It is important that entrepreneurs learn to see the benefits of failure and learn to identify the lessons that can be learnt from it.
Further, it is important that we learn to be resilient: it is easy to be disheartened by a defeat and to become convinced that the idea is not worth pursuing. But no experience should be disregarded, no matter how unsuccessful the outcome.
Failure, in one form or another, is inevitable for everyone, but particularly entrepreneurs. The first thing to do when facing disappointment is to take account of the facts – don’t ignore what’s happened or try to put a too-positive spin on it. Be honest about what’s gone wrong so that you can you accurately identify the lessons and take action.
For entrepreneurs, not knowing whether or not something would have worked can be worse than failure. Thomas Edison is claimed to have said of inventing the lightbulb,
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Whether or not Edison actually said this doesn’t really matter. The point is that someone did and they were right: when an attempt fails, we do not have the result we were looking for but … Read the rest