How to deal with FAILURE and rejection as a business owner

This week on Business Class Podcast, Vicky Owens opens up about the reality of rejection, failure, jealousy, and the messy middle of building success. From being turned down for dream jobs and missing out on opportunities like Forbes 30 Under 30 and major TV shows, to failed business ideas, podcast rejections, and moments that completely knocked her confidence - this is an honest conversation about what really happens behind the highlight reel.

Vicky shares the emotional side of entrepreneurship that people rarely talk about: the comparison, the setbacks, the self-doubt, and the pressure of watching other people achieve the things you desperately want for yourself. But more importantly, she explains how every rejection ultimately redirected her towards something bigger, better, and more aligned.

Celebrating one full year of Business Class and over 100,000 podcast listeners, Vicky reflects on the lessons she’s learned as a first-time business owner, podcast host, and entrepreneur navigating success in real time. She also shares powerful insights on manifestation, resilience, podcasting consistency, building a personal brand, social media marketing, entrepreneurship in your 20s, and why failing faster is often the secret to winning bigger.

If you’ve ever felt behind in life, struggled with rejection, questioned your progress, or wondered when your breakthrough moment will come, this episode is the reminder you need that success rarely happens in a straight line.

Topics covered in this episode:

* Dealing with rejection in business and life
* Forbes 30 Under 30 rejection and success story
* Failed business ideas and lessons learned
* Entrepreneurship in your 20s
* Manifestation and mindset
* Starting and growing a podcast
* Social media agency growth
* The realities of building a business
* Confidence, comparison, and jealousy
* Why consistency matters in podcasting and content creation
* Learning from failure and setbacks
* Building resilience as an entrepreneur

Whether you're a business owner, content creator, aspiring entrepreneur, or simply trying to navigate your next chapter, this episode will leave you feeling motivated, understood, and ready to keep going.

Produced by TAEPodcast www.taepodcast.co.uk

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome aboard to business class. The only place to be if you are on your journey to success, I'll be showing the ups, the downs, and everything in between. Just a disclaimer that this is all my own advice and what I found works for me as a first-time business owner. So please take everything I say with a pinch of salt. So take your seats, strap in, and welcome aboard to business class with me, Mickey Owens. Hi there, and welcome back to Business Class. How is everyone feeling today? Is it a good vibe for people in business? Is it a good week? Is it a bad week? Every single week is different. How is my week going this week? I'd say pretty well. I'm filming this on a Wednesday. I have just been in London again. I've literally been in London every single week for the past few months. So I feel like I live there at the minute. I feel like I'm a London gal officially. Um, so good. I'm feeling not too tired, quite high spirits, like nothing doom and gloom this week, which is great. But it really does like I'm appreciating that it's like that because I know it changes so fast. So just a little check-in. I'm doing an episode today on rejection and things I've been rejected from, the feeling of being rejected and why it is so important to power through it. And the reason I wanted to do this episode was because, yes, sorry, I will never stop speaking about this, but I got on the Forbes 30 under 30 list um a couple weeks ago, and it just made me think like when I didn't get on the list in 2025 and I saw everyone posting, it made me feel so crap about myself. And I think that no one is, I guess, confident enough to admit that you can be jealous of people and that we do feel that emotion because it's something we want so bad, and someone else has achieved it. And I have been in that position so many times when there's things that I really, really want, someone else has got it, and you feel that pit in your stomach of like, oh my god, I want that. When is it gonna be my time? Like it's so frustrating, and I felt that for so many years. So I wanted to do this episode just speaking about all the things I've been rejected from that I really thought I was gonna get and how it reled me to where I'm supposed to be and where I've ended up and better opportunities, and I just think it'd be a really nice, comforting episode more than anything for anyone that feels like they're waiting for something and it's just bloody taking its time. So my takeoff today, I suppose, like is just that we've officially had business class going for one year now. Like, I have done this podcast for a whole year, and I have done an episode every single Monday for one year, which do the maths. Is that like 32? How many weeks are there in a year? 32? More? 40? I'm gonna ask Siri this question. Can I do that? Like, will she speak to me? Let me try this. Okay, Siri, how many weeks are there in one year? Let's see what she says. Oh god, there's actually 52 weeks. Why did I think there was 