http://m.entrepreneur.com/article/227011
How Failure Made These Entrepreneurs Millions
By Jane Porter|Jun 14, 2013
When Steve Blank appeared on the cover of Wired magazine 19 years ago, his company then, Rocket Science Games, was expected to revolutionize the videogame industry. At the time, Blank didn't let the skepticism of critics faze him.
"I thought I was a genius," he says. Three months later, when he called his mother to let her know he was about to lose $35 million in investor funding, he wasn't feeling quite so genius anymore.
"I had lots of choices, including that I could have quit," he says. "Learning from that failure for me was one of the best experiences of my life." And learn he did. In 1996, Blank founded the startup E.piphany, which went on to earn $1 billion for each of its investors.
In the past 10 years, says Blank, the culture around entrepreneurship has become increasingly failure-friendly. Serial entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley hop from one failed business to the next and billionaire entrepreneurs like Richard Branson wax on publicly about their failures almost as much as their successes. Still, "no one likes to fail," says Blank. "We are hardwired for success."
But what if you could actually use failure to help you succeed? Here are five keys to start failing your way to success:
1. Call failure something else.
1. Call failure something else.
When was the last time anyone got hired for a senior-level position without any experience? For serial entrepreneurs, "experience" is simply another word for "failure," says Blank. By labeling a failed effort an opportunity to expand your knowledge base, you're framing it in a more positive light, allowing yourself to add to your credibility as a more seasoned entrepreneur.
2. Use failure as a stepping stone.
2. Use failure as a stepping stone.
With every failure, identify what you know you did wrong and be conscious not to repeat your mistakes. This will bring you one step closer to success, says Steve Siebold, a Palm Beach, Fla.-based consultant who works with corporations and entrepreneurs on mental toughness and critical thinking.
"I've never heard [a millionaire entrepreneur] say they hit it right the first time out," says Siebold, whose book How Rich People Think (London House Press, 2010) is a culmination of nearly three decades of interviews. "The bigger they are, the more they've typically failed."
3. Never fail alone.
3. Never fail alone.
Entrepreneurs like to be trailblazers. But make a mistake on your own and you might have a hard time determining what went wrong. Having a partner you trust and respect can turn every failure into an opportunity for collaboration. "A good partner can help you determine what not to do again," says Karl Baehr, director of business and entrepreneurial studies at Emerson College, a private four-year college in Boston focused on communication and the arts.
4. Don't hide your failures.
4. Don't hide your failures.
Be proud that you were brave enough to take a risk in the first place. By being forthright about your mistakes, you open yourself up to learning from others.
Baehr's mentor, Walter Hailey, whose insurance company Lone Star Life Insurance went on to become a Kmart insurance company, used to take an hour-long walk at 5 a.m. every morning with a group of close friends to talk about ideas, successes and failures. "By the time they got back to the house, they had solutions," says Baehr. "They had a plan for the day."
5. Redefine what you want.
Redefine what you want.
Revisit and refocus why you got into business in the first place. "Look for your emotional motivators. We are emotional creatures. Logic doesn’t motivate us," says Siebold, who launched five consecutive unsuccessful businesses before he started his current consulting company. For Siebold, that motivator was one day becoming a millionaire, a goal he achieved at age 31. "Most people only half-heartedly decide they want a lot of things. You have to get really clear on what you want," he says. "The question is: How badly do [you] want it?"
Here are our favorites:
Jun 29, 2013, Denis Maira Failure is like a rubber ball, the harder you fall the higher you raise. you just got to have the heart for it.
Jun 29, 2013, Cindy Romeo Tonnesen Don't focus on the failure. Stay positive and focus on the *goal*. Failure is a bump in the road to success. Look over the horizon and visualize the goal. Use your failure to learn, re-evaluate, and modify the course, if necessary, but the key is to not lose sight of the goal! Many will quit when failure comes, but successful entrepreneurs will learn through the failure and persevere.
Jun 18, 2013, Andrew Shumway It's the points in our lives that we are at or near our lowest that make the highest points so incredible. Failures are lows that allow us to learn and adapt and grow in ways we never would have been capable of without them and the successes we see in the future will only be greater because of them.
