It dawned on me a severance package can be valued like a risk asset (stocks, bonds, real estate etc). The value of a severance package can go up or down based on its projected income, your need for a financial buffer, and your ability to negotiate properly.

Enhanced federal unemployment benefits since the pandemic began have helped save millions of Americans from financial ruin. For those of you who are strategically looking to leave your job, enhanced federal unemployment benefits have also increased the value of a severance package. After all, unemployment benefits are a key income stream that come with a severance package.

Have you just been rejected by a company you desperately wanted to join? Are you now feeling melancholy because your future isn’t going as planned? Don’t worry! I’ve got a money-making and heart-mending solution for you.

In Three White Tenants, One Asian Landlord, I wrote about my experience getting rejected by over 100 tech companies back in 2012. As part of the unemployment benefits process, I was required to apply to at least five companies a week.

Instead of trying to use what little connections I had in the tech industry, I just applied to jobs that sounded suitable online. Googling each company’s job openings and then applying directly on each company’s website was the most efficient way to go. But it wasn’t the most effective.

If I saw a job that sounded really good, I probably would have asked a friend at the company to help “move my resume along” or ask for a warm introduction. Alas, no job sounded that good. And I had no relevant connections. At the time, what I really wanted to do was take a break from the grind.

One thing to think about when using connections is this: if you get the job, you may always wonder whether you got it because of your connections or because of your abilities. This disconcerting feeling is why solopreneurship feels so good.

The Best Money-Making Solution After Being Rejected By A Company

Let’s say there’s a company you really want to join. You use the company’s product all the time and like their culture. You also think the company is going to be a fantastic stock performer.

Unfortunately, after going through a bunch of interviews, no offer is extended. The hiring manager decided to go with the person who looked like them and went to the same private school. No surprise! Instead of feeling completely dejected, there’s a better solution.

Invest in the company!

By investing in the company’s stock that rejected you, you turn the equation on its head.

As a partial owner of the company, the people who rejected you now technically work for you. The more of the company’s stock you buy, the greater they are working for you.

Of course, you won’t have the opportunity to invest in every company that rejects you. Some companies are private while other companies are organizations that don’t trade on a public stock exchange. However, when a public company rejects you, you have the opportunity to benefit.

Makes Perfect Sense To Invest In Your Rejector

If you think investing in the company that rejected you feels off, you simply aren’t thinking rationally. You’ve got to put your Financial Samurai helmet on and go to war!

Whether you know it or not, every time you accept a job offer, you’re placing a bet the company will be an outperformer.

After all, for most people, the greatest source of wealth is money they earn from work, not from their investments. The money can come from a salary, stock options, or restricted stock units.

If you’re willing to dedicate your life to a company, you better believe it has great potential! Otherwise, you have no business applying.

Therefore, it stands to reason that if a company rejects you, it must mean that you are not good enough for their company. And since you believe the company is awesome and you are awesome, the rejection means that the company must be even more awesome!

Look, we all believe we are competent, intelligent, and hard-working. However, there are different levels of excellence that we all can’t be a part of. Be careful suffering from Dunning-Kruger.

Therefore, the best way to benefit from other people’s excellence is to invest in a company you think is excellent. If a company rejects you, you should logically assume the company has the potential to become a winner because you’re a winner.

Whenever someone defeats me on the tennis court multiple times, I’m not going to irrationally think I’m better than him. Instead, I’m going to concede that I have work to do to catch up to his level.

Don’t let your pride get in the way of making money! Face reality.

Investing In Your Rejector Makes You Feel Good Too

So much about building wealth is having a strong money mindset. If you believe you deserve to be rich, you will likely do better than someone who wallows in the mire.

Think about all the CEOs out there with mega-million compensation packages who get mega-millions more in severance after they torpedo their companies into the ground!

After too many rejections, your mental health may take a beating. Not all of you will have the fortitude to keep forging on. But having grit is what helps differentiate the winners from the losers. Keep on fighting!

By investing in the company that rejected you, you get a psychological lift. The reason is because you get to benefit from their wins without having to do any of the work. And who doesn’t love to make money doing nothing?

Not only do you not have to do any of the work, you can also make yourself feel better by telling yourself their employees work for you. With such a mental lift after a rejection, you will then be emboldened to keep finding that perfect job fit.

Capital over labor for the win!

How Much Stock Should You Buy Of The Company That Rejected You?

The amount of stock you should buy depends on your net worth, risk-tolerance, cash flow, and level of desire. The greater the level, the more of the company’s stock you should buy.

Thanks to the elimination of stock trading commissions, you can now buy a small amount in a company without a commission drag. A $1,000 position may be enough to soothe your ego after a rejection.

However, based on my experience, once you start investing over $10,000 in a company, that’s when it starts to feel like you’re really benefitting. Every year that passes, if you still believe in the company, you can continue to invest another $10,000.

Another way to determine how much stock to buy in the company that rejected you is figuring out how much stock you would have gotten if they had accepted you.

For example, perhaps the company would have given you $120,000 in restricted stock units that vested over three years. Therefore, if you have the capital and conviction, you may want to buy $40,000 worth of stock in the first year and see how things go.

The potential compensation amount will be highly correlated to your existing compensation and net worth. Therefore, this method of buying the amount of stock you would have been given by year makes sense.

Investing Is A Great Equalizer

The more we put ourselves out there, the more we will get rejected. Don’t take things personally. Instead, use rejection as motivation to build greater wealth!

Even if true, once you start constantly thinking you got rejected because of your race, sex, age, weight, etc, you may end up down a deep rabbit hole. Your discontent may start ruining your overall attitude, making getting new opportunities even harder.

The great thing about investing in stocks, just like with real estate, is that it is also a permission-less activity. Therefore, if you feel wronged in any way, just invest in the company’s stock when possible.

If the company ends up winning, you do too without having to do any work. Of course if the company ends up crashing and burning, so do you, but not to as great an extent! Dedicating years of your life to a failure is no fun.

Get Rich Through Rejection

Over the years, I’ve bought stock in Netflix, Google, and Apple because none of them gave me an opportunity to work for them. Now, it really feels like their thousands of employees are working for my family.

Don’t let your lack of pedigree, connections, or appearance prevent you from participating in building great wealth yourself. Instead, use rejection as a way to get rich!

When someone tells you, “no,” immediately think, “not yet.” There is always a silver lining or a solution to your problems.

And in the meantime, do your best to also build your passive income streams. This way, you may one day never have to face a gatekeeper ever again.

Rejects of the world, UNITE!

Related posts:

How To Make Six Figures At Almost Any Age

Examples Of Good Resumes That Good Jobs

Who Are The Top 0.1% Income Earners Making $1 Million A Year

Readers, anybody else like to buy stock in companies that reject them? Where is the flaw in this type of thinking and investing? What are examples do you have where you turned a rejection into a benefit?