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Back on track after first failure / How do you guys deal with failure

rsj

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A couple of months ago I started on my first venture, I am not going to go into detail on what it was but it was basically e-commerce. The bottom line is that the product wasn't selling. I was spending a lot on advertising and no customer. After taking it in as a failure I began to slack off and every idea that I would come up with I would get hit with analysis paralysis.

I've finally recovered and I am back on track but disappointed at the time I've wasted.

I want to know how you guys deal with your failure and how you get past the fear of starting because of the fear of failure
 
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Waspy

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After a failure I find it important to stop for a bit and reflect. Jumping straight into the next idea is counter productive for me. So I'll wait for a few months.

Naturally in those months I'll have ideas and mull them over. By the time I'm ready to start again I've had plenty of time to work kinks out of an idea and hit the track running.

Just give a little time.
 

Xavier X

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Rinse and repeat (except with the added knowledge of earlier pitfalls).

Fear as a general force is one thing I've mentally overcome in life.
Particularly "fear of the unknown." It is a totally worthless emotion/feeling best discarded.

Don't be driven by fear, but by rational thought.
If the idea and numbers add up to you, then start out at once. It doesn't have to add up to anyone else initially.

As Will Smith's character says in the movie After Earth: "Danger is real, fear is a choice."
 

Ninjakid

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Same way you overcome any hardships in life. You develop the iron willpower to push through everything.

I've faced the most abysmal lows, I've been broker than I ever thought I could be, I've faced death, I've had near close calls with the grim reaper, and through it all, I've had the fierce determination to survive anything. Because I refuse to believe people are the products of their circumstances. The truth is, every single one of us has the power to take control of ourselves, and in doing so we can gain th power to control our world.
 

Eli Cohen

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Failure can be viewed as either a good thing or a bad thing. You won't know until later what exactly went wrong. But I think failure is a good thing as it can teach you certain things about yourself and about other people.

Failure just means that one door is closed, will you try again and open another?
 

Ninjakid

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As Will Smith's character says in the movie After Earth: "Danger is real, fear is a choice."
You know, I thought the movie sucked, but that line is one of my all time favourites
 
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JasonR

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Failure is only feedback. You found one way that won't work.

Learn from it, and keep going. Don't regret, but remember the experience.

Even successful people "fail" all the time. We just don't call them failures - they are learning experiences.

In one year from now, when you look back, will this be such a big deal then?
 

Kak

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How do you guys deal with failure?

I have failed so many times. Every single functioning venture I have has a ton of their own internal failures.

My advice is to get used to it. Every single time I fail I learn something. On the bigger things, I generally get pissed off for a day or two. Once I tell myself to stop being a a**hole and deal with my problems I get back on track. Plan B turns into plan A and I focus on making the new plan A better than the old one.

Failure sucks, but it is necessary and part of the process.
 
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Setting up shop

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Learn whatever you can form it.

As long as your mental state is positive, you will see it's a good thing it actually happened the way it did.
Even if you can't right now, just have faith that its for the best and in a few years from now you'll be grateful for the way it went down.
 

amp0193

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I've finally recovered and I am back on track but disappointed at the time I've wasted.

So what are you doing differently this time?

It took me getting ripped-off & burned 3 times before I learned the lesson of "If it sounds too good to be true..." and "trust, but verify".

Sure would've been nice if I had done the necessary reflection to learn that lesson after the first time, instead of just jumping back into the fray.
 
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Mattie

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Failure is a vocabulary word. Someone used the word at some point in time. You conditioned yourself to use the word in a negative context. Therefore to fail is an emotional and mental death with your thoughts.
What you believe about failure is how you perceive failure. I have to laugh, because I've failed at about everything in life. Wasted time and energy focusing on failures, mistakes, and fears. I suppose this is the biggest lesson I can give you. If you focus on the failure and mistakes, you might as well get out a magnifying glass. Now if you're looking at a little tiny ant with a magnifying glass, it looks 500% bigger then it actually is in size. This is the illusion of the mind. The more you magnify failure, well that's what you're talking yourself into doing. The only thing you can create then is failure, because you're believing you're going to fail. Best way to self-sabotage yourself.
Focus on your successes, gifts, talents, and what you're doing right. In the process, all the negative stuff will fall away.
 

oimate

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I'm at the exact same stage as yourself-I have started a website and admitably I have made approx £3000 in sales in the past 9 months.
Problem is the profit margins are soo slim-I am ultimately just buying from manufacturer and reselling and not a massive mark up as its reasonably competitive market.

On reflection the profit margins never excited me and the subject didnt motivate me terribly either-Being truthful to myselfr I started the site to see if I could 'do it' i.e design a website and bring customers to the site and makes sales.

Perhaps you are of a similar mindset?
 
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rsj

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thanks everyone for the awesome replies, this is a good thread that i can come back to whenever a failure is holding me back.
 

rsj

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I'm at the exact same stage as yourself-I have started a website and admirably I have made approx £3000 in sales in the past 9 months.
Problem is the profit margins are soo slim-I am ultimately just buying from manufacturer and reselling and not a massive mark up as its reasonably competitive market.

