People typically recognize entrepreneurs for the ideas they get off the ground, not for the failures the entrepreneurs chalk up over time. Nevertheless, falling flat on your face as an entrepreneur could make you a better business person in the long run. Believe it or not, having one or more flops isn’t something you should be afraid of or run away from.
More Information Creates Better Direction
Whenever you fail as an entrepreneur, it’s an opportunity to acquire new information. For instance, let’s say you launch a women’s clothing company and are experiencing drastically low sales. You conduct a customer survey and discover that the material you selected wasn’t hypoallergenic enough. As you research to fix the problem, the information you uncover could inspire you to expand the brand to more hypoallergenic products, like stuffed toys, soaps, or even packaged foods. These new paths might prove more successful because they are founded on feedback, science, or mechanics.
Improved Confidence
Initially, failure can be unnerving. But if you do your homework and analyze why the failure happened, you can go into your next project knowing that you’re less likely to make the same mistake again. In this way, failing teaches you that there’s often a lot of logic involved in business outcomes and that you don’t have to take it personally when problems or criticisms crop up. You also start to see achieving business success as a continuous process, meaning that, although you’ll still give it your all and maintain high standards, you’ll likely feel less pressure to be perfect. That decrease in stress can do wonders for freeing your creativity.
Maintenance of Humility
When all is going right for your business, it’s possible for workers to be underappreciated or feel somewhat invisible. After all, everything is working like a well-oiled machine, which isn’t something you fix or change! You might unintentionally take credit for the success earned through the efforts of dozens or even hundreds of employees. When something goes wrong, though, you have to reexamine how your company’s different parts are functioning. This analysis reminds you that you’re not an expert in everything, and you can’t logistically cover every job the business requires. You learn to respect how intricate your company is and to assign praise or criticism more appropriately. Ultimately, that change in your attitude can result in better worker satisfaction, improved morale, and reduced employee turnover.
Honed Focus
As you work to keep a struggling business afloat, you might discover those specific elements of your company that aren’t as valuable as you initially anticipated they would be. Refocusing your policies and procedures to eliminate these unnecessary drains will leave you with a business that’s ultimately leaner and more productive than it would have been had you never struggled. What’s more, depending on the specific industry and goals involved, you can likely apply these streamlined operations to other companies you start.
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Confirmation of Passion
When you’re genuinely passionate about your company, you won’t simply sit back and let it die without a fight. Thus, when things in your business start to go south, you have to ask yourself just how committed you really are to the idea behind the company. Maybe there’s something more critical pulling your attention away, in which case it might make sense to sell the business or delegate your responsibilities. Regardless of whether you opt to stay or go, the company struggles will reveal what’s most pressing on your heart and push you toward life activities that make you happier.
New Relationships
In many cases, fixing what’s going wrong in a failing company requires you to hire new employees. For example, if a low inventory of staff is resulting in delayed or erroneous orders. You might also need to call in experts who can figure out where the weak points of your business are, or who can suggest and implement new strategies or methods. If you work well with these new workers and experts, you’ll likely be able to call on them during other points of your career, expanding your stabilizing network — not just for your current business, but for future companies as well.
Failure Isn’t the End of the Road
In general, modern society tends to look down on failure — particularly in the business arena. Even so, flubs don’t have to force you to throw in the towel and quit your entrepreneurial career. Instead, see them as incredible learning experiences that offer pathways to new concepts, better stability, and overall success.