32? It says 52.8.18. How is there? Okay, 52. God, that's a lot. Okay. So I've done 52 episodes. Wow, that's crazy. And you know what? I'm really proud of myself because I want you to actually think about how many podcasts you listen to that do that, and I've gone every single week. I don't do seasons, honey. I show up every week. I don't do series one, series two, have breaks. I keep going every single day, every single day, every single week. And it's been tough at times. I think the hardest thing with the podcast is you have to think of why you're doing it. And also, I'm gonna be honest with you, don't do it for the money because the money doesn't come for a long time. Um, I think the biggest thing I've got out doing the podcast is a the connections I have made have been invaluable and almost like better than any business coach or mentor I've worked with are the people who have sat on these seats. Like it's changed my perspective on so many things. The conversations I've had have just been incredible more than anything. So that to me has been the biggest payoff. Um, but I think, yeah, you you you you can't do it for the wrong reasons. I didn't start a podcast to be like, look at me, I've got a podcast. I started a podcast because I wanted somewhere to vent, to document what I was learning being a small business owner, to connect with other business owners, to make them feel heard and seen and have conversations that other people will not have because they're embarrassed to have them and they don't want to speak about them. And I'm very proud of myself that I've done that for a full year without any breaks. And a little tip for you if you're starting a podcast, don't take a break because so many of my friends that have started and they do a season one, then a break, they say it's really hard to get back on the horse. And like I feel like if I stopped now for like a month or two months and then came back, I feel like I just would lose a big percentage of my viewers because they just forget. Like people just move on and forget, unfortunately. So I'm very proud of myself that I have done that for a straight year, and I'm gonna continue doing this for as long as I possibly can. I'm trying to think if I would ever need a break from this, probably like when I have a baby eventually or something. But I'm not gonna lie, I feel like I would just bring it to the set with me and just sit and speak. Like, I don't know if I'm being naive there, but I feel like I'd just like sit and hold it and just speak. Um, so thank you for tuning in. Honestly, the fact that we've had like over 100,000 people listen to this podcast in the year is just absolutely mind-boggling to me, and it makes me really excited for for next year and what's in store. And yeah, I just love doing it. I absolutely just love to speak. So that's my take off is that we've made it for one year of business class. Whoop-to-do. And also, I don't know when this episode comes out, but the one year of business class is actually really close to my birthday. So my birthday is 30th of April, which is I'll be 26 years old. I feel like this is gonna go out after my birthday. Surely it is, yeah. I think it's gonna go out quite after my birthday. So I'll be celebrating my birthday and the podcast birthday, which is really nice because I did my podcast launch um party for OGs. If anyone remembers the podcast launch party I did a year ago, that was really near my birthday. So that's how I sort of know that it's coming up to the one year of the pod with these gorgeous plane seats. And OGs will know the plane seats weren't here at the start. I just filmed it in a just like a big chair, and then I managed to get the plane seats on and I filming them, and they're actually really comfy. So excited for another year for new guests, for new conversations, bigger goals. I would love a bigger set. I would love to do some like in events, like, yeah, lots of big plans for the pod. Departure. If I could describe my life in one word right now, it would be messy. There's just yeah, I'm I'm in my graft era, everything's a mess, the bed's never made, uh, there's papers everywhere, there's everything's unfinished, and I just feel I've never felt more disorganised in my whole life. I feel like I'm getting a lot done, but just not very efficiently or neatly. I feel like if I could snap my fingers, I would pay good money for someone to come in, clean and organise my whole house, clean and organise my whole office, make some sort of a schedule for me, and just organise the hell out of my life because I have just organization and me don't go hand in hand. And I'm what you like to call someone who looks type A, but who is heavily type B. Like, I feel like I pride myself on looking very put together. Like, love a cute outfit. Today, if you can't see, I'm wearing some cute little tights, uh like a like a little black skirt, grey jumper, my hair's gonna blow out in. Like, I like to look like I've got myself together, but I haven't at all. Like, if you are coming to my house or I'm giving you a lift home from somewhere, I have to have a bit of notice to like pull myself together because it's not good. So, um, anyway, before I completely out myself, I'm gonna get into today's episode, which is dealing with failure, why failure is so important, and