How Many Businesses Must a Man Fail...

[Frankie Relax]

... Before becoming a successful enterpreneur?


No, I don't like Bob Dylan at all...


Anyway, his Blowin' in the Wind refrain fits very well for my current situation.

I am only 27 and I already failed in 13 different businesses!


Why am I telling you this?
Because this forum is (maybe) the only one where users are not scared to admit their failures.


In chronological order:

2009: Network Marketing #1
2010: Network Marketing #2
2011: Network Marketing #3 (yes, I am really pigheaded... )
2011: Porn Website #1
2012: Porn Website #2
2013: Porn Website #3
2013: Book #1
2014: Porn Website #4 (!!!)
2014: Book #2
2014: Book #3
2015: Book #4
2016: Book #5
2016: Online tool which converts videos to MP3 audio files


I wasted time, money and effort in all of them and never reached any ROI.


I swear after the 100th failure, I will search a job

 

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[AllenCrawley]

... Before becoming a successful enterpreneur?


No, I don't like Bob Dylan at all...


Anyway, his Blowin' in the Wind refrain fits very well for my current situation.

I am only 27 and I already failed in 13 different businesses!


Why am I telling you this?
Because this forum is (maybe) the only one where users are not scared to admin their failures.


In chronological order:

2009: Network Marketing #1
2010: Network Marketing #2
2011: Network Marketing #3 (yes, I am really pigheaded... )
2011: Porn Website #1
2012: Porn Website #2
2013: Porn Website #3
2013: Book #1
2014: Porn Website #4 (!!!)
2014: Book #2
2014: Book #3
2015: Book #4
2016: Book #5
2016: Online tool which converts videos to MP3 audio files


I swear after the 100th failure, I will search a job

What's your top 3 lessons learned?

 

[Dazed]

What's your top 3 lessons learned?

No more fapping?

 

[eTox]

I second @AllenCrawley, what are the lessons you've learned?

 

[Guest34764]

You can fail forever and never see a dime.

Use what you learned from your past failures and incorporate the knowledge in a new business.

Just because you've failed 13 times doesn't mean you won't fail a 14th.

 

[Frankie Relax]

What's your top 3 lessons learned?

No meaningful lesson.

I can write 2 of them, obvious for the most of you:

1. Network Marketing is not a good business to make money. At the most you may know many young wanterpreneurs...
2. It should be better to focus on only 1 business at a time. I think one of my "chronic problems" is to be always in search for new oppurtunities and new projects to start. It's because I think we are living in the very golden age of humanity and finance, in the age of endless opportunities and thus I just cannot choose the one to focus on...

 

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[Guest34764]

No meaningful lesson.

You've failed 13 times and there has been no meaningful lessons?

My first "business" was cleaning shoes for highschoolers.

I learned a lot about business and came up with some great lessons for only cleaning shoes....

 

[ZCP]

Which businesses provided value? Seems you failed at crowded, 'me too' businesses. Chasing money?

Maybe take all you have learned and solve a need.

 

[SeanyHang]

Maybe try a VR Porn Website this time? Those are DEFINITELY going to be getting popular in the years ahead.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Duane]

My first 3 businesses failed, but I learned a valuable lesson from those failures.

My takeaway is just because you failed doesn't mean it's over and you have to move on to the next thing. I have messed up in the business I'm in countless times and could have given up and moved on to something else, but I didn't. I stuck in there and did immense research and found people in that area I could talk to to help me.

Dr. Seuss's first 26 or 27 books were failures. They wouldn't publish them. Imagine if he gave up book writing on #13, we'd have no Dr. Seuss.

 

[TheGrind]

Which businesses provided value? Seems you failed at crowded, 'me too' businesses. Chasing money?

Maybe take all you have learned and solve a need.

Exactly the same thing I was thinking.

Take a step back, look at the market, find somewhere you feel you can add value and help people and just set out to help them. The money will come in due time and it will come in great quantities.

 

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[ApparentHorizon]

No meaningful lesson.

Maybe it's not a failure in business, but one of self reflection.

 

[mrarcher]

Maybe try a VR Porn Website this time? Those are DEFINITELY going to be getting popular in the years ahead.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not enough sponsors yet to be of any use in affiliate marketing/constantly update content.

 

[SeanyHang]

Not enough sponsors yet to be of any use in affiliate marketing/constantly update content.

 

[1step]

No meaningful lesson.

This is the most troubling thing I see in what you've written, 13 failures and you can't come up with 3 lessons?

How can you expect #14 to succeed if you aren't learning anything meaningful through the process?

Based on your past business trends it would seem you will start about 3-4 more video to mp3 converters in your near future...

