All the successful people I know, including some of my coaches and mentors, are often proud to talk about their failures. As a serial entrepreneur myself, I have had my fair share of failures. I am a strong believer that failure is absolutely necessary for all entrepreneurs to learn from, and seek on a deeper level why they happened to progress with the lessons learnt from them.
The art and science of success and of leadership is sought by virtually everyone. It is claimed by many, defined by a few, and exercised by those with the right attitude, mindset and resource tools. One of my books is all about the art and science of success with some personal lessons learnt.
Not many people reach true success by following someone else. You must be prepared to create a new road from scratch for yourself. Some of my key lessons on failure are:
1. Failure does not define your personality.
All failures are lessons for wisdom. Having made and lost Millions twice across many countries including Romania, I feel that my failures and lessons learnt are great for the knowledge I have ultimately gained. It’s a wisdom milestone, a speed bump on the road towards your end goals. ALL successful entrepreneurs or experts in their field have numerous failures before they hit their peak performance and successes. You could be a Thomas Edison, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordon, Sir Richard Branson, Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Robert Kiyosaki etc., just look at the number of failures they all had before they were successful. Having met most of them I can truly say how each wears their failures as medals of wisdom.
2. Innovate and Re-Invent.
Failure will force you to learn and master re-innovation, renewal and survival. Innovation has to stem from the burning desire to solve problems – the problems of your potential and existing clients. It applies to every aspect of your business – supply chain, operations, packaging, marketing, branding, hiring & retaining talent and customer service.
3. Keep Calm and Motivated.
After a business failure, you must be able to trust yourself, stay motivated and keep the momentum and spirit going. I always say, Act like a swan, glide calmly on the top, but paddle and kick like hell underneath. There are times when a deal, business or venture feels like it has come to a failure, but remember to vigilantly seek revenue sources rather than cutting costs constantly. Get advice from experienced mentors when you feel you have tried all options as you will either gain beneficial perspective or be able to raise capital for the project. Experience teaches to not throw good money after bad.
3. Define your Strengths.
Define your SEKSE (pronounced sexy) model. Something I developed a couple of decades ago. It stands for Skills, Education, Knowledge, Strengths, Experience. Another way to stay ahead of the game after a business failure is to re-evaluate your key skills, education, experience and knowledge. Focus on finding your strengths, then formulate what the market needs that match your strengths to address their problems with an easy way to implement a solution. Again, innovation is the differentiator for those who survive and those who perish.
4. Clear your Past messes.
Having clarity and the right mindset is one of the strongest factors in being a successful leader. You must have closure on all past rackets, messes and stress stories in your head. Surround yourself with positive supportive people who believe in you, and constantly take action. Don’t let negativity be the last word on the topic or project negativity. Accentuate the positive and you are more likely to see a positive outcome. Look hard as often these rackets and messes are created from immediate friends and family experiences. You must achieve closure yo move forward.
I often recruit people who have little to no experience in the business. I look for values and hunger to succeed. Those traits are hard to teach. Hence I often warn the employee that they will fail, cost me money, but be able to learn from there.
There are things in the entrepreneurial world which you can only learn by failing but provided you understand all aspects of the mistake and arm yourself with the new knowledge to not repeat them again.
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