Jun 28, 2013, Jeremy Bartley Failure is what makes the adventure of being an entrepreneur fun and success truly rewarding. Adventure without adversity, struggle and failure would be just another walk in the park. It boils down to a mindset of how you think about failure and what you think the purpose of failure really is.
Jun 27, 2013, Tammy Hawk-Bridges As an entrepreneur failure is imminent and necessary. It's just a part of the human condition that we learn best when we fail - pain and disappointment causes us to re-evaluate and search for the better way.
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CopenhagenComforts
CopenhagenComforts May 24, 2014
1) I look for the lesson to be learned
2) I know and understand that the reason it didn't work is because something better is about to surface....
That's how I handle' failure.
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JayGNesh
JayGNesh May 10, 2014
Failure is the key and the stepping stone towards success. One's realization on this matter tends to contribute much of effort without giving up easily
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JayGNesh
JayGNesh May 10, 2014
Where there's a will, there's always a way. Opportunities knock the door every time. It's within our positive mind to sense and grab it, without further delay
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Frank Masanta
Frank Masanta Jan 21, 2014
Failure is the tool used to measure success.
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Enzo Nipales
Enzo Nipales Jan 15, 2014
The problem with recognizing failure is actually failing to recognize the problem.
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YumnamRajib
YumnamRajib Dec 22, 2013
Failure-what could be this? In my believe and experience, I was or may be failed on how to get done the job, but I am not failed to do that one. So still ways to get done that. B(+ve)
LikeReply
LittleTreeCafe.com
LittleTreeCafe.com Nov 27, 2013
Most people don't learn from their mistakes. What a mistake!
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Scott Meitus
Scott Meitus Nov 4, 2013
When a market is booming, it's easy to seem like a genius. However, the true test of one's mettle is revealed when the market is not as cooperative.
I learned this first hand in 2008. I started my first company in 1998, and from the beginning it was "easy". Over this timeframe, my returns to equity investors averaged just a touch over 40% annually.
My perspective changed in 2008. I was in the middle of a condominium conversion project and overnight, our sales simply stopped. So, what to do? I made a decision with my JV partner to simply "fire sale" the remaining units, which constituted about 25% of the total unit count. I spoke with every one of my investors and they agreed that this was the proper course of action.
If you are now asking, what is the point of this, here it is. I am prouder of that deal than any other deal I have been involved in. Why? Because I minimized the losses to my investors, and I learned a great deal about humility in the process. When the going is good, and profits are easier to come by, inevitably complacency kicks in. In this instance, I had to work harder to minimize a LOSS, than I had ever had to, to maximize a gain.
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DB
DB Oct 20, 2013
The Bible tells us - In weakness we are made strong . . . His grace is sufficient.
1LikeReply
coachADREAN
coachADREAN Oct 3, 2013
Failure is an opportunity for growth. It makes you a better decision maker, thinker and believer!
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Rob Delgado
Rob Delgado Aug 6, 2013
A wise man once said:
"Success is the destination...failure is how you get there."
"Go for No" -Richard Fenton
1LikeReply
marty merryman
marty merryman Jul 31, 2013
I just decided along time ago that I would rather try and fail than fail to try,I think you have to experience failure before you will ever be able to truly appreciate sucess.
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Surya
SuryaJul 21, 2013
Failure encourages the winner and discourage the quitter....
1LikeReply
Mohammad Reza Taghdis
Mohammad Reza Taghdis from FacebookJul 19, 2013
A mistake made twice or more is quite possible keeping account of human error or the limitation of being able to use no more than 20% of the brain generally. A vision so shredded yet complete is a want not a need. Rehash the steps to every goal not once, not twice but as many times as possible and coping with the realisation that a crucial detail has been misses is only human.
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Logotypers Company
Logotypers Company from FacebookJul 19, 2013
Fail early to succeed faster!
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Edward Botchwey
Edward Botchwey from FacebookJul 19, 2013
anytime i fall, i pick up sometime up. .. Failure makes you more wiser
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Prem Shetty
Prem Shetty from FacebookJul 19, 2013
Business failure teaches you such that even best of the Management school cannot teach. Business failure is a million dollar experience which is realized only if u come out of the failure.
