What's the number one lesson you've learned from entrepreneurship?
What's the most important lesson you've learned from being an entrepreneur, or observing other entrepreneurs? How have you succeeded in fulfilling your main goals? How have you dealt with small failures along the way?
Many of the experiments I've been conducting to try and figure out to best service clients have been failing. I'd also like to know the best way to deal with these failures in order to more quickly reach success.
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Mar 20, 2019
That the focus needs to be on what you are most passionate about and how to convert passion to profits as a business owner.
Jan 25, 2018
If you don't ask, you don't know if you can get it. It never hurts to ask. Whether it's to negotiate pricing or requesting additional changes to a prototype. What do you really have to lose? All you'll get is a yes or a no. If you don't say anything, you'll never know and you've missed a potentially beneficial opportunity. You can always hit the "redo" button daily if you find you've taken a wrong turn or made a bad choice. Business, just like life, isn't meant to be difficult. Being an entrepreneur is meant to be fun because you're living your passion, purpose, and truth on a daily basis. That's the ultimate dream for all human beings. It's why we're here on the earthly plane - to live out our purpose in its entirety. However, remember one thing: If you're pushing the boulder up the hill all the time, you're going the wrong way or something needs to be changed. If the boulder is rolling down the other side of the hill at break-neck speed and you're in the "river of synchronicity" where magic seems to enter your life almost on a daily basis, that's your sign the path you're on is bang on. Keep on, keepin' on!
Sep 11, 2017
You need to be very strong. Never give up with failures because every business faces growth and failures. Second thing is time management.
Apr 7, 2017
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Apr 3, 2017
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Mar 9, 2017
Hi Bryan, I've learned from entrepreneurship that it doesn't have to be a solo mission. For many, the allure of entrepreneurship is that you get to be in the driver's seat when it comes to making business decisions. Many entrepreneurs start off working by themselves or have a very small team under them. This is a pro of exploring entrepreneurship, but it doesn't mean you don't get lonely sometimes in your business. Despite having no upper management to answer to, there are numerous places you can go (online and offline) to get advice on your business situation. If you live close to a city, I would recommend searching for local innovation groups in your area. Most of these groups hold weekly networking events and it is a free way to connect with other entrepreneurs who are in the same phase of business as you. If you don't have time to connect offline, you can make use of online communities like Business.com, AMEX Open Forum, or Alignable to name a few. Don't be afraid to ask for help!
Mar 2, 2017
Hi Bryan,
I'll give you three which I think apply to just about any type of business:
1. Make sure your business model and industry allows you to be scalable, automated, or ideally both.
2. The most important lesson is to ensure that your business model has the mechanical room to enable both scalability and automation for as much interaction as possible.
3. You only fail your goals when you don't learn your lesson the first time. Failure is part of the road, and you want to bathe in failure up-front as much as possible.
May 15, 2016
Always be networking. You never know when you need a contact somewhere. People you met years ago might end up being valuable. Always nurture your relationships.
May 14, 2016
That entrepreneurship takes a lot of perseverance. There will be both ups and downs and you need to be prepared to persevere through the challenging times.
Oct 14, 2014
"you miss 100% of the shots you never take" - Wayne Gretzy said. That's number one lesson.
Thorsten
Aug 17, 2014
A lot of good answers bellow and a good question - even though I'd say if you fail in a startup its not just one thing. A friend just closed his start up and it was painful for all of us that at some point helped out with marketing, operations, etc.
What I absolutely thank this friend of mine for is this post, where he share what he now knows went wrong. There's some invaluable lessons.
"Seven Lessons I've learned from failure" http://therenaissancegeek.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/seven-lessons-i-learned-from-failure-of.html
Aug 17, 2014
After failure you have a choice:
1. Deeply regret your failure and focus on how it all went wrong and how poorly you did and who else is impacted by your failure, or
2. Deeply regret your failure and analyze what and where things went wrong. Integrate this insight into your future ventures.
It may sound trite to learn from our mistakes, but in reality, how often do we really analyze and learn?
As for figuring out the best service for your clients, try asking them:
1. On a scale of 1-5, how did we do?
2. What was the best thing about our service?
3. What would you have liked us to do differently?
Let your client know that you'll take their input very seriously and that their suggestions will make a difference.
