How To Use Failure To Accelerate Success

In her commencement address to a graduating class of Harvard, distinguished novelist, philanthropist, film producer, television producer and screenwriter, Joanne Rowling, said: “Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected.

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive.” Failure in both life and business is part of every entrepreneur’s journey and, fortunately, I have never had any catastrophic failures in either. This comes down to both the mentality I adopt in the face of failure, and a willingness to learn from these moments.

My philosophy is that I start a business with what I am willing to risk financially – if everything goes wrong what would I prepare to lose? – and know when to walk away and accept something isn’t working. There are two notable examples I’d like to share, to show how the long-term value of failure can often exceed any short term financial loss.

FAILURE: OFFICE CHAIRS WEBSITE

A number of years ago I set up an office chairs website, with a simple premise and easy opportunity for growth.

We created and optimised a website, then put a small investment toward Google Ads, I’d established close relationships with all the local manufacturers, and our value proposition was enticing – we would beat any other retailer for the same chairs by 10 per cent guaranteed.

I thought, “What could be easier? I would be making money whilst I sleep!” I got the website ranking and spent a bit on AdWords. We started selling chairs and everything went as planned.

Then, the phone calls started – and the trouble began. Customers were contacting us asking extensive questions about the chairs, our competitors weren’t happy about being undercut on price, and, ultimately pressure was put on the manufacturers to balance their supply to our business.
What had started as an operation to make a small amount of money through little ongoing work started taking up more and more time – dealing with enquiries, updating the website, handling concerned suppliers. I realised that my exciting and simple premise had spiralled into a world of problems, and decided to cut my losses.

Success: Knowing when to walk away

I lost about $6k on the venture in the end, but continue to benefit from the decision to this day.
The contacts I met during the process have been instrumental in my business life and success since – I met people who would become mentors and friends, and others I have gone into business with. About a year ago, one of the chair retailers we had dealt with in the project was signed on as a client at Pure SEO, a future opportunity I couldn’t have anticipated at the time.

I use this example to show that every failure is both a learning experience, and can lead to long-term benefits.

The key is that, because I’ve never put myself in a situation where I have over extended myself, I learned to trust myself in when to walk away, allowing me to invest in other people’s businesses, and do so wisely.

The experience I gained by knowing when to walk away from an investment strengthened tougher decisions further on in my career – as I’ll explain in this next example.

FAILURE: ELITE ATHLETE CLOTHING COMPANY.

I acquired a 40 per cent stake in a sporting goods company. I had a lot of respect for the founder as both a sportsman and an excellent creative. Whilst this led to excellent creative thinking, his personality closed him off to other ideas or ways of thinking.

Ultimately, he was too close to the sport for our partnership to succeed. In this instance, I wanted aspirational models for the website that projected a
look I thought would be successful.

The other founder disagreed. Unfortunately, the direction we took with was a little too real and couldn’t connect with the audience to the level that the business needed. After some initial success and some reasonable sales, we decided to close the business.

SUCCESS: LEARNING HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT BUSINESS PARTNER

Throughout this process, I was gifted the opportunity to understand different personality traits better. Even if the idea is good and the demand is there, founders need to be aligned about direction. I am inherently built to look at the big picture and how to scale things, while others love the details of one small area.

Since this learning experience, I encountered this personality type often. Incredible passion toward their field or interests means if they feel something is right, then it has to be.

This type of personality can be formidable in the right environment, but can also be a massive bottleneck to success. Understanding and accepting this has led me on a journey to reading and studying personality types and how best to engage with them. Today, I have wonderful business partners and am better at both choosing and understanding them.

Through these failures, I’ve gained invaluable skills and knowledge that are crucial to business success. I’ve learned to think about the greater picture, and to prepare in advance. I’ve learned when to walk away, and how to both choose the right business partners for a project and understand where people’s strengths and weaknesses lie.

I always remember the rule to only invest what I am prepared to lose, and to learn lessons from failure that I could not dream to in any other way. Failure in some respect is inevitable, but what we gain from each experience is the strength and knowledge to create future magic and success in our lives.