actually why we should be failing faster. So let's get into today's episode. Okay, so I basically, when I was reflecting on getting Forbes, I was thinking of like all of the biggest failures and also rejections, like things I have had no's from, things I've been rejected from, and compiling it into a list. And there were so many. And there's things that I have like actually not even speaking about, spoken about online because I've been so embarrassed. But I feel like speaking about rejections, you've got to let it simmer down for a bit. Like I always talk about the whole wait, wait till the wound heals analogy of never speak about something when it's fresh, speak about when the wound is healed, which is what I love to do. So the first big sort of failure rejection that I can think of was when I was oh god, how old was I? In college. So I think between the ages of 16 to 18, I think. I believe so. And I think it was on the summer holidays of college. We had summer holidays in college, right? I don't know. College in the UK is different than college in America, I think, as well. I got the two confused. I think like college is university. Like in America, I feel like college is our university. Whereas for college here, you're 16 to 18. And in college, I studied combined English, literature, and language. I did media studies and photography. So I've always been super, super creative, not very academic at all. And on my summer holidays, I was so eager to work. I've always been a very eager to work and make money person. I didn't go to university. Um, my first job I started when I was 16. Um, or was it 16 or was it 17? I'm really bad with remembering. But anyway, at some point in college, I basically did a free like apprenticeship thingy in Manchester. I won't tell you why because that'll be kind of weird. But whenever I go back to this area of Manchester, maybe I can give you a hint. It's like in the northern quarter. Whenever I go back to this place in Manchester, it always makes me feel so nostalgic and like reminiscent of this time. But basically, I worked there for free for a couple of weeks in the summer. And this guy was like, you know, if it goes well, we'll take you on like as a job, like we'll pay you to do this. And I was like, this is so cool. And it was a really big marketing agency, and I was so excited, so nervous. I remember on my first day, Jesus Christ, this will actually take you back. So this would have been about, God, what if I'm now 26, like 10 years ago? Oh my god, that's crazy. So I would I would have worn right skinny jeans from Topshop, and the bottom of them were like frayed. They had rips in them, and I wore them, oh my god, with um sliders that were bedazzled. They were like, they were like, you know what, everyone, everyone knows what sliders are, right? Like flip-flops, sliders, like with a thick band over it, covered in diamonds. They were silver. And then my top, I wore like an off-the-shoulder white, flowy top, and I wore my hair half up, half down with my sunglasses on, and some big hoop earrings. I don't know how I remember that, but I specifically remember I wore that for my first day in the summer. And I loved it. I remember I worked on some projects for like um, you won't know this if you're not in the UK, but like Alton Towers. I feel like I did a project for them and all of this stuff. Anyway, loved my time there, got to the end of it, and I was like really excited to continue working there, and just got an email saying, like, thanks for all your help, Vicky. Unfortunately, we just don't really need the position filling anymore, and we're going in a different direction, uh, but like appreciate all your help anyway. And I was like, right, okay. And I feel like that was the first time where I've really experienced proper rejection, and it just really threw me off. I was like, what? Like, I'm supposed to be doing that as a job. Like, I told everyone I was doing that as a job, and that was what I had envisioned myself doing, and it was just taken from me like that. But I feel like because I was so young, I didn't really know much about contracts and stuff. Like, I feel like now I probably would have had something written up in a contract, or is it even legal to get someone to work for free? I don't even know. So that was my first, like, I was a memory of um really wanting something and not getting it. Then fast forward to I want to say, how old was I now? Maybe like 18, 19, uh a little bit older, still in my teens. My next dream job, which I was hyper fixated on, was working at Pretty Little Thing on the social media team. And I think what drew me to this was that at the time they would vlog their office days. And I thought it was so cool. Like no other workplace was doing that. And for those who don't know the PLT offices, they were just like so cool. They were pink, there was like a ball pit, there was like unicorns everywhere. Like I've always been a really girly girl, so I was like, that's just my dream place to work at. And I basically was super big on manifestation at that time. I just learned what manifesting was, and every night I would like write on my piece of paper. I work at PLT, I love my job at PLT. Like, I have some amazing friends that I've made at PLT, and I just write in it every day, and I'd sit there with