When you hear it 700 times a day, however, you start to become immune or see it as a new possibility. Rejection is something I – having been an entrepreneur for more than 20 years – have had to get used to in order to build my businesses.

Thankfully, I received this insight very early on in my first job between school and university. A stint doing telesales for Gala Bingo saw me make 250 calls each day offering free membership nationwide. I’d convert around 10%, which felt demoralising at first. But it taught me not to take “no” personally and how to handle it. I often refer to this experience as “no training” instead of sales training.

Our scripts told us to get a “no” three times before ending a call. And by the third moment we sometimes turned “no” into “yes”. There are many reasons why someone might change their mind and it’s important to determine if it’s a hard no or just a reaction to being cold-called without really considering what’s on offer.

Sometimes I’ve found a “no” shifts the conversation and a totally different opportunity presents itself. You only get to that point though if you don’t immediately shut down the conversation and move on. A little tenacity is generally acceptable providing you remain polite.

Developing resilience is important, but key to making progress was being able to ladder down to options where common ground could be found. Once at university, a similar experience proved the source of inspiration for Student Beans, which has gone on to become a £30 million revenue business under the brand Pion, operating in more than 100 countries, and employing 250 people – all without raising a penny of angel or venture capital.

The origins of Student Beans

Feeling fearless, I put my hand up to generate sponsorship for our halls of residence’s summer ball towards the end of my first term at University of Birmingham. My excitement at getting the local branch of United Colours of Benetton to part with some drawstring bags was not shared by others. I, however, saw it as a vessel to be filled and set about applying the techniques I’d learnt working for Gala Bingo.

Calling major brands known to students and asking for paid sponsorship for a summer ball was always more likely than not to result in a “no”. But having the fallback of asking for samples or contributions to our goodie bags offered those brands a more palatable option. Failing that, I’d ask if they had anything at all to donate to a charity raffle.

The laddering worked and I soon had a room full of chocolate from Cadburys, condoms from Durex, cinema tickets, Jelly Belly jellybeans, ground coffee from Starbucks, and worm bookmarks from Waterstones. Lush couldn’t extend to the numbers I required but offered discount vouchers and prizes for the raffle.

All were wins, but STA Travel sponsoring the ball’s tickets and Pot Noodle sponsoring the entire event while providing samples thanks to an “Oscars” theme that gelled magnificently with the brand’s “Posh Noodle” range launch, felt special.

The secret was finding a way to make it easy for people to say “yes” to something. People, generally, want to say yes. Without thousands and thousands of rejections via Gala Bingo, I probably wouldn’t have taken on the student ball sponsorship role. And it’s unlikely the student loyalty app, which has served millions globally, would exist today.

Serendipity is thought of as something that happens by chance with a beneficial outcome. I have come to see it differently and believe it can effectively be ‘manufactured’. There are three elements that interlock with each other in a Venn diagram: Permission; Confidence; Context. The summer ball provided the necessary context. I had the confidence to volunteer and get on the phone thanks to the Gala Bingo experience. And the permission to cold call was there because we needed to raise sponsorship. I call this framework The Collision Code, the title of my new book.

You can find each of the factors almost everywhere you look and never know where it might lead. Imagine a snooker ball travelling across the table. Its path will continue unerringly to the cushion on the other side unless it hits another ball – at which point each ball will go in entirely different directions. There’s something magical about not knowing what might happen, but being prepared to take a chance. In my business life, harnessing serendipity has unlocked countless possibilities and meaningful relationships from deals to long-term partnerships. And being willing to accept that somebody might say “no” has been at the heart of it.

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