Tag: failure

Have you ever wondered what it is like getting to first base, ready for the second base but never quite making the home run you hoped for?

As a female entrepreneur, I have big goals, and my dreams are not only something I think about often, I have carefully strategized the execution of a plan to achieve each and every dream I have had for myself.
Why women entrepreneurs spend far too much time criticizing themselves

From falling, we remember how to pick ourselves up and keep on walking. In life, we are a bunch of complex creatures, and whether we admit it to ourselves or not, we have many ups and downs on our road to our next destination and beyond.I've had a pretty amazing life. I know that I have been privileged in so many ways; phenomenal family, great loyal long term friends, new friends and great loves. In many ways, I was prized with a place on the podium.

But with that comes a lot of 'stuff' and not all of it is great. As a child I remember being a bit of a silent dreamer. You know the one who never really tells anyone what their dreams are, and keeps them all to themselves. I had good friends then, and many are still the same friends that I have now. They have seen me evolve from a shy child, to an adult comfortable in her own skin.

I've failed more times than I can remember. 

If you are an entrepreneur, and not a someone who thinks that you are always right, then you would realize just how many mistakes you make - usually on a daily basis.

We are human and mostly we shrug it off and learn from them.

Entrepreneurs are renowned for making mistakes because when most of us started, there were no courses on how to be an entrepreneur, and mentorship was harder to come by then it is today.

10 Mistakes that many entrepreneurs make:

Failure is inevitable and mostly out of our control. Nobody actually sets out to fail? I certainly don't. But it happens, a little more often than I would like.

I fail at many things: walking my dog each day, keeping all employees engaged 100% of the time, communicating the value proposition of our business when we have severely over serviced, keeping a timesheet, and letting go.

Landed in Atlanta, and within minutes and I am getting the run-down on what's going on in the office. Clients are happy, new brands are being launched, marketing campaigns executed, clients acquired in January have been on-boarded, moved to a new office within our building because of our continued fast growth and a new employee has started.

It's no secret that our Atlanta team is the highest performing marketing team I have ever worked with. As a team, they are game-changers. They see things that other's don't and communicate creatively and insightfully our clients brands in a way that resonates with their target market.

Winning is part of the culture. Each member doesn't know how to lose. They push each other to perform at a level that blows my mind and are forward thinkers. I never have to ask if something has been done - because it was finished yesterday.

I don't know about you, but when I went to school, the coolest kids in the class who were destined for greatness somehow fell short of their schoolyard celebrity status and became, well, um, not as successful as their parents and friends first thought.

I remember all those cool  kids who seemed to have it all at the ripe age of 14, while I sat in the library reading a book because, quite frankly, I wasn't as cool, nor did I win any particular popularity contest to speak of.

Instead, I wrote my weekly debates and hoped that the cool kids' "coolness" would somehow rub off on me and overnight, I could hang onto their coattails too. But that was not to be - instead, I spent every free hour at school secretly hoping that one day I would be cool too.

Many entrepreneurs believe that if you embrace failure on your path to success, you will succeed. In fact, most successful entrepreneurs have failed many times, but the difference between them and the rest of the world is that they don't internalize failure - instead they embrace it.

Failure sometimes helps us better understand what we are trying to do and how we should go about it. It sets a clearer picture for the direction that we should head.

"I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love, than to be a success at something you hate." George Burns.

Is failure just part of the parcel? Do we need to fail in order to succeed? Bill Gates did. Michael Jordan did too.

Today, I am reminded yet again why start-ups fail.

I met with a lovely couple a few weeks ago who wanted to open a retail store. They have a dream to work for themselves and the wife wanted to be in fashion.

They are new to the market and have never owned a fashion outlet, but they both have passion and are determined to do it.

I asked all the normal questions;