Looking at entrepreneurship in culture, you’ll see that it’s a trend. It’s portrayed online as this glamorous lifestyle where nobody tells you what to do, you make your own schedule, and you make your money. It’s LIFE. However, there’s another side of entrepreneurship that is highlighted far less often. It’s the stuff that doesn’t make it to the highlight reel. It doesn’t make it to the blog. It’s the launch fails.
What about that part of entrepreneurship where you have a brilliant idea, put it out there and nobody bites? What about getting a lot of likes and not a lot of PayPal notifications? What about those that take the free offer, love it, but can’t seem to take the next step to investment. This is the other side of entrepreneurship and it’s the side that will take you out if you let it.
Failure or perceived failure can do two things: break you or make you, but the choice is yours.
When the failure has broken you, you’ll begin to focus solely on that failure. You’ll play the situation, profits, mistakes, over and over in your mind. It consumes you. So much so that you might take it as a “sign” that this business thing isn’t for you. After all, you probably made a deal with God “if this works, I’ll keep at it, if it doesn’t, I’ll know I’m destined to be chained to the job I don’t like”. Can you relate? Failure feels personal. It feels like a rejection of your brilliance, it feels like an insult to your creativity and passion.
When failure makes you, it makes you into a better business owner. It makes you offer more targeted services. It shows you more of who is or isn’t interested in what you have to offer. It shows you how to pivot and test new strategies. It pushes you to be honest with yourself and assess what worked and what didn’t work. It encourages you to meet with other entrepreneurs to talk through better options. You realize that them not buying wasn’t a rejection of you, but just a sign that you haven’t hit their pain point yet.
Failure is part of life. It’s a stepping stone, not a stumbling block. It’s an opportunity, not an obstacle.
Here are three ways to make sure this failure doesn’t take you out.
- Rest - Realize that everything is not in your control and everyone isn’t your client. When you surrender the idea of perfection, you can embrace the idea of experimentation.
- Re-up - When you encounter disappointment, you need to re-up on your encouragement. Call that friend who always sees the glass half-full. Read inspiring stories of people who have beaten the odds. Meditate on positivity rather than negativity.
- Reset - Get your mind right and get ready to try again. Don’t allow this to keep you stuck. There are people waiting for you to get back out there. In fact, there might be people waiting for you to make the exact same offer again because now they have their coins together.
Failure is one thing that everyone has in common. Trust your process and know that you’re not in this thing alone. Don’t give up!
Written by Casey Sharperson
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