I recommend you ask this after every client service event.
Good luck; I hope you find this helpful.
Candis
Aug 15, 2014
This brief video will give you a few tips & tricks on getting past the failure of something, so you can move on refreshed & psyched for the next adventure. The most successful people in the world have admitted they’ve failed at one time or another, so you are in great company!
Acknowledge what happened, find a new project now that you have more free time, exhale & relax~then think about all the talents & skills you might not have realized you’ve acquired through all your experiences!
Entrepreneur Bit On Failure~You Had A Bad Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsgQFx-vysU
~TakeAway Bit~
It doesn’t matter what happened~only how you process it. You have more resources, strength & talent than you know!
Best, Concierge Jo-Anna
Aug 14, 2014
Never give up! Goals are guideposts in moving forward. As one is achieved then a new one in put in place to keep improving and growing the business.
Failures are part of business, no matter how well constructed and reviewed a business plan is, upon first contact with reality or a change in the business climate there will be items that do not work as planned or client/customer reactions are different than anticipated. Take the feedback and go back and determine what the customer really wants as opposed to what it was expected. Failures will make your business plan stronger as long as you take the time to determine what failed, why it failed and what you can do to correct it.
Success is achieved daily. The moment you think you have everything on cruise control, something will happen that upsets the process or business. Always keep looking for those threats and opportunities for your company and industry.
Aug 14, 2014
Q1: In a nutshell: Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Being an entrepreneur is a trial and error process. Even if your background is heavily connected to a certain corporate culture, you cannot simply replicate what a certain company has successfully implemented. It is important to learn from past mistakes and correct them as early as possible in order ensure your survival in the market.
Q2: Creating new approaches for the firm's deliverable. It's very important that you come with something different. If you offer the same service as an extant competitor, which has already passed through the first 18 months of chaos, you will fail.
Q3: Learning from them and creating case studies around the most important ones. As a matter of fact, from my own experience it's remarkable how well pareto's 80/20 rule applies. There are very few mistakes that have a tremendous impact upon your business's development. Those are the ones that you must identify and take note of them as soon as possible.
Aug 14, 2014
Entrepreneurship is no easy job. It is very difficult and very stressful. You are very attached to the business and failure (or seeming failure) can put you under a lot of strain. It's important to realize that this is normal and you are not alone. furthermore, not all business ideas are going to succeed. Some ideas may be inappropriate and need to be given up. Others take time to become a success. Still others require a lot of fine-tuning and changing. your business idea will continue to evolve as you try different ways of doing things and see what works and what doesn't.
When servicing clients, you need to see what the client's needs are. And then figure out how you can best fulfill those needs. Consider the answers to these questions: What is the service I am providing? (You need to know clearly what is the service you are providing.) Is there a need for this service? (If not, you need to rethink your business idea.) What are my clients' needs? How can I best fulfill those needs? What added benefits / extras can I provide over and above the main service that will make the client happy? (Remember customers love getting more than what they paid for so long as it doesn't sacrifice quality.)
Aug 14, 2014
In my view I would say do what you love and are passionate about. You have to be brave and if you genuinely believe in what you're doing then it helps makes success an achievable goal.
With regard to failure I agree with Steven, it's a learning process and not everything will work so if it doesn't, it's just progress and you move on.
Aug 13, 2014
The number one thing that I have learned from being an 18-year entrepreneur is that personal development is as important as professional development if you want your success to endure. When I was a little girl I told people I wanted to be President, and I became the president of my own company when I was 37 and had a million dollar business at the age of 39. What I have learned from failure is that it's not fatal! The small failures challenged me to look inward and when I assumed responsibility for my part, those failures usually became great starting points for new opportunities. And, I will admit that some of these failures have included little pity parties, but thank goodness they have always been short lived!
Aug 13, 2014
Failure is the ultimate teacher so best done early and often in the business to create the lessons...however lessons unheeded have little value. I learned that when I'm sure I'm right but the facts suggest otherwise...the facts are what matter. Learning that success is not a direct link to the ego has been the key. So learn that failure is a positive instruction to not repeat and you have a path being narrowed to success.
Just reading this, a bit late. So glad to be reminded of this. You are right that doing some analysis is critical and we often spend more time in self-pity than learning and using those lessons to propel forward. Thanks.