Failing in your business is pretty much part and parcel of this crazy entrepreneur life, especially in those first crazy months and years, or when you’re up-levelling. Being able to deal with failure and other setbacks consistently well, is a vital part of success.

 

Most of us fail A LOT. Things don’t go as planned, launches fail, products bomb and people don’t respond to your social media after you pour so much time and effort into it.

In fact, life in general is full of setbacks!

Remember that you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to fail along the way.  The most successful people fail far more often than the least successful people!

The question is whether you allow failure and other setbacks to derail your efforts. Almost all of us can learn to deal better with these common annoyances whilst we’re on that road to success.

Think about all the times you fail in life and you DON’T let it hold you back! That’s what we need when we run a business.

Failure is a funny thing. It feels embarrassing and catastrophic at the time, but it’s rarely the case that it’s ACTUALLY a total disaster. After all, you fail every day. When you think your keys are in the kitchen drawer, but discover they’re actually not, you failed. However, you don’t let it bother you. Instead, you just look somewhere else.

Dealing with bigger failures can be that simple too! If your first attempt doesn’t work, try something else.

The same can be said for your 30th failed attempt.

Most people try a time or two and then give up. They decide it either can’t be done, or the stress of failing becomes too much to bear.

Use this 7-step process for dealing with failure and other setbacks:

1. Maintain your composure.

Nothing will derail your progress like becoming emotionally distraught or giving up altogether. Undesirable results happen more often than not, especially when you’re in the first few years of your business, or about to up-level in some way. It’s important to understand this fact right from the outset.

When you expect that you’ll sometimes fail, it won’t bother you nearly as much. You’ll simply pick yourself up keep going.

2. Determine what went wrong.

If possible, determine the error in your approach. Do your best to understand exactly what happened and why. If you don’t understand the issue, you can’t correct it and you’ll either keep making the same mistake or you’ll dump that particular strategy altogether. What have you learned from this failure?

3. Maybe you just need to try again.

Some things just naturally have high failure rates, like sales. For some products and services, you might face 100s of failures between successes. There’s no reason to fret, just try again. And again. And again. Which brings me onto …

4. Alter your approach.

It’s important to keep improving your method. No matter how great you are at something, it can always be better. Take a few minutes each day and adjust your approach. Tweak, tweak, tweak and improve. Every time you get feedback (positive or negative) tweak your approach. Over time you’ll have refined your process and strategies and have higher success rates right from the outset.

5. Look for alternatives.

Maybe you need to try a completely new approach. There are often multiple ways around any obstacle. Maybe you can find a better alternative. For example, if you’ve been cold-calling for clients, maybe it would be better to:

• Cold-email
• Ask people you know for referrals
• Show up in person
• Attend meetups or conventions
• Send postcards
• Pass out flyers
• Send lumpy mail

If you’ve thoroughly investigated one method, try another.

6. Sharpen your axe.

Sometimes it’s not about how hard you chop at the trees. It’s about how sharp your axe is. Develop yourself each day. Work on your general sales skills and charisma if those are useful. A chemist might brush up on his knowledge of synthetic organic chemistry. What could you improve on? Is this something you can do by yourself, through an online course or do you need some one to one help to achieve this?

7. Work on your coping skills.

Be more gentle on yourself. You’re doing the best you can with what you’ve got. Figure out the best ways to handle the stress and other negative emotions that commonly accompany failure and setbacks.

• Compartmentalise yourself from your business. Just because you tried something and it failed, does not mean that YOU are a failure.
• Keep your options healthy. Calling a friend, exercise, and meditation are examples of acceptable options.
• Using drugs, alcohol, or food to cope, regularly or to extreme, are examples of unhealthy coping strategies. (Though I did have myself a gin and tonic yesterday!)

You can’t succeed, especially in business, if you can’t handle failure. Most of us are far more afraid of failure than we should be. A failed sales call or losing your keys isn’t a life and death matter. The most successful people fail more often than they succeed. It’s just part of the entrepreneurial game.

One of the best ways to predict your success is to look at your ability to handle failure. Successful people handle failure without any undue fuss. Just learn and keep going. What can you do today to increase your resilience in this area?