All quotes are taken from my podcast Inter:views, Cracking The Entrepreneurship Code.
“You always read about the few that succeed, and then you forget about the thousands that actually struggle and fail, which is a natural thing in entrepreneurship. Failure is probably the norm.” Ola Sars, Founder, Soundtrack Your Brand, Sweden, ep. 55.
If entrepreneurship is a journey full of uncertainty, there’s one thing that’s certain: Failure.
You will fail. 100% guaranteed. If you think you won’t, maybe it’s time to check your ego.
The problem is that no schools teach you about failure. It’s taboo.
You shouldn’t want to fail, but you need to recognize that there’s the possibility of a lot of failures during your entrepreneurship journey, even when you’re good at what you do.
In fact, failure is one of the words my guests mention the most often, together with persistence or resilience.
“You can do everything correctly and still fail. That’s a constant challenge. Persistency and having hard work ethics help go through those. Because you’re going to hit these walls and you got to continue going.” Richard Lavina, Founder, TaxFyle, USA, ep. 63.
Successful entrepreneurs understand that failure is part of the game.
Not only do they accept it, but they give themselves permission to fail because they know humans make mistakes.
They have the courage to admit things sometimes aren’t going well and they don’t pretend to be stronger than they think they are.
“One of the most powerful obstacles to giving yourself permission to fail is shame. And the best way to have it lose power of you is to go public. Once it’s not a secret, it can’t hold you, the shame is gone.” Kahsmira Mody, Founder of Learning Essence, India, ep. 33.
Successful entrepreneurs see failure as opportunities to learn and strengthen their businesses. Nurturing such an attitude about failure encourages them to be bold and try new things.
Having said that, being afraid of failing is a natural emotion. It’s not easy to accept.
Remember: you grow when you struggle, you grow when you fight, you grow when you get out of your comfort zone.
If there’s a will, there’s a way. And entrepreneurs are great at finding opportunities.
The difference between perceived success and failure is whether you take these opportunities or not.
You won’t be able to finish everything you started. That’s fine, at least you’ve tried. If it didn’t work, move on.
“It is important to fail. Because if you don’t ever try anything, you’re never going to succeed. Also, create a culture in your business that is OK to fail as well. If you don’t, either people will get risk-averse and nothing will happen, or they’ll try things and then they’ll hide if they make a mistake. It’s fine to fail, it’s fine to get things wrong. Just chat about it and move on.” Sandy Lindsay, Founder, Tangerine Group, UK, ep. 70.
One last thing to conclude on this topic. Have you ever asked yourself: what is failure, really?
“Who determines when I fail? How can I fail if I always get up? There will be bumps but if you’re doing something that gives you a good feeling, something that makes an impact, who cares if there’re some setbacks, who cares if there’s failure?” Anna Juusela, Founder, We Encourage, Finland, ep. 24.
This is an extract from my eBook The Entrepreneur Mindset: 7 Tactics To Avoid Being The Bottleneck In Your Business.
Download the full eBook for free here.
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