Nobody chooses the path to entrepreneurship because it’s easy. What these business leaders share in common is that they’re driven by an unstoppable dream. It’s a life calling, not a career. We constantly seek high standards, and when we fall, we fall hard. A successful career is like a rollercoaster with its many ups and downs, whether you're an employee or an entrepreneur. Understanding how to maintain your success and move past your failures can help you lead a more productive and fulfilling career.
To help provide some insight on how to navigate a career I have surveyed 30 entrepreneurs to share some of their biggest lessons learnt from their own failures. This was a part of my research study, however, I wanted to share this in my blog every day, one for the next 30 days.
Hope you all remain with me for the next 30 days where I reveal in a nut shell the entrepreneurs’ stories and lessons learnt and there will be lots of take home messages. I will leave out the names of the entrepreneurs I met as they wanted me not to reveal their names in public and this was also a research protocol.
1. Don’t be scared of your failures - Extracts from Interview
I learnt that what you might think is the worst thing that ever happened to you at that moment might actually turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to you. I can give a lot of examples when I thought that this was the end for me to only laugh about it several years later and thank my lucky stars that how things turned around for me.
One thing you will notice about successful people, especially people with an entrepreneurial streak, is that they welcome failures as a natural part of the journey they are on. I've talked about this in details when I talked to students and corporate all over Asia.
So when I mentor young people I tell them first and foremost to never question their passion and their ability to get things done. If you have the confidence in yourself and if you are sure where you are going and what you are trying to build then this will help you to overcome the difficult times. It is all about conquering the hard times.
So it turns out that the cliché "When one door closes, another door opens" is more than a cliché after all. You just need to have the courage to look at the other open door. And that requires that you stop staring at the closed door for too long.