Despite the constant quest for success, entrepreneurship does involve risk and potentially failure. Many great entrepreneurs will tell you that in their lifetime they have failed at many different times and on various different projects. Failure is a part of success and understanding how to deal with failure and its consequences simply means that you are able to understand the possibilities realistically. Failure is nothing more than an opportunity to turn things around and improve based on your learning… but does failure mean that the end of the road has come for your venture and a new one is in order?
Many successful entrepreneurs will say that no one has a crystal ball and no one ultimately knows what the end result of their project will really look like. They will argue that their first successful venture when complete didn’t look anything like what they had originally envisioned but the concept or original vision remained the same. The execution was where the failure may or may not have occurred. So is a failed execution a failed idea?
Failed execution has nothing to do with an idea, and lies the real difference between a successful and failed entrepreneur. If you have a true understanding of entrepreneurship then you understand that the execution is never smooth from the beginning and the essence of entrepreneurship is to take an idea to reality. Those that make it are those that overcome the obstacles and failures they are faced with in their execution of their idea. Being able to recognize a failed execution is the key to success, as we learn from it and are able to adapt to the changes we must make and try in order to give it a different spin. Adapting is fairly easy as long as you still hold belief in your idea, and are willing to do what’s necessary to bring the idea to life. Remember that the most common reason why execution fails is because it is perceived differently by your audience or user base and so it must be altered to their liking or understanding which again does not indicate failure of the idea itself.
Remember that even though sometimes it may take us 10 different attempts at the same outcome, it is ultimately the one most dedicated to bringing their idea to life that wins.
“Fail to Learn or Learn to Fail” – Don Sabatini
