goes by the name veron (english) or wanting (chinese). a definitive leo born august 1, 1984. a solo traveler. loves cats, coffee, sensual music, yummy food and technology. when she's not at her job as an IS developer for the government, she's likely to be out dining, or visiting an interesting art gallery or event.
if there’s one thing that you genuinely believe yourself to be good at, and it’s also something that you actually love doing, to have a whole panel of people who are (apparently) also good at it tell you that you’re not (in other words, you suck), that is quite possibly one of the most awful feelings ever.
i would allow myself just one good cry.
and then i will fix it.
Updated at 12pm: well after getting some sleep, i woke up feeling pissed off at the people involved, and the fact that i let them get to me (for about an hour). i would have deleted this post if not for the several encouraging comments that came in. thanks you guys!
the story goes like this…
a bunch of german folks (designers i assume) started a little online community for designers. designers were allowed to join only on selective basis. so, one of the forum members registered me as a member, and eventually some other members voted against me because they deemed me not fit.
what i find most absurd is the fact that someone on their team (whom i know) signed me up in the first place (through no knowledge on my part). if not for the notification email that came in informing me that someone had registered me for their community, i would never have known of their existence.
“We regret to inform you that the XXX has denied your request for membership at this time. We don’t mean you are not good enough but we have received requests that are more impressive. Please do not let this discourage you, or roadblock your creative process. Admittance to the XXX is a due process, and many are not accepted the first time they apply.”
i was offended initially. someone on their end had signed me up, then subsequently they sent me a rejection email for something i had not joined on my own accord. am i the only one that finds this ridiculous? this is what i wrote back to them:
“I would have appreciated it more if I was never notified in the first place, rather than be notified that one of your members had applied for me to join, while the others eventually voted against me.”
it appeared to me that their community was enjoying a little high from rejecting people who never even signed up on their own accord in the first place, basically telling them they are not good enough and that they have seen things “that are more impressive”. i received the following response from one of the guys named paul:
“when we reject the request we doesnt mean to hurt that somebody — or say that he cannot design. Work on your skills — and show us what you can.”
yeah paul, i would work on my skills alright. but it wouldn’t be to “show [you] what [i] can”, because i would be continually working on my skills to better myself even if it wasn’t for you.
you know what else i find annoying? it is the fact that this bunch of guys whom i have never met, deem me not good enough simply by judging this blog alone. mind you, they have never even seen my portfolio before. they simply made a snap judgment.
i have never been a part of any design agency. in fact i have been working full-time in a non-designer position all along. yet, even before i officially graduated, i have already designed for dozens of clients without having to approach any of them on my part. these projects come in because people see my blog, and they like what they see. they are willing to pay good money to have me design for them.
sorry paul, and all your community members, but i think these people with their willingness to pay actually speak much louder. it validates me as a designer more than whatever you and your mates may think or say.
at any other time, an incident like this wouldn’t hurt me. the reason why i let it get to me this time round is because i have just resigned from my current job only two days ago. i plan to do my freelance design full-time. it is a huge scary step for me. the last thing i needed was for anyone to make some half-assed remarks that my skills don’t make the cut.
as for this certain community, i have never heard of them before this. i am certainly not going to post the name or the web address over here. they do not deserve the validation of being displayed on my blog.
Posted by Veron ·
Uncategorized category ·
4,775 viewspossibly related posts
like this post?
Send this post to a friend
Print this post
RSS feed for comments on this post
Subscribe to my blog RSS feed
Believing in yourself… is something that most people are not doing. And if u genuinely love what it is that you do and know that you can get better at it.. Critism should be a form of encouragement.. have heart, Dun cry..
Passione girl..
(somewhere in Italy…) accidental visitor to ur blog > tony View all comments by tony
awww dont cry.. cause u kno wut, no one gives a crap wut they think. sure they can criticize, but u kno wut every1 gets judged for sumthin in their lifetime. so face it head on, take on their criticism n crap, n in the end show them that u ARE good at it, that u HAVE the ability to do it and that wut they say doesnt matter because u had the faith to believe in urself n ur ability to succeed. ^^ View all comments by gracek
As Forrest Gump would have said, “Sh*t happens” and we are all victims of it some time or other. It shows that we are only human and in our relentless pursuit of perfection, we sometimes must admit that we can’t be all things to all men.
