The importance of business failure

Some of the world’s most successful business men and women have not made it on their first attempt you know. Some of them have had to fail on more than one occasion before they have made it to the big time.

Success comes in all shapes and sizes and there is an element of luck involved with any success story – right place, right time and all of that. No one who has ever made a success of their lives would ever tell you that they have had an easy ride all the way there and that they didn’t have some failure.

Failure is as much a part of success as the end product is – without failure, and an element of reality, we can never understand what it is truly like to be successful. Some of the biggest and wealthiest entrepreneurs have had to pick themselves up from failure before they finally made it.

Mr James Dyson for example – he built over 5,000 prototypes of his revolutionary hoover before it could be marketed! And now, the Dyson hoover is a household name and everyone wants one! There must have been times when he wanted to give up but he didn’t. He understood that it was not going to work without effort and some set backs.

The late Anita Roddick – the founder of The Body Shop. She had several failed attempts at business before she launched the world-famous Body Shop brand which is also a household name.

Even the world-famous Simon Cowell went bankrupt in his 30s when he invested in his employer’s firm and it went bust – he claimed he had just £3 in his pocket but he built it all back up again. This experience will have made him more business savvy and a lot cannier.

Having been through the bad times, it makes you stronger and it helps you to see where you are going wrong, where you need to focus and it builds your character. You need to be pretty tough skinned to be in business and you will need to learn how to take criticism and deal with setbacks.
Life is, as they say, one long learning curve and this is so true. The more you know, the more you realise you don’t know. Every day, we learn something new and we learn from our mistakes. To error is human.

If you know what it is to have failed, then you will have an advantage over those who have only ever had it easy. You will be stronger for it and will be able to use your experiences to enhance your strengths.

Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com