A Successful Failure Takes Practice

Andrea from Clarks Beach - Waiau Pa

I used to believe to give something your best was only able once, when you give it your first shot. To do your best and not succeed so, would ensure failure. However since my first failure (from childhood through to the future), I have come to learn that each shot at success is different from the first, and sometimes due to experience, better.

“I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying.” –Jeff Bezos, Amazon Founder and CEO

No matter when you start a venture, striking the right time is often difficult. Should you have school aged children, going into business at the start of the school holidays is challenging. Perhaps not ideal. Having a partner who is already committed to long hours and working away from home is a habit both of you had become accustomed to, and proves hard to break. As you have stopped working for an employer, your time is now split between the expectancy of being available to do holiday care etc. What you thought would be an ideal situation becomes a challenging act of spending time devoted to the two causes you started. Personally, I learnt that starting a business at the start of the school holidays is a little like running uphill into a head wind. You hope that you can adjust your pace to get to the top, however as the head wind gets stronger, your strength to pull you up gets shorter. Having the ability to bounce back and say 'next week circumstances will change' is a vital practice for success for my business. I could not foresee the changes that were going to take place when I stepped back from being employed, to being my employee.

Success is a learning curve. You can give it your best shot multiple times, as long as each time is learning from the first. Let the wind turn and drive you from behind when going uphill, that way you will reach your destination with the energy to complete the distance.

“You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and falling over.” –Richard Branson, Virgin Group Founder