Cheer up and go visit your favourite restaurants! View all comments by Walter
Hi Veron, I understand that you are feeling down right now. It is ok to let it all out, but after you do, remember to leave it all behind you! The world is too precious for you to care about people who are only interested in hurting your feelings! View all comments by pkchukiss
hey veron, have a good cry, put that awful episode behind you after that and move on :) cheer up~! things will turn out better. and u will become a much stronger person to deal with such stuff in the future~
cheers~ View all comments by nicole
Well, stay strong and never give up. Never ever give up. View all comments by DK
*hugs* (: View all comments by Huimei
Don’t be sad, cheer up. Someone taught this sentence to me. What that doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. :) View all comments by Princess
Thanks everyone! I let the remarks get me down, but just for about an hour. Now I am over it. And I think I’m going to follow Walter’s suggestion (the restaurants part, haha)! View all comments by Veron
Hey Vernon.
You know you are good, and THAT is all that matters.
“do what you love. when you do what you love, you are best in what you do. and when you are best in what you do, money will come.” bak chor mee.
Peaceout. View all comments by Ran
Love ur design and ur blog. I have faith in you. U will b my 1st choice if i need your expertise in the future. View all comments by ZK
hey veron, i think u’re really brave, to quit ur job n go down the freelance path! :) anyway, i do think u have the talent. so keep designing. one day whn i have the money i wil hire u to do up my blog! haha! :) whn that day comes, remember not to charge me too much cos i believed in u before u became a hotshot bigtime popular designer ok! lol.
keep doing what u’re definitely good at. n don’t let criticisms get to u too much. especially by strange people who don’t matter.
take care~
p.s.: looking forward to more restaurant reviews after u console urself the walter-way. haha. :) View all comments by Daphne
Believe in yourself. Your’re good. Be strong. View all comments by Fleck
hey veron, i may not know u in person, but i m charmed by ur talents and ur passion when i first stumbled on ur blog. And since tehn, i become a rather loyal reader. =)
We Leos sometimes deps too much on ppl’s judgement. However, always rem one’s charm comes from his/her confidence. I m glad u hv make a big decision for ur career. Trust urself, believe ur own capability, as how all of us hv faith in u.
If i ever need a website one day, i will definitely come to u.
Chin up and marh fwd. Share more gd restaurants n delicious food =) hugs n kisses, tciao! View all comments by ZEE
hey veron!
Where is the veron who went into blogfest last year full of confidence? (and of cos beat me flat)
Well, in the first place the word “reject” is wrongly used. They are the ones who started the crap. They were just trying to cover and hide what they started. This is NOT like you were begging to get in lor!
A card player also won’t show his/her cards to everyone lor.
Just ignore them lah. View all comments by chillycraps
all things aside, your design do make the cut… in my eyes at least. View all comments by craig
hey, so what if these so-called German designers dont appreciate your talent? its their loss..cheer up all right? to me, and all those that visit and read your blogs frequently and infrequently,you do have talent, and a whole lot of it and that..=)
dont let such things in life dampen your spirits, cheer up! looking forward to your next foodie blog..-stomach rumbles-
cheer up and take care! =) View all comments by damien
i think the growing members to your community validate your good work. dun need to fret, sticks and stones ….. View all comments by looi
hi veron, you dont know me but i’ve been reading your blog for quite sometime.
dont let those ppl upset you because only you yourself know what you are best at! :) View all comments by Patricia
Its a test for you.. things like these do happens..
treat it as a lessons and pull yourself up quickly …
You don’t need their acceptance as you are already accepted by many other readers of your blog.
I love reading your blog and i certainly don’t doubt your skills and creativity.
Jia you! Go go go! View all comments by Xin
Veron!! You swept me off my feet!!! You gave up something many people wouldn’t dare to think and went ahead with your dreams. You have the mindset of the great and You Will Get There! Cheers! View all comments by Xanthe
Yes, I agree Veron.
