Failure Has Been My Key To Success...Thus Far.
I started my first business “Beez Trendy Treasures” in 2011. I learned how to network and connect with people with my fashion blog “BTT Trend Talk” in 2015. I gained experience with story telling and non-profits when I founded “The Shifting Project” in 2016. I attempted and failed big time with my third store, “The Shift Store” in 2017. I rebranded and launched Chyc Studio Digital Marketing to help others in 2017. I was burnt out by 2019 and took a much needed break to refocus and try again. I pivoted and launched my personal brand The Brandy K in 2020....
The Lesson I Want You To Take Away From This:
Failure are apart of the game. You can't win them all, but you can alway gain experience and that is always a win. After I wrote that first paragraph up there, I just had to take a moment to thank God for planting all he has in me and THEN giving me the will power and insight to see it through even when other people couldn't see my vision. Each one of those business came with it's fair share of blood, sweat, and tears and now more than ever I realize that failure is inevitable, but it is NOT final.
In each of those failures, I learned. I learned so much that in hind sight I am so glad I failed. That feels crazy to even say out loud, because I can see the version of myself that was distraught over them. So if I could talk or speak life into her [me back then] I would just tell her to "Keep going!". I really believe that once you can really rest in knowing that failure is coming, you can also rest in the fact that your next win is on the other side of that failure. It also reminds me to enjoy each and every day of the journey. Rushing the win only makes your next failure come faster and it's coming lol because if you're not experiencing failure on some level, you aren't really even trying because no one is except from experiencing failure. No one.
Self Inventory: What You Gain From Failure
When you really think about it failure is all about perception and ego. Writing this has forced me to do a self inventory on how I handled my failure and what was really so bad about them. Here's what I came up with:
1. Failure hurts your ego more than it does anything else.
Failure sucks more when the failure is public and business is always public for the most part. If you were to quantify your failures in business or life in general, you would discover that we fail way more than we care to notice, but the failures that most people (including myself) focus most on are those that are public and connected to sentimental value. How many times have you not made your sales projections for the day? If you are in your first 5 years of business that is normal. It's a failure that we have accepted and understand.
2. Failure builds confidence once overcome the loss.
It takes some time, but once you have experienced failure and over come the pain associated with it, you tend to experience a boost of confidence and its most apparent when you meet that failed task again. You approach it differently because, you now have experience.
3. It's A Part of The Process
Once you accept it's position in business and in life, plan for it. The only way to plan for it is to prepare your mindset and emotions for the inevitable. For me, it's affirmations. I speak out loud to myself and talk my way through failure whenever I experience it.