Knowing When to Throw in the Towel is Sometimes the Secret to Success
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by: Guest
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Word Count: 479
Many years ago I set up my own business. I had already spent a few years working in, and learning a bit about an industry, so I felt I had a good skills and services to offer.
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Many years ago I set up my own business. I had already spent a few years working in, and learning a bit about an industry, so I felt I had a good skills and services to offer. Full of hope and determination I struck out on my own and spent the next few years busting a gut trying to get this business off the ground. I didn't want to concede defeat because I believed that offering a competent service at competitive prices must be good enough provided I stuck with it. I stuck with it, and stuck with it...
The problem, I realized eventually, had nothing to do with what I was offering. I had fallen foul of the old adage "it's not what you know, it's who you know". I knew I could do a better job than industry standards dictated - I had skill and experience in doing just that. But because of the nature of the business I couldn't get companies overseas to go out on a limb and trust someone they didn't know with projects worth a few hundred grand.
This leads me to the second part of the paradox I mentioned at the start. Consider this; if we are supposed to work hard and persevere in order to succeed then why, in almost every case you look at, do successful people invariably say they failed several times before finally finding something that worked. They're effectively saying that they didn't persevere at the first few things they tried. Who knows, perhaps if they had persevered they would have succeeded on an earlier project. But perhaps not...
I think what's important is to realize that the hard work and perseverance applies to your attitude to work, and not to an individual business or enterprise. What most successful people will tell you is that they took lessons from their previous failures and applied new found knowledge and skills to make the next attempt that much better, until eventually they broke through.
If you are struggling to get a business off the ground right now, I can't tell you whether you should put that puppy down and move on or not. Maybe the big break is around the corner, maybe it will never come. What I do want to tell you is this:
Your success as an entrepreneur is not tied to the success of an individual business. It's tied to how you learn and apply lessons from failures and successes in whatever you do.
It's wishy-washy, I know - but if there was an absolute for success... well, that would be too easy and it wouldn't be success, would it?
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