 

[mrarcher]

Well I'm sure there are ways etc but most are just keeping it as a sideline/extra category for now. That comes with the added bonus of not being stuck with a vr domain if VR turns out to be a flop ... again.

 

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[Fox]

No meaningful lesson.

13 Businesses and no lessons learned?
You need to slow down, think and plan ahead, and reflect and analysis past results.

I learn dozens of lessons DAILY in my businesses. You are either rushing, not mentally engaged, or doing things half assed.
You should have MORE lessons than people who have succeeded.

Get a diary, plan ahead and look back afterwards.
Did things go as planned? Why?
Did things happen differently? Why?

 

[funkj25]

Which businesses provided value? Seems you failed at crowded, 'me too' businesses. Chasing money?

Maybe take all you have learned and solve a need.

ZCP beat me to saying this. What's glaring from your list is that you seem to be doing the same thing over and over, but they listed as features/products instead of as solutions to problems (although your last one is a step in the right direction).

If you're like me when I started you may be getting bogged down in the jargon of business. So I'll be a little "zen" here.

There is no such thing as business. Or companies. Only people.

People with problems, people with solutions. Find people with problems, be the person with the solution.

 

[GuestUser450]

... Before becoming a successful entrepreneur?

Unfortunately you can be wrong forever - failure is all-you-can-eat.

this forum is (maybe) the only one where users are not scared to admin their failures.

True, everyone loves to blame the admins

I swear after the 100th failure, I will search a job

Do that now.

Whether you're living off savings or someone else, it makes no sense to keep taking big swings without better fundamentals. A job is not fastlane but teaches valuable lessons you might be missing. Work until a profitable business forces you out.

 

[JokerCrazyBeatz]

No meaningful lessons.

Jeezus ... Idk man , either quit or scrap all you know about business and learn all over again

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

Network Marketing:

• Value added: None.
• Scamming people into joining your "funnel" creates no value. In fact, it creates negative value.

Porn Website:

• Value added: None.
• There's already enough porn on the internet.

Books:

• Value added: ???
• However, my guess is that the value added was minimal considering that you wrote several books a year, and presumably on the side.

Online Tool that Converts Videos to MP3's:

• Value added: None.
• Do a quick google search. No one needs another converter.

Do you see a recurring theme?

 

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[Evil_Jester]

Starting a business in a field that you know nothing about is likely going to lead to failure.

 

[ovoxomo]

No intention of being sarcastic here but maybe the problem is trying to create a business in the same market over and over? You said you failed 13 businesses but you only tried 4 different niches.

Another thing is maybe you are trying in the wrong areas, porn doesn't seem good from my perspective since for starters there are already some major brands that I'm not sure it would be easy to compete with, and books seem like just about the worst way of making money next to acting and being a musician (unless you are top 1%)

 

[H. Palmer]

Network Marketing:

• Value added: None.
• Scamming people into joining your "funnel" creates no value. In fact, it creates negative value.

Porn Website:

• Value added: None.
• There's already enough porn on the internet.

Books:

• Value added: ???
• However, my guess is that the value added was minimal considering that you wrote several books a year, and presumably on the side.

Online Tool that Converts Videos to MP3's:

• Value added: None.
• Do a quick google search. No one needs another converter.

you see a recurring theme?

Exactly. The first thing that came to me after I read the opening post is: where is the value?

OP seems to be in the business of money chasing (also known as the "me me me" principle) and doesn't realize that money only comes when something of value is provided to someone who needs it so much that he is willing to pay for it.

There is really not much else to learn here. If there is no passion behind the business, you can start dozens more businesses in dozens of industries, but the money will keep escaping you.

 

[AndrewNC]

I wasted time, money and effort in all of them and never reached any ROI.

My first business idea was a social network for dead people.

Nobody signed up.

I spent 6 months learning how to code websites from scratch. Now - I can throw up a website in less than a day, from the skills I learned from that failure.

Yes, I'm serious.

 

[GIlman]

Hopefully you don't take this wrong, but you haven't succeeded because you haven't started anything.

In a short 5 years you list 13 things you have failed at. If you were serious you would have had time to fail at 1, maybe two, or at most 3 during this time if you were putting in the time and effort required to make something successful. It realistically takes 3-5 years to built a business and be able to write it off as a failure.

Where is the conviction, where is the drive, where is the perseverance?

What you have done is throw a bunch of shit at the wall, hopping something would stick, and when it falls to the floor calling it a failure and moving on. You can repeat this 100,000 times and the outcome is certainly going to be the same every single time.

This should be the FIRST lesson you learn. There are no short cuts, there are no get rich quick schemes.

Real businesses take tons of time, lots of efforts, and everyone on this board that has started one will tell you lots of really high highs and some terribly low lows...