Anyway, design is subjective. You can have a design, and a design. What’s more important is how you feel. Trust yourself, for I do trust your work. View all comments by glenn
If you need to cry, cry more for those snobbish, elitist people who turned you down. They obviously don’t know how arrogantly ignorant they are. It’s sad enough that such people exist in this world. Don’t make it worse by letting their remarks get to you!
Just a thought… You can set up your own designer community and send them the same emails! Haha… let them have a taste of their own medicine! View all comments by think2ink
Perhaps they’re affraid that you will outcome them!!
Something similar happened to me. I have work but don’t have a job. My pay paper says something like «situation: inexistent». So I am trying to find a Job (to have more stability) and sending c.v.’s. A friend of mine sent it to several people and one director of a very important state agency wrote to me and sai something like: «I am sorry to inform you that according to paragraph… of clause…, your application for the public recruitment and call for proposals did not fulfil the legal requirements as you did not present - a paper of some sort… bla bla bla».
I tried to explain: «But I did not apply to that job, I did not reply to the call for proposals!!!».
I was really sad.
The important is to believe in what your heart tells you.
Someday… WE SHALL OVERCOME!!! View all comments by SailorGirl
there isn’t really any point in getting upset over these sort of matter. that you hadn’t wanted to join it in the first place, and even more that you haven’t even heard of them in the first place, there isn’t really any point into taking it so seriously that you shd get pissed over it. don’t see it as your loss, just see it as a joke.
hope you’re all calmed down now~ View all comments by xxoos
i guessed that we all need reassurances most of the time, and when they (those reassurances) come, u urself can feel whether u deserve them or not.i am pretty sure u feel that u deserved them all, cos u r happy and proud of ur own works. must jiayou! and this may be a test of ur own faith in urself. View all comments by tinkerman
Hugs mate! Their replies are a bit rude! Maybe because they’re German and their English ain’t all that great haha. Anyway, happy valentine’s day mate =) View all comments by mervkwok
“Dogs bark, but the caravan moves on”. Heard this one before?
I’m sure you’re already over this silly little thing, but just wanted to tell you that you don’t need ANYONE to tell you that you’re good. You’re good, maybe one of the best. Period.
Maybe all they were looking for was a Gothic site, with black background, red blinking text, and lots of skulls around. So yeah, to hell with ‘em :)
Happy Valentine’s Day! Hope you have a great day. View all comments by Beni
Oh by the way, you do have my office email address right? Feel free to drop me an email with your portfolio and we’ll see if we can do something about it. There is another possibility too but I’ll have to discuss with my team on that first. In any case, there are tonnes of jobs to go around! View all comments by Walter
Thanks everyone! To hell with those German dudes! View all comments by Veron
Hey Veron
Another interesting post from ya - nice to read the support from the blog community as well. Congratulations on taking the entrepreneur plunge and going it out on yourself alone. Being a fellow entrepreneur who got outta the ‘rat race’ 1 year ago to go it alone.. here are some tips you may find useful:
1. Your peers may not understand why you gave up the ’security & perks’ of a job.
2. They constantly nag you to get a job and stop bumming around.
3. You’ll feel you’re working twice as hard & not getting the support and recognition you deserve
4. You’ll be putting in at least 16hrs of work a day - but you know you’re working for yourself and not for your boss’s big fat paycheck!
5. Cashflow may be a problem at first - especially if clients do not pay on time.
6. You have to do everything yourself! that means being your own designer, accountant, secretary, admin, sales & marketing manager..
7. sometimes you feel yourself going insane and wanting to quit! But deep inside you should let your passion be your compass to guide you along..
8. lastly, every cent you earn will be important. Spend it wisely, save up and one day when the cashflow is good, you can start hiring and outsourcing the non-essential tasks.
btw, have you registered your own company? Let me know if you need a good corporate secretary..
Till then, cheerio and let me know if you have a window-period thats free ‘cos my site needs a major revamp! Of course, hopefully you won’t charge me to the moon cos a huge % of my profits goes to the charities.. View all comments by Edmund
I registered merely to tell you that sometimes the mind of an artist is too full for mere mortals to comprehend. Start your business, be strong and hang on to this unique and lovely style of design you should be so proud of. Not all will appreciate it, not all will understand it and some will ridicule what they covet. View all comments by tigerzeye
be notified of new comments through email without commenting.