my eyes closed, like on my bed, like chanting all this stuff. Oh my god, it sounds so silly. Because I do believe in manifesting, but I don't actually, I don't know if this is quite um controversial in the manifestation world. I don't believe in the whole write it eight times, then fold it four times towards you, and then put it under your pillow. Like, I think if you're manifesting, the universe doesn't know you're writing it eight times or nine times or whatever. I think that's kind of silly. I think you know in your gut what you're manifesting and what you want and what you're working towards. So anyway, I were I submitted my like CV portfolio, etc., um, was waiting to hear back, didn't get the job. And I remember just crying. I was going through a lot of anxiety and panic attacks during that time anyway. And that was the first time when me and my mum actually sat down and we were like, I think this is now verging into depression. And I don't see that, say that lightly either. I'm not someone that just throws labels on things for the sake of it, but I didn't realize that there is a really specific correlation between anxiety and depression. Like I did a lot of research on it at the time. I don't know what it is, but the two go like hand in hand. So that I was in a really bad way at that point. Um, but the weird thing was is when I was like unemployed and obviously didn't have this job, and I was sat at home, I would then start writing every day. My dream job is on its way. And I didn't really know what it was at the time, but I would just write, my dream job is on its way, I love what I'm doing, it will find me, blah, blah, blah. And then obviously it did, which I think is quite nice. Obviously, it's quite a vague thing to manifest, and I'm sure I would have ended up in a good job anyway. Um, but yeah, that was my sort of next experience, and I think it's so funny because I obviously, if I had got that job, my life would have looked totally different. Like, it's just mad to deep that. Like, my life would have been completely, completely different. Like, I would not be sat here today if I got that job. So I'm thankful that I didn't get that job. Next thing, so moving now on to actually yeah, building the business. So I I then created this company, socially speaking media, when I was 21. Which obviously now filming this, I'll be 26. I'm still young, I think that's young. I actually think 30, and like even when you get to 40s, that's still still so young. Like, we have so much time. Anyway, so I created the business, and this is when the business started to take off, and I was like, oh my god, it's actually like quite easy to make money. And I then was like, How can I? I think I just got into a phase of being a bit greedy where I was like not really satisfied with what I was doing, and I just wanted to do as many different things as I could possibly do. So then I was like, oh my gosh, I should create a clothing brand. And um, I felt really smart at the time because I did like print on demand, and I'm sure everyone knows what print on demand is. But if for whatever reason you don't, it basically just means that you don't have to go through the whole ordering the stock and investing in stock. You can just create designs. Someone orders like a hoodie, you design it, and then when they buy it, then some like warehouse prints the hoodie, ships out for you. So you basically don't have to put loads of cost in up front, which I didn't want to do, and I couldn't at the time either, to be honest. So I created this brand. I don't know, should I say the name of it or not? I don't know. What happens if one day I want to go back to it? But then it's kind of a crap name, isn't it? I don't know. I'm gonna keep it to myself for now, and I I find that quite hard to do things like that, but just in case, you never know, you never know. So I created this brand. Um the I created the whole, you know, the the mood boards for it. I ordered testers. Uh, it wasn't gonna be anything crazy, it was just gonna be a clothing brand with this name slapped on it. I thought it was genius at the time. It was just gonna be like white hoodies with a print on it, caps, t-shirts, water bottles, basically whatever I could find on print on demand. Um, I spent so much time doing the like research for it. I was like speaking to a mentor about it and all of that jazz, and it just didn't take off. I can't really even remember if I actually even launched it. I think I was just too busy and I was like, do you know what? Just sack it off. And I think people were telling me print on demand is not the best option for you to go down, Vic. So I just sort of scrapped that and left it. And that was that really. And um I've not, I don't think I would. I mean, I do, I would love to have a physical product that I sell. I don't really know what it would be, but I just love product that you can like see someone wearing a product. Like that's the one thing when I have people come on that sell products that I love to ask them is like, how does it feel to like sell a product and see someone out and about wearing a product? I bet that's so surreal. So when you provide a service, it's like you know, there's only a couple of people that provide the service, and you know all of them. Like it's so cool when I meet someone