How To Overcome Failures in Your Business

Failures Are A Part of Our Journeys

"Dale Carniege said “Develop success from failures.”

I know how hard it hits when you fail at something. There’s nothing like putting all of your effort into something and then you still fail. It’s tough! There’s no other way to put it.

Wait, there is!

It sucks when that happens. Failing at things hurts and we feel miserable when we experience a failure. We start doubting ourselves. We start thinking that we should give up. Worse yet, if there is any one person you came across in our journey that told us that you were going to fail. All of a sudden we start listening to that person.

But when we do that, what good does that do.

Do you really want to give up on your dream of being your own boss? Of having your own business? What about that empire that you want to have in multiple countries?

We can’t let failures stop us. Let me say that differently. We shouldn't let failures stop us.  Yes, it easier said than done. I know that to be so true! 

So, if you are sitting there and thinking about how your week is going or your month. Then you start looking at your targets…at your metrics….and it’s yet another week and you are not hitting them. The money is not coming in like you thought, but boy oh boy... those bills are surely piling up right?

It really seems like giving up would be the best thing. But, is it really? Because you still have to pay those bills! Then there is the other thing to consider. If you give up, will you truly be happy going back into that 9 to 5 grind where you know you really weren’t happy?

Seriously, think about that for a few seconds or even a few minutes.

Yes, being an entrepreneur is tough. But give yourself a break because starting anything new is tough. The first few weeks, months, and years are tough. If you doubt me, reach out to a business owner who is in year 5, 7, or 10 of their business being in existence and see what they tell you about the tough times. 

There are things that we can do to help us overcome the failures that we are experiencing and NOT give up on our dream business. I found 11 of those things in an article from Small Businessify. I am not going to review all 11 of them, but I want to share 5 of them because these are 5 that I do for myself and for my own business. 

How to Overcome Failures as a Business Owner

Here are 5 strategies that you can implement to help you with overcoming failures as a business owner. I use these 5 strategies as I continue to grow my company.

1. Brace for the failure

You have to accept that there will be a time when you will fail. We are good at several things, but we are not good at everything! So this means that there are things that we will fail at. You can work really hard on your market research and sales start coming in, then they suddenly slow down. You have to be ready to deal with that slow down.

You may have worked really hard to put together an event, you promoted it for weeks, but the registration is much lower than you thought. Be ready for that situation. Keep working hard on your business, but be sure to have some backup plans and contingency plans in place for in the event things don’t go as you want or expected. Being prepared for the failure will help you deal with it much better.

2. Own your actions

Accountability is a necessary part of progress. Being accountable means that you are taking ownership for your actions and the results of those actions. There are going to be some actions that land in a positive outcome, but then there will be those that end in a failure. 

Own your failure. Own your role in the failure. I'm not talking about blaming others. I am talking about owning your failure. Don’t blame your clients, your marketing company, partners, Facebook, Google, or your virtual assistant for what went wrong. Accept your part in the failure. Then move on from there. Think of what you could have done or said differently that may have led to a different and positive outcome. Then go do one of those alternative actions to see what difference, if any, they make.

3. Stop self-doubt and believe in you

You might be thinking that the failures that you are experiencing are because you don’t know what you are doing or that you are not good at this. But you started your business because you are good at the thing that are selling in your business.

So, stop doubting yourself.

Yes, you are experiencing a failure now, but take time to remember the successes that you have had since you started. Doesn’t matter if they were small or large successes. … They were successes! Focus on positive things. Have a growth mindset! Keep moving forward!

4. Focus on your vision

Look to the future and the only way to do this is to remember your vision for your business. Often our visions are tied to our why for our business. So remember your why for your business.

Thinking about the future will help you get over the current. Examine your vision statement and your actions that you have been taking in your business that should be moving you towards your vision and mission. Identify if there is anything that you need to change in your vision, in your targeting, in your actions. Then make an action plan using your vision to guide the goals that you need to work on to move forward.

5. Evaluate your business periodically

Look at what you wrote in your strategic plan. Are you hitting those targets and goals that you outlined in your strategic plan. If not, why not?

If you are not sure how or where to start to figure out the why not, this is where a business coach can come in to help you. Look for someone who has the knowledge and experience to help you with data-analysis and interpretation. You still need to do your part though.

By that I mean that you still need to be able to say the things that your business has been doing and the type of information that you have been collecting so that you can share that information with your business coach. Bear in mind that the business coach can only help you based on the information and data that you share with them. 

The ultimate goal of evaluating your business is to be able to identify what you will be doing next to move forward. It is not a process about dwelling on the past or on your mistakes and failures.

Summary

When we overcome our failures, we learn from them and they make us stronger. Plus we are better able to navigate challenges in the future. Message me if you want a link to the full article that talks about the 11 things that you can do to overcome failures in your business.