Learn How to Fail Quickly

When looking back on what has helped me reach success in my career, several times over, it's that I have failed at everything I have done. When working on a new company, I have changed the mission statement several times. I have changed my target market. I have lost money, piloted programs that couldn’t get off the ground, lost money by investing in the wrong people. I have failed at nearly EVERYTHING.

My words of wisdom for you would be to fail and find joy in failing.  Building a company is a bit like dating and your failures teach you what you don’t want. You have to get in there and feel your way around, and fail. My regrets are that I didn’t learn to fail sooner. I still struggle with it. I want to win and I want to succeed every damn time! I would run my body and soul into the ground before I would fail. Like a pitbull I hold on for dear life when I grab onto something. I have lost energy in the process of holding on to something that’s not working for too long. You must be ok with failing! It's through this process that you learn. The Universe is unfolding, like a flower, through you. You must allow it to unfold and not resist that failure in inevitable. You can look at any woman role model you have and I am 100% positive they have a long list of failures.

I used to feel embarrassed when I changed gears in business or my programs didn’t fill up or get off the ground. It is a hard pill to swallow when things do not go your way or are successful. Especially in business, your life can be pretty public with social media platforms, websites, and online networking meetings. It is hard to say “yeah that program didn’t get off the ground as I would have liked”. I have avoided conversations and people at times and made programs seem  more successful than they were just to save face and honestly time, because I didn’t want to get into a big explanation in a public forum of my failure. As the years go by, I am able to own my failures more, talk about what I learned from them and help others do the same. I wish someone would have told me I would have failed way more times than I would have been successful and helped me appreciate the process of it all rather than die of public embarrassment each time a venture did not work out the way I thought it would have. 

Being able to adapt and pivot are huge qualities of resilience in business. If your business boat is headed over a dam, turn right, turn left, back paddle but do not go over the edge! It's through the process of NOT going over the dam that you find new ways of doing business that work. Yes it is a constant battle and hopefully you can find the thrill in it all. Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. If you want stability, go get yourself a 9-5. My guess is if you are reading this, you are not a nine to fiver and love the adrenaline rush  and freedom of business life. Keep failing and keep reinventing yourself. Keep going and keep failing!

We are in this together, Kim