“O God! I failed”, “Why was it to happen just with me in this entire world?” These are some of the commonest phrases you would hear from the ones who have faced failures, may be once or more than that. But a question keeps hunting my mind every now and then: Is failure so gruesome? Most people would say, “Yes it is”. People fear failure. They dread it and try to escape it. But let us just face it. Failure is an inevitable part of man’s life. We are all mortal creatures bound to make mistakes. No man has ever become successful in the blink of an eye. But a meagre failure cannot be an end to this beautiful journey which people call “life”. The primary reason for fearing failure may be attributed to the reluctance of people to accept their mistakes, learn valuable lessons and mould them. Change is difficult but not impossible. As rightly stated by Abraham Lincoln, “I am not concerned that you have fallen but I am concerned that you arise”.
Now as you have destined yourself to entrepreneurship, you should gather enough courage to face failure as it is more likely that 90% of the time, you are bound to fail. As an entrepreneur, encountering failure may be crushing, bruising and heart weakening. But here, the word “fail” must be taken differently. It can be considered as the FIRST ATTEMPT IN LEARNING something new, something innovative. If a successful entrepreneur assures that he has succeeded in his very first attempt then he is likely deceiving you. Even the most successful of all entrepreneurs cannot convince people to have hit a six in the very first ball. Success is incoherent without experience. And nothing other than failure can fetch you a better experience. On facing the consequences of failure, always remember that failure is one of the most integral parts of entrepreneurial process and the seemingly successful people have also undergone this phase.
No matter how big or small you may count it but failure will always give you a newer and a better learning experience which can be applied in your new venture. But if you succeed to overcome failure then it is very likely that you sit back and analyse the questions yourself, “What happened?”, “What was my approach?”, “How far was I prepared?” and “How should I approach it the next time?” If you fail to answer any of these, it’s high time that you reconsider. As long as you can bring out some useful output from failure, it is completely worth to fail.
You can never recognise the sweetness in food until your taste buds have tasted something sour. Quite similar to this, you will never realise the joy of success unless you have faced failure. Failure enhances the taste of success. It might be a bit difficult to digest at the moment, but every obstacle in your way eventually brings you closer to success. All you need to have is a positive attitude and a solid work ethic. The way may seem long but someday, you will definitely reach your destination.
Well taking a different look at it, failure and success are just articulate terms coined by the society having no direct relevance to a person in particular. Failure in an event has got no right to decide the talent of a person altogether. Similarly success in a venture is not the only criteria to announce you a winner. Failure being so bitingly painful attracts more of self introspection than success. But at the end it is only the entrepreneur’s optimistic attitude that brings about all the difference. Stop giving a hike to your personal identity for the cause of your failure. Instead learn to segregate the situation and your approach, trying a better approach for the next time. This is a core message for all the entrepreneurs.
Some of the most influential people in my life are the ones who have used failure as a tool for cementing their own legacy. As a matter of fact, this should not flash with a great surprise because most of the inspirational stories are pivoted around the triumph over personal weaknesses. Here I enumerate the story of two of my favourite successful and renowned business personas across the globe.
Traf-o-Data – Bill Gates
Few people might know this but before becoming the wealthiest person across the globe and before owing Xanadu 2.0, Bill Gates also failed several times. He founded his first company Traf-O-Data with an objective to read the raw data from roadway traffic counters and create reports so that traffic engineers could analyse those data and optimise traffic and avoid end road congestion. They first tried to sell their product Traf-O-Data 8008 to the local country but failed miserably because the machine did not work. But he did not give up with it. Gates describes this failure as a valuable lesson that he had learnt which helped him to clear through several hurdles engrossing his path leading him to his undaunted success with Microsoft. But it’s soothing to know that the even the world’s richest philanthropist can land up making certain business blunders.
Apple- Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs one of the leading entrepreneurs in the world, the best seller of products such as iPads, iPods and iPhones or the MacBook , an inbuilt genius and the “Da Vinci” of the tech era renaissance. But he too, like many others managed to create a success story after having faced several failures. He has maintained a track record in wasting millions of dollars in development to create a sort of mass amnesia as Lisa. After being kicked out from a company he had founded, he went on to create a newer one naming it NeXT but unfortunately it met the same fate due to some hardware issues. But he maintained a will power that,”Failure is the stepping stone to success”. And finally, when the software division of NeXT was sold out to Apple, Steve got back his lost stature. His story teaches us that hold on to your passion, stick to it and work for it. If you are really passionate about something, and dream to give it a life, success will heavily get down upon you. Now just sit back and imagine what would be the scenario of the current world if Steve Jobs had given up in his first or second attempt.
Strive to find out flaws and loopholes in your own ideas and process and eliminate them, because you are only doomed to fail iteratively if you choose not to learn from your past mistakes.
Also read Reasons why Dazo and Lumos failed to avoid mistakes that can become reasons for your failure.