and they're like, I listen to your podcast. Like, that's just mind-blowing to me. That just doesn't correlate in my mind. So, anyway, moving on to the next thing is I think then I was probably still 21. I was going through it all when I was 21. And I was like, okay, what I'm gonna do is create almost like a UGC, um, which is user-generated content, if you didn't know, like a UGC agency thing. So um, so basically UGC has been around for a really long time, but I because I live in such a bubble and don't, I mean, one of my best traits that I've always had is I don't really look at what the people are doing. I've never been really that big on looking at competitors. I couldn't, I couldn't name you any of my competitors. I don't know. Um, I just don't, I think everyone thinks you should look, and I get that, but for me, it's like, why would I do that? I would never have. So I'd never I'd heard of UGC, but I'd never really understood what it was. So I thought I came up with this amazing idea where we offered social media management, but people could also pay us like a set amount for uh an amount of UGC videos a month. So it could be like, you pay me a hundred pounds a month and I will provide you with 10 UGC videos. And I was like, oh, that's so smart. I was like, not only are we doing social media management, but we've got this new UGC offering. Like I was like, that's just so smart. And me and my sister, we were like, we really thought we'd like come up with this million-pound idea that no one had done before. The same as social media management. When I started it in 2021, I'd never heard of it before. Touch wood, swear to you, I'd never heard of it before. And I thought I was on to something amazing. Anyway, so we spent hours looking at all these brands, getting their emails of people that we think would need it. We put this email together, we put our portfolios together. I don't even remember how it did, but I think we probably got like one response. And we were like, oh. I even videoed Lauren, my sister, being like, this is the next big moment. We're gonna look back on this thing years and we're gonna be like, Do you remember when we started that thing and it worked and it was amazing? And lo and behold, it didn't work. Um, we also created a thing. I mean, if you've been following me for years, you might even remember this. We created SSM influencers because basically we work with so many brands. We were like, these brands send us products. So what if we like it was basically like I was trying to be a creator agency. I was like, what if we like send these products to the influencers and they create content for us and then we take like a cut of it? So I onboarded like all these influencers that I had connections with, like some of them were quite big influencers as well. And I was like, Yeah, it's gonna be great. Like, you're gonna get loads of work in and we're gonna make loads of money because we're gonna get like 20% cut. And we like launched the whole thing, put loads of posts out. I honestly don't remember us making one penny for these influencers. I think we were just like, we thought it would just be huge, and it just wasn't. And it's fine. Like we you just move on from it. I think I've always been really good at that, at like detaching from things. Like, I'll be like, oh, it didn't work, let's move on to the next thing. I don't feel embarrassed. I don't feel I just don't really speak about it in the moment. Like I always speak about it, obviously, that was years ago. I obviously wouldn't have liked to come on and say, just so you know, everyone, I'm closing this down because it was a huge failure and I'm not doing any anymore. Like, no one wants to do that. But I think if you can just do it quietly, I don't think anyone really cares that much, to be honest. So moving on to something else that we did in the agency, I was like, okay, so the next thing we can offer is like strategy days, like social media strategy, strategy. Days where people can just come in and learn from us. And we spent ages designing all these posts, pricing it up, outreaching, blah, blah, blah. I think I sold like three, and there was just no demand for it. Like I was just like, why does no one want this? I think it was a combination of like we charged too high for it, the offering was really unclear. And I think we it can look desperate to people that you offer so many things where people are just like, I just want it to be simple, the simpler the better. I have just learned the less things you can offer and the easier it is for people to make a decision, the more things that you will sell. So now I will only launch something new if I really, really, really believe in it, if I really think it's going to make a difference and it's really needed. If not, I think we just try and stick to less things and make more profit with them. If that makes sense. So yeah, that one didn't go great either. Then moving on to ones that were like outside of business, if you will, like outside of the agency. I was supposed to go on a huge TV show in the UK. Like, can I say it? Like maybe I don't know. Can I say it? Should I just say it? I don't know. Basically, I think I can say it. I don't think there's gonna be any repercussions of me uh saying this show. So I think I'm just gonna say it. But