Life Lessons From My First Failed Business
The bigger the failure, the greater the lesson
When I started a delivery business some years back, I had high hopes.
Quite frankly, I had read a lot about thriving businesses and had spoken to a few business-minded people.
The stage was set.
It was my first real hustle and lots of my savings, time and energy had gone into the business.
Little did I know what was to come.
The business was on for over two years when I realized that I was expending too much and making little or no profit.
As I write today, the business no longer operates or exists. I have since started another successful business, but the lessons have stayed with me.
Over the years, I have come to understand that learning from a failed business isn’t entirely about what you did wrong, but what you didn’t know and failed to apply. Here are 4 lessons I learned after failing in my first business:
1. You may have great business ideas, but execution is key
Every business begins with an idea, but that’s not where it ends.
Execution is just as important.
As Bhawna Agarwal, a board advisor at the Harvard Business School explains, what differentiates successful businesses from unsuccessful ones is the way and manner in which the idea behind the business has been executed.
What ultimately counts is not only having an idea, but also doing it right.
Truly, nothing works if the idea is not put to test through practice.
An idea, however ground-breaking or ordinary needs to be worked upon to be translated into a good business model. — Bhawna Agarwal
Indeed, execution is the foundation of a great business.
The only way you can successfully launch is if you continually give life to your business plan.
2. Sometimes, failure is inevitable
Have you ever tried running a business before and failed at it?
Failure is not something anyone wants to experience in business. It is like a plague which so many business owners avoid. At the time, it was discouraging to see my business fail because I had given my all to it and was expecting massive growth within a short time.
There are moments when failure teaches you to reflect on your past decisions and choices and what you could have done better. Through it all, I learned that failure may not be entirely bad because it forced me to re-evaluate and re-strategize.
It also doubled as a sort of motivation to start something new, based on the lessons garnered from previous business experiences.
Whatever the situation may be, use failure to your advantage.
The truth about failure is that is not unique to one person. The richest men in the world have also experienced failure in their businesses at some point. For instance, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and one of the world’s richest men, once had a shopping website known as zshops which failed. Bill Gates also had the Traf- O- Data Business which eventually collapsed. Both businesses ultimately failed, yet both men moved on to do greater things which the world recognizes them for.
Another good example is Social Net which was formerly created by Reid Hoffman as a dating and professional networking platform. Social Net failed and LinkedIn was created by the same owner of Social Net to connect people professionally. The point is this: Where Social Net failed, LinkedIn thrived and is still thriving.
According to the richtopia website,
"More than 50% of startups fail within their first four years. 19% of them fail because they couldn’t keep up with their competition while about 18% are knocked out of the race due to pricing issues."
In business, you can always learn, grow and evolve from your past mistakes.
It’s almost impossible to read a success story without twists and turns.
A failing small business doesn’t mean your run is over." - Mike Kappel
Here's what failure in business taught me:
- To be mentally strong enough to deal with anything.
- It was an opportunity to learn from my mistakes.
- It gave me the chance to filter my ideas and think more introspectively.
3. Do not count on your friends and families to support your business
When you start a business, you would expect that the ones who are closest to you would lend their support.
However, it doesn't always work this way. While some family members will wait to see how the business plays out, others may feel entitled to free services!
This reasoning is not far-fetched; many people do not understand the intricacies of running a business.
Their responses could sometimes be discouraging, negative and indifferent. However, none of these should stop you from forging ahead.
For this reason, Jack Ma once said :
“When doing sales, the first people who will trust you will be strangers, friends will be shielding against you, fair-weather friends will distance from you. Family will look down upon you.”
On the other hand, there are families that could go all the way by supporting and promoting your hustle.
Before reacting to any varying opinion about a proposed or actual business, here’s what I have learned to do:
a) Try to understand every concern raised and analyze what has been said.
b) Surround myself with people whose energy level matches mine, especially those who already have a string of successful businesses.
c) Stick to my clearly planned goals and vision for my business.
d) Leave no room for self-doubt.
4. Know when it’s time to quit
Putting more money into an ailing business further dug a large hole in my pocket.
With time, I got to see things as they were.
The truth is, running a business is not for the fainthearted, so you must be ready to face reality and make a quick decision if required.
If things don’t go as planned, then the business owner is left to face the harsh reality of a crumbling startup or revive it.
While some people are able to revive their business, others may not be so lucky.
There are various reasons why business owners could decide to quit. Such instances range from low profit to stiff competition, stringent economic conditions or financial mismanagement.
Most people don’t like to talk about or accept that their business is failing. However, the faster one accepts that things aren’t moving as smoothly as anticipated, the better.
Final Thoughts
Business owners get discouraged during hard times.
It’s sometimes tough to keep pushing when you are faced with so much uncertainty.
The thought of failing is even more scary, which could make it difficult to take bold steps to sustain or end the business.
However, failure doesn’t mean that your business pursuit should come to an end. It is only a new route for re-planning and re-executing.
