Rejection Recovery: Why it hurts & how to dust yourself off after
Regardless of how old you are, when you experience rejection it can take you right back to that gut punch of being picked last on the playground as a kid.
Rejection hurts, literally. Research shows being rejected in person or even online can fire up the same part of the brain that responds when you experience physical pain! And the most ambitious women are often putting themselves into positions to be rejected at a higher rate than others.
So what can you do to soften the blow? We asked local entrepreneur Dr. Pinkey Patel to share her tips. Patel’s a pharmacist-turned-founder who has been told no hundreds of times in her journey of raising funds for her startup Myri Health.
“I had to become very accepting of rejection,” said Patel, who’s now venture-backed. “I talked to hundreds of investors before I got my first ‘yes.’”
Only 1.9 percent of female founders actually get funded, Patel said, and that number is even lower for women of color. As Patel built out her business, she braced for rejection from investors and prepared to hear “no” from accelerators and programs that wouldn’t accept her.
“The agility of being able to move on and not be shaken by the ‘no’ is everything,” she said.
But she wasn’t always bulletproof to rejection. In fact, she admitted her vulnerability in the beginning made her more susceptible to doubt when others would say they didn’t believe in her idea for Myri Health. What ultimately helped was to remember everyone’s opinion is just that, an opinion.
“I’ve had to tell myself every person I meet is not a thought leader or subject matter expert in the field I’m in,” she said. “If I’m convinced this solution should exist, I have to have the courage to continue fighting for it.”
Rejection gets easier over time, Patel said, so don’t be discouraged if you’re struggling with it now. Her best advice?
“The velocity at which you pivot or accept that no and move on will determine your success,” she said.