Barack Obama once said: ‘the real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you can learn from it; whether you choose to persevere’.
Some experts define entrepreneurs as people who start and build successful businesses without taking into cognizance the fact that along the line, sometimes they fail, they are humans too! Regardless of how you define an “entrepreneur,” one thing is certain: becoming a successful entrepreneur is not easy.
Failure, for entrepreneurs, is inevitable. Show me an entrepreneur who has never encountered failure and I’ll show you an Eskimo who has never seen ice. As an entrepreneur, there is every tendency that your super brilliant business idea doesn’t work out as planned and you are back to ground zero. It can be heartbreaking, really! Only very few business owners are able to revive a failed business.
So when you are faced with failure in business, how do you handle it?
– The first step is to be prepared mentally and otherwise. Have backup plans so that if eventually things don’t turn out well, you would not be thrown off balance. Encourage and motivate yourself, after all it’s not the end of the world. This is where resilience comes in.
– Then have a strong support network. No man is an island. Having people around you, especially family and friends is very much advisable at this point in your life because definitely you will need all the support and love that you can get. And you never can tell, these people can also offer valuable advice to help you get back on your feet.
– You might also decide to reevaluate your situation by looking into your business and examining what went wrong and where you need to make improvements. This period could be the time for you to go back to the drawing board and analyze your business strategy, or perhaps it is a sign that what you are doing is not for you.
– It is essential that you learn from it so that you don’t go back to making the same mistakes in the future.
Nevertheless, there are several ways to take advantage of failure as an entrepreneur: you could look on the bright side and explore other options, or seek advice from other entrepreneurs and even your clients,
you could see it as a wake-up call to learn more and improve on yourself and your business. It is also important to note that failure forges you to become more resilient, and builds your entrepreneurial character traits like perseverance and tenacity, then finally, you get to appreciate success more.
Never forget that sometimes your business needs to actually fail for it to grow, it might just be the push you need or perhaps there is a lesson waiting for you in it, remember that every cloud has a silver lining!
Chizoba Ngwudo
chichingwudo@gmail.com
