business failures

Failure Isn’t The End

For every plant
I wish to grow,
I plant three seeds.

In nature,
failure is often
the default.
It is natural,
the way of things.

In business,
unfortunately,
failure is also often
the default.

More businesses fail
than succeed.

MANY more.

Because we often don’t see
the businesses that failed
before they were opened.

And EVERY successful business builder
has failed at a business,
usually at more than one business.

I’ve failed at hundreds
of businesses
from the vegetable selling business
I started when I was eight
to the Romance Novel business
I’m closing due to low sales
next year.

But that’s okay
because I kept trying
and eventually
I was successful with a couple
of businesses.

And that success made
my investment in and learning from
the failures
worthwhile.

Failure is part of
an entrepreneur’s journey.
It isn’t the end of it.

Keep going.

Money Isn’t Lost

It is the reality
of business building
that some businesses
won’t survive.

I once worked
for one of the largest
beverage companies in the world.
The company had over a century
of history
in developing products.
We spent millions of dollars
testing if a product
would work or not.

And fewer than
1 in 10 products
survived.

Business failure is tough
but it isn’t a failure of YOU.
It is just part of building businesses.

And it isn’t completely wasted
time or money or other resources.

One of the (many) things
that gives me peace
when products and companies fail
is…
the money invested
isn’t ever lost.
It is transferred.

It paid salaries, for example.
Someone put food
on their table
because we started that company.

It built other businesses,
as another example.
Suppliers were paid
and those funds
might have made a difference
in THOSE companies.

Even failed companies
contribute to the world.

Remember that.