Why Is Failure Essential to Solopreneur Success?

“Was it a bad day? Or was it a bad five minutes that you milked all day?”

I tried to search for this quote to find out who said it, so I can give proper credit on the genius who came up with this, but I can’t seem to find him or her.

But let me tell you this: This rings true even for solopreneurs!

Do we really need to fail to succeed?

When you’re aiming for success, one thing you need to prepare for is failure.

While we often wish everything will be smooth as we go about our business endeavors, at one point or another, we’re bound to face a bump on the road, a roadblock even. The thing with failure is you don’t know when it’s coming, unless, of course, you’re aware of a bad decision. It can come while you’re still preparing your business, when you have already started or sometimes, even when you have already established yourself as a solopreneur.

Let’s look at the question in a solopreneur’s perspective, shall we?

Did one failure affect your entire business or was it just one workflow? Is it irreparable for you to mull all day on it?

Challenges, failures, and losses will come.

So why is failure essential? It’s a matter of shifting your perspective.

1. It’s a part of business

All good if you haven’t experienced it yet! But even the biggest businessmen in the world have encountered failures and if you don’t prepare yourself for even the possibility of failing, success becomes far fetched.

2. It can motivate you

I say “can” because, well, it can, but you know the other thing that it “can” do? It can break you, if and only if you choose that path. So if you’re experiencing a bump or a bock, use that to continue to push further.

Let’s take Henry Ford, for example, whose first two car companies failed and left him broke but he moved forward and created the Ford Motor Company. Or Colonel Sanders who founded KFC at the age of 65 but whose chicken recipe was rejected 1000 times by other restaurants. Wow! All the more reason to keep it as his “famous secret recipe”.

3. It’s a learning opportunity

Don’t allow failure to crush you. Take it as an opportunity to grow. When you fail, find out why and work on that.

As a solopreneur, you handle every nook and cranny of the business. You are not an expert on every aspect of the business and you may make mistakes on some parts, but you know what’s the good thing? You can learn. Do you need help with website development? Accounting? Marketing? Take classes. Learning has become easier these days with its availability online.

4. It’s telling you to try

Sometimes, it tells you to try doing the same thing differently.

Say, Sir James Dyson of the famous vacuum cleaner, Dyson. It took him 15 years, 5,126 prototypes and all his savings to make one that worked.

Or sometimes, it’s a matter of trying an entirely different thing. Do you know what they say? A comfort zone is a nice place, but nothing grows there.

Vera Wang was a figure skater who failed to make it to the U.S. Olympic Figure Skating Team. She moved to work for Vogue, but didn’t make it as editor-in-chief. Now, she has made it big as a designer!

So the next time that you encounter a failure in your business, remember that those we call successful in the business world didn’t just fail once or twice. They failed many times, but they stood up more than the number of times they failed!!!