When “NO” is just the start

As a solopreneur, I have had to learn how to redirect rejection. A case study.

Sai Ramachandran
3 min readSep 25, 2023
Photo by Jakayla Toney on Unsplash

Rejection stings, whether a polite one or being ghosted or being told off.

If you’re being ghosted, wear it on the chin and move on. Don’t burn a relationship because you couldn’t read the tea leaves of rejection.

But being told an unequivocal “no” is priceless. Here’s why…and the reasons are counterintuitive.

1. Every NO brings your actual target demo into clearer focus.

You presumably reached out to someone to pitch your product for good reason — either they seemed like they could use your product OR even something egotistical like “if they asked me to FOLLOW their page, they should return the favour by listening to my pitch.”

Hearing a “no” should tell you whether your assumptions about them needing your product were valid.

Or maybe they don’t believe in reciprocity the same way you do.

Regardless, you have learnt something about the world by being rejected.

2. A NO is usually accompanied by a reason. Use it.

You can use it in two ways

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Sai Ramachandran

Building https://squadgpt.ai - GPT for teams. Manage AI costs and retain visibility with SquadGPT. All views personal. Email = sai@squadgpt.ai