The Try Again Club

“Self appointed president of the try again club”.?

That was the sarcastic, funny me updating my LinkedIn headline, thinking, Yeah, this fits. I just wasn’t sure if everyone would find it as funny as I did, and I hesitated being my casual funny self. Then I remembered that it’s the only way to show up.?

For me, “try again” means I failed, I did not win, I was the first loser, came in second, came in last. You know the drill. And I’m okay with it. Because trying again means I’m living. Ya know, that thing we get to do between birth and death.

Sure, I have goals, and I have certain things I would like to accomplish. But the day to day failures? They are a part of life.I mean, am I alone here? Am I seriously going to admit, and use it as a headline on Linkedin, as to how many times I’ve failed? Because let’s be honest, I’ve only got your attention for about three minutes, and I have at least three to four weeks worth of failure stories I could tell. And I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in that.

Failure isn’t some rare phenomenon; it’s standard operating procedure for anyone who’s ever built, created, or risked anything worthwhile. We just don’t talk about it as much as we do success. But here’s the thing—success doesn’t exist without failure. They’re not opposites. They’re dance partners.

I’ve spent most of my adult life in that dance, the entrepreneurial cha cha. Building businesses, pivoting, learning the hard way, gaining traction, losing money, paying taxes, getting fined, this is an exhaustive list. As in, it probably never ends. I’ve launched things that worked, and I’ve launched things that flopped. I’ve said “this is it” more times than I can count, only to find out… nope, it wasn’t. Again.?

And I’d like to say that all those failures made me tougher, or more resilient, or super clear on where I’m going. But that’s not true. Sometimes, those failures made it hard to get out of bed. For a really long time. Or maybe that failure made it even harder to get back into the industry. Who is going to trust me now? I came in dead last, and now I want to be back and everyone forgets? Nope.?

That’s why I’m owning my title as President of the Try Again Club. Self appointed of course. Because I know setbacks. And you can’t get better, or different, or bigger if you don’t suffer some setbacks.?

Reinvention doesn’t happen without reflection.?

And the people who make real, lasting change…they aren’t the ones who got it right the first time. I’m not sure those people exist in human form. Something for the conspiracy theorists to chew on.?

Which brings me to my next try again moment, my new podcast, Change for Betterment, launching March 1. And true to article, I have already co-hosted a podcast with Vince, hubby and business partner, but that one did not move past the first season. Say it with me, “Cause we failed. That’s ok. I’m going to try again”. And trying again will probably look different. You can sign up to be notified when that first episode lands on March 1st. Click here to enter your name and email.

If you’ve ever failed, privately or publicly, restarted, more than once, or started to question what it really takes to keep going when things don’t go as planned, then congratulations, you’re already part of the Try Again Club.?

And I think you’ll love what’s coming next. It’s a podcast called “Change for Betterment” and it’s landing March 1st. I hope to you join me.