So with K, we had like two rounds of interviews. She also had me take some tests. You know, personality tests, skills assessment and compatibility things today. And these tests are for clients to know if you're compatible, right? If you work well together, if your personalities would fit well together. So I took all those tests and unfortunately, after all of that, I did not get the job. And this is actually her message. She said, I absolutely love meeting you and getting to know you. I definitely do think we clicked, which made this a super hard decision position.

But I've decided to hire someone else for this position. Ouch. I was so excited to work with her. Right. I felt like we hit it off real well. And she also said that she'd keep me in mind for future openings. And here's how I responded. I said, thank you for considering me for the position, K.

It was really fun getting to know you too. If it doesn't work out with you guys, you know how to reach me. If you want to chat or have some random conversations, you can catch me on Skype. I could have been really sad and pouty about it, but I chose not to because I don't know where I learned this from. It might have been from a different client, but a no now does not mean no forever. And I also wanted to leave a good impression, right? I did not want to burn a bridge with someone I genuinely liked, someone I clicked with, and I thought that was the end of it. And I don't have access to our Skype chats anymore, so I don't really remember how it happened.

But she ended up recommending me to someone else. And that someone else, let's call him J. He ended up becoming my very first VA client. I did not get the job I applied for, but I got referred to someone else who was also looking for a VA and they that's something that you need to remember when it comes to rejections is that it's not the end of the road. I sometimes come across posts where they ask about or they get, they try to get feedback on how they responded to our rejection. And one thing that I notice is some people overlook maintaining that connection. They just say, oh, thank you for your time or something like that. Or worse, they actually don't respond to the rejection email.

And while there's nothing inherently wrong about that response, you're not keeping your doors open. Right? And so back to my first VA client. I started at $5 an hour with him and after a few months he increased my rate to $7 an hour. I don't know why. He was the one who brought it up, right? Was he guilty? I don't know. But he did, he did offer to increase my rate to $7 an hour. And we worked together for over two years. And that experience introduced me to the world of online business.

And during that time I also got to work with other clients and I've tried different roles. I've done a lot of things, especially in the beginning. I did admin tasks, I did tech stuff, I did back end support, I did content creation for J. I was like a one stop shop, which is not recommended if you don't want to do that. Right. But I did it because I like doing those things. I was curious and it wasn't like I didn't have a choice or I was desperate for work. I wanted to learn about all these things.

So if you're still starting out, it's okay if you're still figuring things out and you know, be curious about all these things and do all these things. But in my case, eventually I figured out nah, I preferred setting up automations, doing tech setups and all that. I also enjoy design work, designing landing pages, web pages, all that good stuff. I also like to create social media content, which is something that a lot of people or a lot of business people struggle with. So, you know, don't worry if you're still figuring out your niche or what you like because you'll eventually get there. You know, just be curious, just be curious about what you want to do and then you'll eventually figure it out. So anyway, here's the main takeaway for this episode. Don't burn bridges when you get rejected and let people know that you're still open for future collaborations.

And K, you know, she remembered me not because I was the best applicant, because she didn't hire me but because I was easy to talk to, and we vibed really well. You know, sometimes being memorable doesn't come from your credentials. It comes from how you deal with people, how you talk to them, how you communicate with them, their experience of you. Right. And in this case, how you handle disappointment. So, yeah, that's the takeaway for this episode. And before we end, I want to leave you with something simple. It's a breathing technique called box breathing, and this helps me reset whenever I'm stressed or overwhelmed, that I need to calm down.

And so how it goes is you just inhale for four counts, hold for four, exhale for four counts, and hold it again for four counts. If you want to tweak it, you know, go for it. I like breathing in for five and holding for three. So five. Three, five, three. Just do it for five minutes. Focus on your breath. Let the mental noise fade out and feel the change within yourself.

So, yeah, rejection hurts. Pero minsan, it's just the universe's way of redirecting you to something better. Right? This has been Em. Thanks for listening, and until next time, Take it easy.