anyway, I was supposed to go on The Traitors last was it last season? The season that's just come out, the last, the latest season. So basically, we were sat in the office and um we we were all watching it. I've always been obsessed with it. Fun fact, I've always watched it since season one. Like I have been obsessed with it before it was a big thing, but whatever. So we were in the office and the girls were like, Vic, you'd be great on the traitors, like that would be really good for you. You should go on it. And I was like, No, do you think I could? Because if you actually know me well, I uh that would actually be my idea of hell. I would love to go on it, but I just think I couldn't do, I think it was like three or four weeks in the Scottish Highlands, um, away from home without your phone. I at that stage could not leave work for four weeks, like absolutely not. Um, so I basically I applied for it and didn't really think anything of it, and I was just like, oh, like we'll see what comes about of it. Um, and then I got like shortlisted and we had like the interview stage, and they had to ask you things like, would you want to be a traitor or a faithful? Like, what would your strategy be? And I wasn't really very prepared for it. Like I was just like, yeah, I think I'd love to be like a traitor because I think people like underestimate me because I'm I'm quite young and like I'm quite ditzy, but I'm actually really smart and I'm really good with people. And I don't know if my answer like wasn't really cracking with it or whatever. And then anyway, I was supposed, weirdly enough, actually, because my birthday's coming up, um, even though it would have been passed for you guys now, but weirdly enough, I was due to find out my last birthday, whether I was going on the show. And I'd already already like mentally prepared myself to go on because I was like, I'd be great on it, you know. Like I think I'd be a great character, and maybe they've like seen some of my stuff on socials and like they think I'd be a good fit for it. And I'd like told a couple of my friends and said, like, I might be, I think I'm going on the traitors. Like, it was like a really big thing. Um, I'd like mentally prepared myself to be away from home for four weeks. Like, I'd thought of if I was gonna be off for four weeks, uh, how would the business run itself and what business opportunities could I get from the traitors and being on TV and stuff like that. And then anyway, we they were like, basically, if if you hear from us on the 30th of April, you're in. If you don't hear from us, you're out. So like I was like last birthday waiting for my phone to ring, my text all day. I had butterflies on my stomach, and I was like, Okay, um, I've not heard anything, and that was that really. Like, I didn't get on it, and I was really gutted, and I was like also quite embarrassed because I'd told so many people. And then my mum said to me, She was like, Vic, I actually think that's a blessing that you didn't get on it because you are quite an emotional person, and also you have to think if you were to go on that, you're representing like your business and your personal brand, and you wouldn't want that to be jeopardized. Like if you had a massive breakdown on TV, or if you were like, because I get quite antisocial after my social batteries burnt out. She was like, What happens if you got really snappy or something? And then um people are like, Oh my gosh, she's so rude, or she was just like, You just don't know what narrative they're gonna push on TV. So she was like, just trust me, like it's a good thing that you've not been put on. And that's how I think about everything now. Like, I think I mentioned a couple episodes back, but um another rejection I had was my when we were looking for a house. Like I found this perfect first house, loved it in every way, and long story short, but we didn't get it, and I was I cried so much, I like grieved this house. I wanted this house so much, I'd envisioned living in it. I'd like decorated every room in my head, like I knew we were gonna live there, and we didn't, and I was like, I just can't imagine anything better. Lo and behold, a couple months later, it this new house literally fell in our lap. So I don't know if I've told this story before on the podcast, but this is my version of events. I think my partner Matt has a different version. Um, but basically, he would send we would send each other houses on right move, and we would have we had this agreement where if we both don't love the house, we won't go and view it. So he sent me this house and I looked at the pictures and I was like, I like it, but I don't love it. So he was like, okay, like we won't book it then. So what we would do is like on a weekend, we'd book like three or four house viewings to go and do all in one day, um, just to like get them out of the way and stuff like that, and just do them all in one bulk. So it was this weekend, and we had a few house viewings booked up. We didn't really know, obviously, because we didn't know the addresses, we were just like, oh, it's briefly in this area or that area. Um we went to like the first one and the second one, blah, blah, blah. And then we got to like one of the final ones of the day. We pulled outside this house, and I was like, Which house