On reflection the profit margins never excited me and the subject didn't motivate me terribly either-Being truthful to myself I started the site to see if I could 'do it' i.e design a website and bring customers to the site and makes sales.

Perhaps you are of a similar mindset?

I was selling a fairly expensive product for a small profit margin, the market i was in wasn't so competitive but the companies where selling the same products are huge so it was a bit hard to compete.
 

oimate

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I was selling a fairly expensive product for a small profit margin, the market i was in wasn't so competitive but the companies where selling the same products are huge so it was a bit hard to compete.

Yeah thats the problem-when you say you were advertising what avenues did you explore with this?

I have tried adwords and this did drive more customers to the site it has to be said-Issue I have is the home page gets the vast majority of hits -Bounceability.

I am also on facebook and twitter.

What does other ppl think-What type of product motivates you and how do you get excited by small profits?
 
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Kak

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I'm at the exact same stage as yourself-I have started a website and admitably I have made approx £3000 in sales in the past 9 months.
Problem is the profit margins are soo slim-I am ultimately just buying from manufacturer and reselling and not a massive mark up as its reasonably competitive market.

On reflection the profit margins never excited me and the subject didnt motivate me terribly either-Being truthful to myselfr I started the site to see if I could 'do it' i.e design a website and bring customers to the site and makes sales.

Perhaps you are of a similar mindset?

Profits are the reason we go into business.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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If you ever played a game, would you quit after the first negative occurrence?

A strike out?
A fly out?
An incompleted pass?
A missed spare?
A double-fault?
A shanked tee-shot into the woods?

No, you shake it off and go at it again.

Entrepreneurship is no different -- a game where failure is merely an occurrence. If you quit after a negative outcome, you're not really playing.
 

Brian C.

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I don't think a "failure" is a failure whatsoever.

It's a word I never want to associate with myself.

If something doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. Simple. And as a bonus - you receive valuable data for your next attempt.

Sport seasons aren't defined by one lost game. Nor is your business career. I think it's best to immerse oneself in the long-term game - in all aspects of life.
 
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Dylan42

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The past is in the past for a reason. You cannot go back and change what has already happened.. But you can look back on the lessons learned and grow from that. Change your way of thinking and it may benefit you tremendously.

"Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold" - Maurice Setters
 

amp0193

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I was selling a fairly expensive product for a small profit margin

Lesson #1: Cash Flow Management.

I'm assuming you're bootstrapping this business:

IF you are going to sell something with a small profit margin, then it better have a low COGS, and you better have short lead times and a fast turnaround on your cash.

High product price with a low profit margin is a cash flow nightmare. If you're going to tie up large amounts of cash for a high COGS product, then the returns need to be worth it, or at least negotiate net 30-60 payment terms to ease the pressure.

the companies where selling the same products are huge so it was a bit hard to compete.

Lesson #2: Don't sell the same products as someone else. If you're going to compete against companies with deep pockets, then you need to have a product that is significantly different or improved in some way. Otherwise, all you can do is compete by lowering you're price, and you'll always lose, because a big company is going to have lower COGS than you, buying in larger bulk.
 

MoreVolume

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Learning and adapting is the only thing that you can do. I went through a similar situation. It simply took some re-branding, and hiring a copywriter, and I started to make sales. Now I know what NOT to do going forward
 
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Blair

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Sorry to be blunt but suck it up and move on, it's going to keep happening even if/when you become successful you will still have constant failures probably just on a more micro scale. At least you have your health is what I always say, always someone having a worse day.
 

craig1928

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the product wasn't selling. I was spending a lot on advertising and no customer.

This is not a failure per say, it is literally a function of paid traffic, and if you're going down this route you will have to get used to it.

You've spent money to see what doesn't work, you just have to keep going, spend more money. more products more ads. When you find a winner you scale it and it'll cover your losses many times over for all the "failures", Also..

Have you isolated why it didn't work?

Is the product just bad?

Is your targeting off? Were you trying to sell to the wrong crowd?

Do your ads suck? Are they relevant to your target audience?

Does your landing page do a bad job of selling?

Did you spend enough money to get statistically significant data or did you pull the plug too early?

I know it's emotionally distressing to spend money and not see results but if you keep going you'll eventually learn to take it in your stride and realise that "failure" is just part of the process.
 

Siberia

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If you ever played a game, would you quit after the first negative occurrence?

A strike out?
A fly out?
An incompleted pass?
A missed spare?
A double-fault?
A shanked tee-shot into the woods?

No, you shake it off and go at it again.

Entrepreneurship is no different -- a game where failure is merely an occurrence. If you quit after a negative outcome, you're not really playing.



... The failure affects all the symbols in which it identifies the people... most are not real.

If we keep the good image of Mj that of participation in a game.

The entrepreneurial game.

There remains only one thing to do ... try again to sit at the right table.

The only thing that counts and 'to sit down again at the table that counts.

Which table?

That of your true dreams without compromise or surrogates .... but in a new way.

In your own way.
 
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