Every entrepreneur fails at some point. It is part of the road to success. Most entrepreneurial start-ups fail at a rate of between 75%-90% depending on the source. That means, if I start ten businesses I will fail in at least seven, and likely nine of those opportunities.
Entrepreneurs fail in small ways through business development, and even in personal development. And then there are the massive failures where your business completely collapses, often leaving you on the hook for debt without income to support your burden.
It is because of failures that I am changing my focus on what I am going to be talking about on my blog going forward. I want to focus on the failures partly because I am in a failed position right now and have been for some time, and because I think to talk about failures will help us move towards success.
Investors prefer to invest into entrepreneurs who have failed verses entrepreneurs without experience. Some lessons come from failure that you can’t get at school, and hopefully, make you sharper in your next venture.
Entrepreneur Fails in Business and Personal Life
Entrepreneurial failures go beyond the business itself as many entrepreneurs, myself included will dig in placing everything on the line. When entrepreneurs like me fail, we lose everything and often have massive debt. In my case, I through everything I had at my business that collapsed in 2008. I had enormous credit card debt, personal guarantees and leveraged all of my assets.
People thought that because I owned a new house, a Ferrari and a late model Cadillac that I came out without pain, which was not true. All of those items and more were leveraged beyond imagination as I put money in thinking I would be able to raise the necessary capital to recover. All that stuff is gone, and I am still underwater.
Unfortunately, I have yet to completely recover and have no assets. I still have debt, and because of recent surgery, once again have been living without any income. Needless to say, this places me in a desperate situation as I am unsure how I am going to survive the next few months. I am having complications that are interfering with my ability to work, minus being able to write more as of recent. The downside of entrepreneurship is there is no safety net.
An entrepreneur fails despite having many talents
Yes, I have many talents, but I haven’t been able to put them to use. Yes, I am incredibly frustrated, and I could write about them, doing the “fake-it-till-you-make-it” strategy, but that’s just not me. I don’t have the energy for that.
That brings me to my next option, and that is being brutally honest and writing about my failure as an entrepreneur. Nobody wants to write about failure, especially focusing an entire blog on entrepreneurial failure, so why not be the first one? I figure that the experiences that I am about to share are valuable to a lot of people.
Maybe you are an entrepreneur who recently failed, or are headed for failure and need some help strategizing on what we're going to do next? Perhaps you will read about my failures and avoid making some of the same mistakes? Maybe you are thinking of investing in a business and will see similarities helping you to come to a more informed decision on your next investment.
Whatever your reason, reading about failed entrepreneurial ventures and life will surely help you to think differently.
The Value when an entrepreneur fails
I am hopeful that if you find this idea valuable that you would kindly consider contributing or supporting my efforts. Your contribution will help me to continue to share valuable content. Help me help people who need it badly, but don’t know where to turn.
If you have failed in entrepreneurial ventures, you surely know the value of an entrepreneur with extensive experience sharing stories.
Thanks for reading, and make sure you sign up for my Newsletter as well. I will be sharing stories frequently that won’t always end up on my blog here.