Do Entrepreneurs Always Win?

In Inspiration, Trending by Deb Roberge

I do believe that there are many people who assume that everything a “creative person” (or “entrepreneur”) has a hand in immediately converts into a winning effort. This assumption is far from reality. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs (with names we all recognize) have had their share of failures along with some major wins. I am here to say that I am one that has had to deal with failure a time or two. At the time I was devastated and had trouble dealing with the reality of it all, but now looking back and in retrospect I am rather happy that I experienced the not-so-good along with the very good.

I learned the hard way and it makes me happy when I can give back and perhaps save someone along the way.

Sure, we all celebrate our award-winning successes and smart business savvy with as many people as would listen since it is a great accomplishment when things fall perfectly into place. We must deal with reality and understand that not every idea is an award-winning one. I’ve spent many hours with fellow entrepreneurs sharing my mistakes in the hopes that I might guide them so that they won’t make the same ones I have.

I learned the hard way and it makes me happy when I can give back and perhaps save someone along the way. Most are very appreciative of my time and honesty, but surprisingly enough there are a couple who totally missed my intentions and viewed my thoughts and advice as a negative. You see, not everyone has the makeup or mindset to move in entrepreneurial circles. They don’t want to accept the fact that as much as they believed that their business model was one that would “kick butt and take names”, things don’t always move in the direction that we believe it will. Sometimes we can correct our course, or tweak the model here and there. In other cases the time was just not right to launch a model or idea.

“Thick skin” is so important when it comes to developing and building concepts you believe in, for no matter how great you may think it is, unless your audience, your buyers, and your followers agree, it just isn’t going to happen. It’s as simple as this. I wish I had someone who could have shared their experiences with me prior to moving forward on a couple of my ideas over the years. I learned right in the trenches—the hard way. In some cases it was time and money. In other cases, it was lots of time and not too much money, and in some cases it was lots of time and lots of money, but nonetheless I don’t regret any of it.

Entrepreneurs just pick themselves up, dust themselves off and start all over again! We don’t give up.

It’s in our DNA and it is more painful not to try again than it is to let it all go. At least this is in my case.