is this? I don't remember this one. And he was like, Oh, it's that house that you didn't um you didn't like or something. And I was like, Oh, but I thought you didn't book it because you said we both needed to love it. And he was like, I didn't book this viewing, and I was like, What? And basically none of us, neither of us booked that viewing, but that viewing was booked in. I can't explain it. It's like, so we got there and the lady was there and we were like, we're so confused, we didn't book this, but like we'll look at the house anyway, because we're here. I don't know, and I feel like Matt has a different version of that where he thinks I'm like exaggerating, which I do tend to do at stories, but anyway, so anyway, we viewed the house and the energy was just immaculate. It was a really sunny day. I just loved it. We I was like, I want it, I want the house. We put an offer in the same day, it got accepted. There was no chain, we could have the furniture that was in the house, and we were moved in with it with within literally a couple of weeks, and it was just crazy. And I was like, God, I'm so glad we didn't get that other house because I actually love our house 10 times more than the house we originally looked at and that I originally wanted. So now, whenever I really want something, whatever it is, even if I'm dying for it and I don't get it, I just tell myself, and I know it sounds cringy, but that there's a reason why, and something else better is gonna come along. There's gonna be a reason why you didn't get that opportunity. So I think that's why now, even though I am quite a sensitive soul, I don't get as upset when I don't get things now. Because I'm like, it's okay, like something else better is gonna come along. And I think back to that sort of instance. So anyway, then obviously the biggest rejection I've had so far was Forbes. So I applied last year, put in all my information. I actually did a whole TikTok series on it, which everyone says wasn't I embarrassed about that? And no, I wasn't embarrassed about it at all. I literally did day one of trying to get on the Forbes 30 and the 30 list. And every day I was learning about how to get on the list. I approached new people, connected with people on LinkedIn, I had a few meetings with people, I asked people that had been on the list, how did you get on the list? There were so many conspiracies around you have to buy your way on the list, you have to know someone. None of that is true. You don't have to buy your way on the list, and I don't know anyone that's that got me on Twitter. So then I got shortlisted. So I was actually with one of my business mentors on a strategy day, and the editor of the list, who is an amazing lady called Alex, she emailed me and she said that basically I'd been shortlisted and would I be happy to fill in this second? It's like a second form. You're knowing you've been shortlisted because you get a second form and it asks you a lot more in-depth questions. So it asks you about like your revenue over the past few years, it asks you like some questions about not really like politics, but it's like, what's your opinion on something? You know, like when people are in beauty pageants and they say, like, what's your opinion on the of, you know, what's it called? Uh oh my god, why can't I think of it? When there's like the world's heating up, the ozone layer, oh my god, my brain is not working today at all. Global warming, sorry, that must have been painful to listen to. What's your opinion on global warming today? Like it was questions like that that were very thought-provoking. And like, who's your in inspiration? And you have to leave references of people that like would refer you and say that you're a good person to be on the list, blah, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, so I did that. Um, and I actually didn't believe it. So I had to get Alex on a call and I zoomed her, and I was like, sorry, I just didn't believe it was you, I thought it was a spam. And she was like, No, no, no, it's me. Well, she was American. She was like, No, it's me. Like, you've you're a grade, and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, okay, great. So anyway, that happened. And I was like, I've been shortlisted, like, there's no way. Like, I just, I was like, I'm gonna get it, I'm gonna get it. And I felt so good about it. And we knew the list was gonna come out sometime in April, and I like told my business mentor, I told my partner and my sister, couple of my friends, like I've been shortlisted for it. Um, and then lo and behold, the day came. I went on my Instagram, I could see everyone that was posting. I got four upset, you know, 30, I got four upset, 1030. And I was just like, oh my god, like waiting for the email to arrive in my inbox that I got it, didn't get it. And I didn't feel like I didn't cry, but I felt like, hmm. But then I was like, I'm 24, I have time, and it motivated me to get it more. And then I did just really reflect and look at myself and say, am I ready to be on that list? Am I making an impact? And I was like, Do you know what? No, like I just own a social media agency, I'm not doing something bigger and better for the world. So then that's when I was like, let's prepare for global takedown. Like, let's look into podcasting, speaking, all