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Wearing My Heart on My Sleeve and Learning to Accept Failure
If you spend any time on social media where entrepreneurs hang out, you’ll be more than familiar with the cult of failure. In a move to destigmatize failure, we’re told to actually embrace failure and even learn how to fail fast.
There is, of course, a sound business case for learning how to fail fast. By failing fast, you are actually testing new ideas and processes and learning how to optimize and succeed. Perhaps we need to re-brand failure because, in my mind, testing never fails when you learn from the experience.
Of course, failing is much easier when you have the resources to absorb that failure and move on. But, unfortunately, for many small businesses, the opportunity to fail is a luxury many cannot afford.
I’ve failed more than most. I’ve built businesses that weren’t scalable. I’ve focused all my efforts on big projects/clients that have ultimately let me down. I’ve developed products that only I cared about. I’ve flogged many proverbial dead horses.
Thankfully, I’ve also had my successes. I’ve built fantastic relationships. I’ve discovered what I’m good at and, ultimately, what I enjoy doing. So in that respect, I consider myself successful, even when projects occasionally fail.
