Rejection Is God's Protection

Last night while sitting on the couch watching TV, I started to wonder what life would be like if I could not do the things I love to do. I started to wonder what I would be doing if I were not a life coach, or if I didn’t own any other business. Would I still be stuck in a corporate job doing the same thing day in and day out, and would I still be roaming the hallways desperately sifting through my thoughts for any idea that would allow me to leave my full time job to fulfill my dreams.

On June 22nd, 2006 I resigned from my full time post at one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world to pursue my dream of Entrepreneurship. At the time I resigned, I was living and working in the United States. I returned to Toronto, Canada with dreams of opening a business, of becoming an entrepreneur, but my dream was slowly fading that summer. I had to take an interim job at an energy company to help with my responsibilities while my business partner and I continued to discuss and launch our first company.

I quickly realized there was a good chance that I would not own my own business as quickly as I thought I would, and as a result, I reacted and contacted my old boss in the United States and begged for my old job. Both my former boss and I were convinced that It was a no brainer for me to get my job back, but as it turned out, my old job had a new criteria attached to it. All candidates applying for my job must have at minimum an MBA – that’s right an MBA. Heck I barely had my high school diploma, let alone my MBA.

Before moving to the United States, I was working towards my business degree part time, but I put my education on hold while working in the United States. It was early August when my old boss called to give me the bad news that I could not return to my old job. Human Resources said that if they allowed me to apply for the position with no MBA, then they must open the position to all candidates that do not have an MBA. I was devastated, hurt, angry, and fell into a depression.

I roamed around Toronto aimlessly for two months that summer. I had nothing to look forward to, my career was gone, or so I thought-- no self-employment, just a boring job at an energy company doing everything I hated doing just to pay the bills.

At the end of September, I had an “Aha” moment – I thought of an idea that involved pets. Although I had no clue about the pet industry, I thought to myself, 'how hard can this be?' So my business partner and I set off on a new mission to open a pet company. The company would be called hero+destiny. (More on the pet company in the coming days/weeks)

The pet idea sparked a renewed interest in the original idea, the idea I left my career for at the beginning of the summer. Both my business partner and I resigned from our jobs early October, with no revenue, two mortgages and a slew of monthly expenses. We launched our first consulting company that October. The consulting company would fund hero+destiny as well as pay for our living expenses.

In early 2007, both my business partner and I took a trip to India to source manufacturing so we could have our pet collection manufactured in India. Along the way I tapped into my special talent/gift, the ability to help others achieve their goals and dreams. It wasn't until all the external noise in my head was quiet, that I realized I had a special talent, a talent I could use as a Life Coach.

Today, I look at how far I have come – I am thankful to human resources for adding the new criteria to my old job – Because if it were not for HR adding the new MBA requirement to my old job description, I would still be working for a fortune 500 company, roaming the hallways desperately sifting through my brain trying to find a better way of life.

A very close friend once said to me: Rejection is God’s protection. Thank you so much for those words Linda, I cherish these words and live by them each and everyday.

Happy Thursday!

Rejection Is God's Protection