that stuff. Obviously, didn't do all this to get on the Forbes list. It was the natural progression of my career anyway. But yeah. So anyway, didn't get that. That was a big uh kick in the gut. But then I got it this year, which makes me appreciate it so much more because I really wanted it. Anyway, the last one I'll put on here that a lot of you actually don't realize I get a lot of no's for is podcast guests. I reach out to so many podcast guests. We get a combination of inbound, like people that ask to be on. Um, and sometimes people are not always a good fit. Like I think a lot of people don't realize it's a very strategic decision who sits on these seats. I don't like to look too much at who's just got loads of followers because I could really easily just get people on that have loads of followers and just grow my podcast. I actually want to get people on that I know A, I'll be able to have a conversation with because there's some people that you just don't gel very well with and it's like a really forced awkward conversation. Two, that will genuinely offer you guys a lot of value listening. Three, people that haven't been on loads of podcasts and like their story is milked because there's no point in becoming on my podcast if you've already heard the story a million times. Um and then also people that I think have worked very hard to get where they are, but they're also not at the final destination yet. Like they're still in the messiness of it all, they're still making mistakes, they're still finding it really tough. Um, so sometimes, yeah, I get people that that want to come on and I feel like they're not there yet. And it's like it could be for a couple different reasons, but it's not that I'm like, oh, I don't want you on because you've not got enough followers or you've not made enough money. It's that I want you to have an incredible story, not just like maybe like, oh, I own a social media agency. Yeah, that's cool. But like, what's your story? Like, I would happily have someone on that's like fresh in business, they have zero followers, but if they've got an incredible story and they have like built something really unique and special, I'm like, sit on these seats. So anyway, those people that apply to come on that I actually will kindly reject. Um, but also a lot of people I ask to come on, and we get a lot of no's. Like, we get a lot of no's from like big people, small people, some of my idols, but then also I'm not like delusional where I'm like, you know, Stephen Bartlett, for example, like he wouldn't come on here because he's him. Like, I think you have got to be somewhat realistic about who you can have on. Um, but people that I was thinking, like, you know, they'd be in reach, they'd be good to have on, and you get a no, and it's like you just have to take it on the chin and just move on to the next person and just be like, whatever, hey, whatever, it's fine. Um, so yeah, it's just getting comfortable with the rejection, really, and the ego and what people think, and I think that we just need to speak more about rejection because everyone gets rejected from things all the time. And when you see things like, I've just bought my dream house, I've just bought my dream car, I've just made a million pounds, I've I don't know, married the love of my life, I've just whatever it is. You just have to think like so much failure has led that person up to that moment. And a quote that I will always, always recite to you is that, and I always butcher it as well, which is really annoying. And it's something like, what if you knew after a hundred failures, you would get like the thing you've wanted the most? Like you would basically want to fail faster. I love to fail now because I learn from every single thing I fail from. I've failed as a leader, I've failed as a business owner, I've sometimes failed as a partner, as a sister. Like, there's so many things that I have gotten wrong, that I've done wrong, that I've made mistakes in, and I've learned from every single one of them. They feel so, so uncomfortable at the time, and you really kick yourself for it, but then you're like, Well, I've learned a massive valuable lesson there. So I've actually like that is a great thing to know. And people that have come on that are, you know, super successful and that I really look up to, they've just failed a lot faster than me, and they've just learnt from many, many failures. So I don't know, I just think it's really important for people to have these conversations and to speak more openly about failure and to also remember that if you want to succeed, that's one of the emotions. Emotions is failure and emotion. That's one of the feelings that you have to get comfortable with the most is the feeling of getting things wrong, being rejected. Like it is a tough feeling, and it's a real big hit for the ego as well to admit something's not doing well. So I'm gonna leave you with that. I think that's been quite a valuable episode, and I've really enjoyed sharing these stories. Um, if you enjoyed this, please let me know. Send me your thoughts, tag me if you're listening. That makes my days so much seeing people listening. Um, and of course, rate this podcast five stars wherever you listen to your podcast. And I will see you next week on business class.