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David Itopa Otu
David Itopa Otu from FacebookJul 19, 2013
Ironically, Failure is the best Key to Success.
1LikeReply
Falstaff Coffee Company
Falstaff Coffee Company from FacebookJul 19, 2013
Fall down 7 times, stand up 8
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RB DE
RB DE from FacebookJul 18, 2013
some fail can make a big success for own and nation.. .
LikeReply
Dave's Killer Bread
Dave's Killer Bread from FacebookJul 18, 2013
Going to prison four times, getting out one last time and creating a $60 million dollar bread company. Embracing #Failure is exactly drove this business to success.
1LikeReply
Danielle Toney
Danielle Toney from FacebookJul 18, 2013
Success cannot happen without failure. If you succeed, it is because you learned from your mistakes and found a way to make your dreams prevail, instead of your goals. Goals can change, but dreams always stay the same.
1LikeReply
RB DE
RB DE from FacebookJul 18, 2013
thank you for your note,
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Zeal for Life - Health, Wellness and Weightloss
Zeal for Life - Health, Wellness and Weightloss from FacebookJul 18, 2013
Such good advice.
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RB DE
RB DE from FacebookJul 18, 2013
we acceded with you. Regard, RBDE
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Clint's Essentials
Clint's Essentials from FacebookJul 18, 2013
So cool!
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Royal Rakth
Royal Rakth from FacebookJul 18, 2013
the biggest teacher in my lyf was my last mistake
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Sujit Sa
Sujit Sa from FacebookJul 18, 2013
Success is the trail of failure in it ... O:-)
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Stefani Ernst
Stefani Ernst from FacebookJul 18, 2013
I failed at my own business because i didnt push so i gave up went back to work in a job (for one whole day!!) and hated every second of it and felt more of a failure than I ever had before. Needless to say with some drive, determination and no fear of failing I'm now running my own successful company. Failure is in the eye of the beholder I thought it was all down to figures and success it's not, my failure is not pursuing my own dreams and pushing my own limits.
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LaRee Antoinette
LaRee Antoinette from FacebookJul 18, 2013
I don't fail, I learn! It's about learning from your mistakes and using your new found knowledge to your advantage. People who say failure is not an option are the ones aren't learning.
1LikeReply
Trevor Anthony Chan
Trevor Anthony Chan from FacebookJul 18, 2013
Failure provides an opportunity to learn and understand what not to do and to be aware of what will happen if something similar arises in the future.
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Sudhir Suvarna
Sudhir Suvarna from FacebookJul 18, 2013
There is no such thing as failure....If there is I am happy to be a failure in my venture, than to do some monotonous job that does not challenge my intellect.
2LikeReply
Roger Osorio
Roger Osorio from FacebookJul 18, 2013
#FailureisSexy
1LikeReply
Laurentino IV Nieves
Laurentino IV Nieves from FacebookJul 18, 2013
#Failure is #abstract
GauravGupta1 Jul 14, 2013
If one think that he failed then he must revisit his past then count the number of times he failed in different things that s/he wanted to aspire even after a lot of hard working. Then whats new with Business failure we must try harder to get it. It doesn't matter that you failed.... what matters is How much one tried and what you learned.
Alberto Pérez from FacebookJul 13, 2013
Accept your own mistakes and make failure a motivation to make it higher, stronger, better.
S.L.Enterprises from FacebookJul 13, 2013
We would like beleive in this saying " Start taking risks. IF you win you will lead and if you loose then you will guide"
Shailaun Manning from FacebookJul 13, 2013
Thank you for this. i suppose this advice can be used not only for successful entrepreneurship but also for relationships. I'm sure going to give it a try.
Emm Lee from FacebookJul 13, 2013
Don't confuse a failed goal for a failed person!
Max Mitesh Patel from FacebookJul 12, 2013
First step to convert your failure into success is to change your attitude toward the failure.
S.L.Enterprises from FacebookJul 12, 2013
What we believe is there is nothing called as failure. The way we want to look it as one more way of not doing things !!!!
Tu'wise Isaac from FacebookJul 12, 2013
To every entreprenuer failure is the starting point for success and fame.
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