Success is an ugly thing, one spawned from blood, sweat and tears. It comes kicking and screaming through grit and determination, never from complacency and laziness. It takes a certain kind of person who has the ambition and drive to carve themselves a piece of the pie before others can and find their niche in an oversaturated marketplace. Being an entrepreneur means taking a hit but getting into the ring time and time again, regardless of how much it hurts.
Failure is how we succeed. From failure comes wisdom and from wisdom comes better decision making. Some of the brightest minds in history have known years of failure and set-backs before they could achieve their goals, and that is completely normal. Take Albert Einstein, a man whose genius was not truly recognised until the later part of his life, or even Zuckerberg and his team who slaved for hours over code and programming. Both of these men experienced countless setbacks and drama, but what binds them is their inability to relent.
Failure is not the end of the road. Well, unless failure lands you in prison. Stop reading if you are a Jordan Belfort in the making, but otherwise know that from failure comes new opportunities. It gives us a chance to redefine our goals and make adjustments for the next time we step up and enter the arena of business. Yes, it hurts. It is painful to be shot down and be left feeling like your talents lack validation or worth.
That pain, however, should not become your anchor. The keen sting of failure is a simple reminder that you need to re-assess, reframe and recharge. It is critical at this stage that your emotions do not entirely inform your decisions, but only serve to galvanize you into getting your head back in the game. Do not rush in with half-baked ideas that come from a place of desperation, because that will put people off a whole lot more than failure ever could.
And friends? Boy oh boy, you really learn who your true buddies are when failure comes knocking. The toadies and the leeches scuttle to their next victim the moment you experience your first set-back, but your real mates stand by you. Failure teaches you who to trust and open to, while giving you the instincts to avoid the tag-alongs and self-interested careerists who only seek to use you on their own path to success. Once they fall, you will not be there to catch them and that will be their biggest failure.
Ambition, drive and confidence will guide you through failure and towards success, regardless of how many times you get knocked down. Nobody said going into business was going to be easy and being an entrepreneur means growing a skin as thick as a rhino’s. If you have that kind of temperament and ability to walk off the pain then you already have what it takes. Get out there and make some money, setbacks be damned.