Read some of the threads by @AllenCrawley, @Eskil, @biophase, @Iwokeup, just to name a few. Do you see a pattern here? These guys have busted there butts, for years. Fought through failures, persevered, and kept on moving.

For example 4 porn websites in 4 years. Why 4? I built websites and web apps. There is no way you have produced anything meaningful in that time period since none lasted longer than 1 year. Were any of these anything more than quick landing pages thrown up? What and how much effort did you put into promotion and marketing? What changed between the 4, anything besides the URL?

Same thing with your books. What experience do you have that people will value? How much time did you spend marketing these? Did you pay someone in the Philippines to write your "books" throw them on Amazon and just cross your fingers that someone would buy it? Look at serious authors, they spend enormous amounts of time researching, writing, and then promoting.

Look at MJ, smart guy with tons of valuable experience. How many books has he written. How much effort did he put into writing and editing. How much time did he put into promotion. BTW this whole forums acts as promotion for his book.

Get serious about something and stick with it. Find and bring value to the market.

 

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[1step]

My first business idea was a social network for dead people.

Go on... I'm listening...

 

[ovoxomo]

Exactly. The first thing that came to me after I read the opening post is: where is the value?

OP seems to be in the business of money chasing (also known as the "me me me" principle) and doesn't realize that money only comes when something of value is provided to someone who needs it so much that he is willing to pay for it.

There is really not much else to learn here. If there is no passion behind the business, you can start dozens more businesses in dozens of industries, but the money will keep escaping you.

I agree with your position, however I'd love it if you could expand on this a little bit.

Does looking and thinking hard to find somewhere/something to add value, with the intention of profiting largely from it fit what you describe as "me me me" ??

For example: I am constantly looking in different industries, niches, and sectors where money is flowing and will be flowing in the future because I believe (and I think most would agree) that those are the places entrepreneurs should be targeting, but I also think creatively about the best and most unique ways to create a brilliant product/ service that would be worthy of the money I am looking for.

 

[AndrewNC]

Go on... I'm listening...

It's a virtually untapped market!

 

[The-J]

Hopefully you don't take this wrong, but you haven't succeeded because you haven't started anything.

In a short 5 years you list 13 things you have failed at. If you were serious you would have had time to fail at 1, maybe two, or at most 3 during this time if you were putting in the time and effort required to make something successful. It realistically takes 3-5 years to built a business and be able to write it off as a failure.

Where is the conviction, where is the drive, where is the perseverance?

What you have done is throw a bunch of shit at the wall, hopping something would stick, and when it falls to the floor calling it a failure and moving on. You can repeat this 100,000 times and the outcome is certainly going to be the same every single time.

This should be the FIRST lesson you learn. There are no short cuts, there are no get rich quick schemes.

Real businesses take tons of time, lots of efforts, and everyone on this board that has started one will tell you lots of really high highs and some terribly low lows...

Read some of the threads by @AllenCrawley, @Eskil, @biophase, @Iwokeup, just to name a few. Do you see a pattern here? These guys have busted there butts, for years. Fought through failures, persevered, and kept on moving.

For example 4 porn websites in 4 years. Why 4? I built websites and web apps. There is no way you have produced anything meaningful in that time period since none lasted longer than 1 year. Were any of these anything more than quick landing pages thrown up? What and how much effort did you put into promotion and marketing? What changed between the 4, anything besides the URL?

Same thing with your books. What experience do you have that people will value? How much time did you spend marketing these? Did you pay someone in the Philippines to write your "books" throw them on Amazon and just cross your fingers that someone would buy it? Look at serious authors, they spend enormous amounts of time researching, writing, and then promoting.

Look at MJ, smart guy with tons of valuable experience. How many books has he written. How much effort did he put into writing and editing. How much time did he put into promotion. BTW this whole forums acts as promotion for his book.

Get serious about something and stick with it. Find and bring value to the market.

Words right out of my mouth... Rep+

If OP had actually stuck with something for more than a year, he'd have at least one, albeit shitty, revenue stream AND/OR a powerful lesson learned.

My first business was an actually GOOD idea. Lead generation platform for plastic surgeons. Huge moneymaker, huge need.

I didn't know how to market it. So it failed when I realized that I was putting time, money and energy into something that I didn't know jack shit about.

I wasted about 5-6 months fiddling with the idea and getting nowhere because I didn't put it to market fast enough.

I didn't commit to learning about either side of the market. I didn't commit to learning about how to sell this kind of thing. I didn't commit to learning how to get the system built, even!

I started several other businesses similar to OP: just dabbling, fiddling around, trying shit and having it not work.

Funny thing, I don't think I learned the lessons I was supposed to learn until I started making money.