How I Learned More Losing $1 Million Than Making $10 Million.

Failure is costly, messy, confusing and — inevitable.
Yes, failure is inevitable. And I don’t mean that in a cynical way, quite the opposite actually. If you’re one of those people that has aspirations of changing the world or even your industry, than yes, failure is inevitable.
Before you can become a leader in your industry, you first need to risk.
Failure and success go hand in hand; you can’t expect one without the other. In my twenty years as an entrepreneur, I learned the most from the things I got wrong versus what I got right.
I’m certainly not alone.
Some of the greatest entrepreneurs of the modern era were also the biggest failures. We’ve all heard the stories:
Bill Gates’ first company went broke.
Steve Jobs was fired from Apple.
Walt Disney’s first animation company went bust.
Milton Hershey had 3 candy companies before Hershey.
Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.
JK Rowling was homeless and rejected by a dozen publishers.
What about those who have achieved admirable success, but are not household names? Every one of them has a failure story.
There are many important qualities that an entrepreneur should possess. A few that I feel are critical are: empathy, authenticity, emotional intelligence, decisiveness and confidence. However there can only be one north star….
The one most-emphasized characteristic expressed by industry veterans when speaking to entrepreneurial success. It’s said in a multitude of ways. Entrepreneur.com contributing editor, Stephen Key calls it unwavering passion. A Gallup Poll summary in Forbes describes it as determination. Leadership development expert Lolly Daskal simply refers to her #1 entrepreneurial success quality as, drive.
To me it’s always been about resiliency.
“When you’re going through hell, keep going.” Winston Churchill said it and Elon Musk made it legendary.Regardless of the word that’s used to describe this it factor, there is little doubt that this is the most commonly referenced quality when determining entrepreneurial success.
Wikipedia describes resilience as the mental ability to recover quickly from depression, illness or misfortune. Simply put: how you deal with failure is how you go about becoming successful.
When the Lemon Tree Grocer closed, it was a failure, but it was also an incredible opportunity to learn from my mistakes. Failure allowed me to gain key insights into who I was and who I wanted to be as an entrepreneur, a leader, and a person.
Without the resilience to persevere, I would have never been able to navigate through a recovery process. My personal path was a 4-step plan that over time, allowed me the courage and fortitude needed to take the lessons I learned and ultimately turn them into an all star team and a viable business.
Only through the negativity, pain and failures could I have been able to achieve my finest results.
Every great entrepreneur has a process they’ve used to turn their failures into profitable entities. As we are all unique human beings it is only natural your chosen plan would be different than mine. Regardless of the process you take, make sure to be intentional.
So, how does one deal with failure?

1. Reflect on Your Mistakes
This might be the hardest part of getting through your failed venture — and the most important.
Don’t beat yourself up. The mistakes have already been made and there’s no changing the outcome. You need to become aware of your missteps and how you got to that point.
For instance, I now know that a bad company culture can’t and won’t fix itself. I know that a bad company culture was a tension point and I don’t intend for that to ever happen again. I understand where I screwed up as a leader and take responsibility for the role I played in my own demise. I now know how to have a better outcome in the future and not repeat the same mistakes.

2. Give Yourself Time to Heal
Everyone’s different, but it isn’t a race. There’s no telling how much time you need to heal, but allow for the process to be organic.
Don’t rush. Don’t feel like you need to get back in the game before you’re ready, that will only hurt you more in the long run. Take this time to reinvent yourself and to allow for the failure to settle physically, financially, and emotionally.

3. Practice Humility
You messed up. Things didn’t go as planned. There were a lot of people who put their faith in you and a lot of people who invested their time and money, and you let them down.
Accept it and most importantly, apologize. Failure is humiliating, but humbling. Let it humble you.
In Closing
Failure sucks. But failure can accelerate growth and opportunity. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t fail. Remember, the most successful people you admire all endured a failed venture at some point in their careers. What made them different is that they were able to use that failure as a lesson and build something even greater.
How you choose to deal with failure is a true testament to who you are as a leader and a precursor to success. While it’s never easy, by choosing resilience, you give yourself the best odds to succeed.
Now it’s up to you. How will you choose to handle failure?
“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill

