When Steve Blank appeared on the cover of Wired magazine nine years ago, his company
then, Rocket Science Games, was expected to revolutionize the videogame
industry. At the time, Blank didn't let the skepticism of critics faze him.
"I
thought I was a genius," he says. Three months later, when he called his
mother to let her know he was about to lose $35 million in investor funding, he
wasn't feeling quite so genius anymore.
"I had lots of
choices, including that I could have quit," he says. "Learning from
that failure for
me was one of the best experiences of my life." And learn he did. In 1996,
Blank founded the startup E.piphany, which went on to earn $1 billion for each
of its investors.
In the past 10 years,
says Blank, the culture around entrepreneurship has become increasingly
failure-friendly. Serial entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley hop from one failed
business to the next and billionaire entrepreneurs like Richard Branson wax on publicly about their failures
almost as much as their successes. Still, "no one likes to fail,"
says Blank. "We are hardwired for success."
But
what if you could actually use failure to help you succeed?
Here are five keys
to start failing your way to success:
1. Call
failure something else.
When
was the last time anyone got hired for a senior-level position without any
experience? For serial entrepreneurs, "experience" is simply another
word for "failure," says Blank. By labeling a failed effort an
opportunity to expand your knowledge base, you're framing it in a more positive
light, allowing yourself to add to your credibility as a more seasoned
entrepreneur.
2. Use
failure as a stepping stone.
With
every failure, identify what you know you did wrong and be conscious not to
repeat your mistakes. This will bring you one step closer to success, says
Steve Siebold, a Palm Beach, Fla.-based consultant who works with corporations
and entrepreneurs on mental toughness and critical thinking.
"I've never
heard [a millionaire entrepreneur] say they hit it right the first time
out," says Siebold, whose book How Rich
People Think (London
House Press, 2010) is a culmination of nearly three decades of interviews.
"The bigger they are, the more they've typically failed."
3. Never
fail alone.
Entrepreneurs
like to be trailblazers. But make a mistake on your own and you might have a
hard time determining what went wrong. Having a partner you trust and respect
can turn every failure into an opportunity for collaboration. "A good
partner can help you determine what not to do again," says Karl Baehr,
director of business and entrepreneurial studies at Emerson College, a private
four-year college in Boston focused on communication and the arts.
4. Don't
hide your failures.
Be
proud that you were brave enough to take a risk in the first place. By being
forthright about your mistakes, you open yourself up to learning from others.
Baehr's
mentor, Walter Hailey, whose insurance company Lone Star Life Insurance went on
to become a Kmart insurance company, used to take an hour-long walk at 5 a.m.
every morning with a group of close friends to talk about ideas, successes and
failures. "By the time they got back to the house, they had
solutions," says Baehr. "They had a plan for the day."
5. Redefine
what you want.
Revisit
and refocus why you got into business in the first place. "Look for your
emotional motivators. We are emotional creatures. Logic doesn’t motivate
us," says Siebold, who launched five consecutive unsuccessful businesses
before he started his current consulting company. For Siebold, that motivator
was one day becoming a millionaire, a goal he achieved at age 31. "Most
people only half-heartedly decide they want a lot of things. You have to get
really clear on what you want," he says. "The question is: How badly
do [you] want it?"
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