out that my initial vision for the book – where all the interview subjects got their own chapters – wasn’t marketable to big publishers because that format does not sell tons of books. What I had to do was reorganize, restructure and rewrite.

I needed an agent. Well, my first agent was a real dud, but I felt stuck with her because I’d turned down about ten others when I chose her. But, I started thinking about it. There are thousands of agents. Surely one of them was right for me. So, I started sending out query letters.

Within a week, I had another dozen agents who wanted the book. I chose the one who I thought would believe in me and my dream. Did she ever. She got me my choice of publishers.

Hard Won Wisdom wound up being a best-selling, Oprah-featured book.

But, it almost never was.

Fawn Germer is the best-selling author of four books and speaks to corporations and organizations about courages and creative leadership strategies. heart and souls dvd