Failure in business as an entrepreneur is inevitable, especially in your start-up stage. A lot of challenges will show up in business but you should never let them define your brand. Knowing how to push through difficult situations as an entrepreneur is very essential for the success of your business. This post will be helpful for entrepreneurs experiencing failure or entrepreneurs to be. Hence, below are my best picks for you of 9 strategies to handle business failure.
- Proper preparation
- Find what to encourage you again
- Detach emotions from business decisions
- Have a strong support team/network
- Evaluate and re-strategize
- Let go of the mistake
- Learn from your failure
- Seek help/mentorship
- Try again
Proper preparation
The importance of proper preparation in business cannot be overemphasized. You do not necessarily have to include failure in your business plan, however, being mentally prepared for failure as an entrepreneur is very important. Do not have expectations that things are going to go always as planned but just try your best. Set realistic goals and always prepare a safety plan when things do not go as planned.
Find what to encourage yourself with
Studies have shown that people who know what they need to do to feel better, think clearer, and focus is more likely to handle hardship when it comes. A better understanding of your mental state and how to deal with difficult times is important as an entrepreneur. This could be exercises, meditation, retreats, spending time with people you love, yoga, or even attending an inspiring event.
Detach emotions from business decisions
Do not allow your emotions to overwhelm you when something turns out negatively. Even if it means taking a break, that’s fine. For example, instead of giving it another try and doing things differently, your emotions can make you dwell on the situation and probably close down your business or give up.
Have a strong support team/network
Surrounding yourself with a strong and supportive team is one of the most important factors to keep your business growing. It could be your workers, family, friends, mentor, or advisors. You might be running a sole proprietorship business but having people around you that support your business and keep your spirit high is very essential. They can help to keep you going when something unexpected happens.
Evaluate and re-strategize
Failure is the moment to evaluate the situation and re-strategize to make things better. This is the time to outline the reasons behind your failure and find out new solutions to avoid repeating them. Failure is a great experience to attain success but that doesn’t mean you should keep on failing and not making efforts to win. Come up with new strategies for how you can position your business better or do things differently. Failure could also be a sign that you are doing something that is not meant for you and evaluating is the best way to figure that out. Being honest with yourself is much more important too. This would help you decide on the next steps to take.
Let go of the mistake
Failure is a phase of life every individual must experience. However, in some cases, failure can be more critical than others. It might feel like the end of the world but you do not have to be too hard yourself, let go, be happy, and do not allow it to weigh you down. Instead, focus on how you can fix things and make them better. Holding on to failure doesn’t help you achieve anything productive, instead, it makes you more of a failure. Be a forward thinker and work towards the future of your business.
Learn from the failure
Failing without learning from your failure is much more devasting than failing itself because there is a high possibility that that mistake would repeat itself again and again. Ask yourself why you failed and learn from your mistake. This has to be the hardest part of failure but would help you to be as careful as possible to prevent you from doing the same thing over and over again in the future.
Seek help/mentorship
Having a mentor or someone who has more experience in your business niche is another way to avoid failure. These mentors have wide experience and knowledge of what you should do and should not. Getting yourself a mentor will go a long way in helping you push through failure.
Try again
Failing is not failing until you fail to try again. It’s okay to experience failure but it’s not okay to dwell on it and decide to give up. However, it’s okay to give up when you find out that what you are doing is not meant for you. You can try something else instead and see how that will work out.
Conclusion
You must understand what you are getting yourself into as an entrepreneur starting from gaining knowledge about entrepreneurship as a whole and the nature of your business in particular. If you are having a difficult time handling ups and downs, starting a business might not be the best decision for you because you will be faced with trials and challenges as a business owner or an entrepreneur. Like I said earlier, be honest with yourself.
