Failure is the stepping stone to success? Not always….

You’ve often heard the phrase "Failure is the stepping stone to success". But is it always true?

In my opinion, failure can be a valuable teacher but ONLY if we learn from it. When we make mistakes or face setbacks, we have the opportunity to analyse what went wrong, adjust our strategies, and improve our skills or approaches. This process of learning from failure can contribute to eventual success.

In 2018, I started my first business, a food catering business called The Tasty Wok. It was my first foray into entrepreneurship having spent over 15 years in the corporate space before this. It was an industry I knew little about but embraced the chance to explore the opportunity. The business lasted 2 years and whilst it was a tough time in my life, I learned many valuable lessons from my first stint as an entrepreneur, lessons that I took into my next and current business, The Brand X Up Co.

Lesson 1 : Entrepreneurship is not for everyone

What do you do? Oh…I’m the CEO / Managing Director of XXXX company…sounds impressive, right?

Everyone loves to throw fancy titles around and people are impressed by them but behind each fancy title is a person that furiously trying to make his company successful. I remember this analogy about a duck floating on the water and looking calm and peaceful but below the surface, its legs are paddling hard to keep it afloat and moving. That kind of sums up what we do as entrepreneurs. What we show to others and what actually happens are 2 totally different things. People like to focus on the successes, the awards and the revenue numbers but what people don’t see is the stress of trying to build a business, strategising new ways to carry the business forward, the pressure of having to constantly deliver results, the pain of sleepless nights thinking about how to pay staff and bills, etc.

It’s really not for everyone, but it’s ok. Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur, some are better off in a stable environment as an employee.

Lesson 2 : Entrepreneurship is a lonely journey…but not always

In my first business, I often felt alone in running the business. I was new to the industry and had no one that could guide me as to what had to be done or even how to set it up properly. Often I felt lost as to what I needed to do next.

When I started my current business, I made it a point to find a partner to work with. Someone who was like-minded, an equal who could complement me. Leon and I have been running this business for the last 2 years and whilst we are still in the building stage of our business, the last 2 years have been a radically different experience from my first business. Having someone to share ideas with, to discuss problems when we are stuck, to share in the workload when we are busy, to strategise together, essentially to walk this journey together. That has made a real difference in my entrepreneurship journey.

Lesson 3 : Control is a double-edged sword

When I left the corporate world, one of the things that I relished was that my time was now my own. I could have control over what I did, who I worked with and could allocate time for the things that I wanted to prioritise like time with family. No longer would have time be at the mercy of others; no last minute meetings to get pulled into, no sudden need to speak at conferences or conduct trainings for partners, no constant hounding by the boss for reports and updates. I had control over my life.

But there’s always a flip side. Being an entrepreneur means having strict discipline over your days as well. The need to create a routine with what you did (much like in corporate work). I quickly realised that during my entire corporate work life, I had grown accustomed to working with external pressures, from my boss, customers, partners etc. and that had helped to drive me to accomplish my tasks. Without those pressures, I found it harder to motivate myself to accomplish the goals that I had set. I had to learn to create a system that worked for me. For me, that was breaking down the tasks, scheduling time to work at them each day and being disciplined with the time allocation.

Lesson 4 : Change is constant, embrace it…

When I started The Brand X Up Co (The BxU) in 2021, the Covid pandemic was in full force. Many trainers and coaches had tried to pivot their business online and had struggled doing so. I saw the need in the market and started the company to help trainers and coaches to bridge that gap. Business steadily grew for the next year and a half.

Towards the end of 2022, things shifted, restrictions were loosened and in-person trainings and workshops started to come back. So our business had to shift.

In 2023, we decided to review the direction of the company. The landscape had changed and the business proposition that we once had, didn’t seem to be that attractive. That launched us into a period of reflection and transition. We decided that a shift towards a more consultancy approach for the business would help us to achieve both our business as well as personal goals.

Entrepreneurs who have faced failure and learned from them, persevere and show resilience and adaptability, eventually learn to succeed.

Michael Jordan famously said “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”