Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I have been through the entire range of emotions with the possibility of failure. Philosophically, I have nothing new to add. The thing that has sustained me is that I am surrounded by people who have unconditional love for me.  When I get discouraged, I look for something I can do for one of these people.  I always come away with recharged batteries.

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Don Crawford, Principle Northwest Landscape Services, Inc.

Byugron,

What a great attitude!

You are very lucky to have so many people offering you love and support.

Regards,

Kim

Failures and pitfalls are a natural part of business & life - and often provide the best growth opportunities.

When it comes to the BIG PICTURE - i.e. failure as a state of mind - I like the Stonesledge approach. I might also reword it as: Failure is when you stop believing in yourself. 

 

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Michael Zucker - Strategic Planning, Marketing & Communications info@zuckerconsulting.com · www.zuckerconsulting.com “Helping You Over The Hurdles – Keeping You Focused On The Finish Line”

I`m wrestling with this concept right now...this is my first day being self-employed, officially, and I`m terrified!  I`m not sure what I`m scared of more, succeeding, or failing...but this business is something I HAVE to try to do. 

All of these posts give me comfort and courage to try, reminding me that failure is NOT trying what I feel I must. 

Staying safe within my comfortable cubicle, for me, would have been failure.  Anything else, success!

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Kelly -- living the entrepreneurial life one day at a time.

Losing my life`s savings, knee deep in debt, no place to live and being forced
to become an underpaid Borg drone in a cube farm working for a Peter
Principle posterboy whose paid 5x what I am.

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Men do not realize how great a revenue economy is. -Marcus Tullius Cicero (106BC-43BC)

It is your attitude that needs to be reconstructed. Your money that needs to be organized and your faith in you that needs to get a grip. You can get it back.... change your attitude about life. Believe in you! Get a focus!!

 

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theresa-a mommy at home "No Isolation" www.candlemoney4mom.com www.candlemoney4mom.scent-team.com

We`ve all been there - feeling like there`s no way out and no end in sight.
I know I have. But I have also learned that things happen for a reason and
even from a bad situation I can learn a valuable lesson. I`m the first one to
say that I have felt like a failure on more than one occasion. And success
for me some days is having a day where I didn`t feel like a failure.

Every time I hear that little voice telling me I`m a failure, I`m determined to
remember a success - no matter how small. I may never be as monetarily
successful as some people, but I am rich in so many other ways. And I
hope I will learn to embrace my failures because without them I would not
know the value of success.



"All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success
is sure." ~ Mark Twain ~

1WonderfleeMade said:

"I hope I will learn to embrace my failures because without them I would not
know the value of success. "

How very, very true. Likewise, I believe that a person cannot truly appreciate or know the value of genuine happiness unless he/she has also experienced adversity. My earlier post refers, in part, to a family member who has seldom known tribulation in his life. In fact, by most accounts, he`s led quite a charmed life, nearly always getting what he wants (and usually through whatever means necessary). He has little empathy for others and seems to suffer greatly from the dreaded W.I.I.F.M (what`s in it for me?) disease. Thus, no matter how much he tries to project an image of perfection and happiness, he will (in my humble opinion) never truly know happiness, at least not any real happiness.

I think that both failure and adversity are great life teachers, and how we deal with them ultimately defines us as human beings.

-Kim

Interesting post and thread - just got caught up.

Wonderfullymade ... I see you`re in Johns Creek, GA. Congratulations on the new cityhood. I`m in west midtown. Born and raised in ATL. Not many of us left. Don`t blame y`all for cutting the cord. Good luck.

I`m one of those people I saw mentioned a couple of times on this thread - the one that always seems to be positive - no matter what. I wasn`t always like this - I`ve had my days - down and out and such - no need for long stories - but I have "been there, done that" - believe me.

It was the failures that taught me the most and put me on the track to operate in a PMA and try to do it 100% of the time. Yes, I fail at that - sometimes - but the more you do it and practice it, the easier it gets and the more good comes your way. It is the Law of Attraction at work ... and it works.

A book that has been around a long time and I find the majority of people have not read is the classic by Dale Carnegie - How to Win Friends & Influence People. If you haven`t read it, do. Keep a copy with you at all times. Read it several times a year. Also, read Napoleon Hill`s Think and Grow Rich.

Neither of these books contain a "silver bullet." But they do contain solid advice based on observations of some of the most successful people our nation has ever known. There are many self-help books out there and many, many business books out there that claim to show you the way to riches - I have read none that match the knowledge contained in these two books ... and I read a lot of books. I keep these with me at all times. I give them away to people who show me they have potential. I use them to teach clients and their employees. They are excellent guide books.

As Dale Carnegie said, "Dealing with people is probably the biggest problem you face, especially if you are in business."

Think about that one sentence. Once you make the practices from these two books habits, I know failures will be less and less and much success will follow.

Have a great day!

R@

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Richard Arnold · Key Concept Writers · Business Communication: The "Key" To Success· Law of Attraction Blog · Life Ain`t Brain Surgery Blog

 Hey,

 This is a little close to home for me right now.  :)  I can relate to the model of failure in the post by JasonEls  and I am sure others have those frustrations.

 I ran a successful business for 15 years and fought the good fight many times....and lived..and learned. But, when all the cards fall after those 15 years it brings up many issues. For one, if you`ve have had some success, you develop lots of overhead in business (and life) that is hard to stop.

 It is easy to kick myself and I struggle with the fact that my failure right now may be.....NOT accepting the cubicle position. (Did I really say that out loud) Sometimes it it`s difficult to hear the "Life gives you lemons, make lemonade" no matter how true or how much you have lived by that.

 My current venture would probably be rated as a success by many and my local gallery sees that I do "well" there too, but when whatever success you have only to goes to pay for a past failure rather than a decent income, it is difficult to maintain that positive attitude.

 Right now I enjoy what I am doing and the feedback from customer`s feedback helps greatly.....so that`s what I try to focus on.

 The moral? If you are in a similar position and can`t quite make Lemonade yet, just enjoy the smell of the lemon (and try not to squirt it in your eye).......that is the first step to getting the lemonade stand up and running again. Or to put it in more real world way. Enjoy any part of success we can and continue on until we can turn the corner again.

 I like the other models of success much better and they are the correct model, but wanted to chime in for the "Positive attitude challenged" folks out here. :^)

 Signed,

"Cynical for Now"