Let’s talk about something I don’t want to talk about. Yes, it makes me cringe: Getting a NO to your face.
I grew up poor. My immigrant father is one of the hardest working men I’ve ever met (he worked multiple jobs at one time), but money was harder to come by than a $3 dollar bill.
When I was 10 years old, my twin sister and I were sponsored to attend church summer camp. I was elated…that is, until I realized that kids slept in sleeping bags.
My mom insisted that I could place a pillow and a blanket in a trash bag and it’d travel with me just fine. Mortified at the thought, I took a ‘job’ selling magazine subscriptions door to door to earn a sleeping bag from the magazine distributor.
We lived in a rough neighborhood, where most kids received free lunch from the state, and it was common for people to leave sofas on the front lawn. I received a string of NOs from our neighbors.
I sold most of the subscriptions at church (the Lord loves a cheerful buyer of magazines, can I get an amen?), and unfurled a yellow and gray sleeping bag at camp a few weeks later.
I had no idea that that experience would teach me three valuable things about business.
- You’ll get 100 NOs before you get one YES.
- Persistence and consistency beat talent.
- Every NO makes you better, if you let it.
Here’s a recent cringey example of these lessons…
I debuted my business podcast—The Jasmine Star Show—in 2020. In October 2024, it crossed 500 episodes, 10M+ downloads, and thousands of five-star reviews.
And before you think this is a humblebrag, prepare your heart…it’s an awkward admission.
My weekly podcast downloads aren’t enough to be represented by a traditional podcast ads agency. It’s just not big enough.
To be (very) clear: I don’t want traditional ads on my podcast, but I do crave partnerships. I believe that the right partner can help grow my podcast impact.
I had a sobering conversation with my COO who simply noted that we’ve invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into producing the show, without a distinct ROI. She suggested partnering with my favorite business allies to see if we could co-create strategic content for growth.
I made a list of potential partners and set meetings with them…only to feel like I was trying to earn a yellow and gray sleeping bag well into adulthood.
- I fumbled my way through calls.
- I tried describing my vision.
- I sweated my way through 327 t-shirts.
Despite the urge to pull back, hide, make excuses, I continued setting meetings with my favorite companies and inviting them on a journey, regardless if they said yes, or no.
My goal has always been to provide incredible interviews and powerful topics for entrepreneurs, at no cost to the listener.
I’m proud to say I’ve partnered with two amazing companies, but I couldn’t write this without highlighting the litany of NOs I received. It wasn’t easy, but each no got me closer to yes.
I hope the same for you. I hope you know you’ll get a hundred NOs before you get one YES, but every NO makes you better.
To earning our yellow and gray sleeping bags,
j*
P.S. Have you watched my podcast? You can find full interviews on YouTube, and you can also find my behind-the-scenes video diary…just posted my newest vlog last week <HERE>!
