“Fail Faster. Succeed Sooner.” David Kelly
Coming from a family of entrepreneurs I was exposed to multiple Business Ventures from an early age. Dinner conversations were usually about the ups and downs our Businesses faced. It was a natural progression for me to be an Entrepreneur. Since College, I have started 3 companies – An Events Company [ENT Unlimited], a Travel Company [trip2goa.com] and an Executive Training Company [Work Better Training]. The events company died a natural death after college. The Travel Company started off with a bang but now operates on a small scale. Finally with Work Better Training we have made a small but significant mark in the Executive Training space in India.
As my career chronology indicates, I have had more failure than success as an Entrepreneur. Yet without those failures I would have never ended up doing what I believe is my true calling. My failures led me to this juncture of my career.
A few things I have learnt from my failures:
- Blame Nobody: If you have failed, for whatever reason, hold yourself responsible. If it was recession that caused the failure, well, you should have kept that in mind and accordingly taken the risks. If a partner cheated you in Business, well you should have been a little more careful in selecting a partner. Don’t blame anyone else. Hold yourself 100% responsible for the failure. Doing this could be the biggest factor in your long term success.
- Seek the Learning: It’s easy to brush off failures in your career without introspection. Take the time to delve into your failures objectively. Crystallize them in words. Put them down on paper – in points if possible.
- Learn from other people’s failures: My mother always told me that smart people learn from their own mistakes but geniuses learn from mistakes made by others. Keep a close eye on the reasons why others succeed or fail. There is always a lot to learn from both.
- Strength & Weakness Finder: If you consistently fail at something in spite of trying your best that could be an indicator of a natural weakness you may have. Failure often acts as a strength & weakness finder which helps you understand yourself better. Operate in jobs that exploit your Strengths.
- Perseverance: The more interesting/new stuff you try, the more you fail. Let the fear of failure not stop you from venturing out and doing game changing work. Follow the Try – Fail – Learn – Try again – Succeed cycle to great measure. The important thing – don’t stay knocked down for too long. Sulk, but get back on the horse as soon as possible for a wiser attempt.
- Die another day: Every failure at the time seems like the world is coming to an end. But trust me; it never does. There is always another day, another month, another year to make amends.
Every autobiography I have read of successful Business Professionals talks about the virtues of failing. Most of their success stories start with failed attempts. However, failing is never fun. It’s not going to be a party when it happens. But when you do fall down, don’t refuse to get up.