Clayton Makepeace has released the latest issue of ‘Total Package’. The featured article by Troy White is titled “Failing Forward Faster”. [Article]


Clayton Makepeace has released the latest issue of ‘Total Package’.

The featured article:

Failing Forward Faster (and my 2nd strike)

by Troy Whit

Fellow Business-Builder,

As you may remember, I was up for a Business Oscar this year and had asked for your vote.

The good news?

You were a HUGE help and helped contribute a large number of votes.

The bad news?

I didn’t win.

Again.

You may recall, I was nominated in 2009 as well, and got my butt kicked by a multi-billion dollar Canadian Airline. This time around I got my butt kicked by a smaller, surprisingly aggressive local retailer.

It was an honor to be nominated again ““ and fun was most definitely had by all.

Off to the Oscars with a couple friends, John was also nominated
but didn’t take one home either. We decided a few libations were
in order to ease our sorrow after. Ouch.

As much as I wanted to win …
I took home more lessons
from my second beating
than the first.

After watching the real Oscars this past Sunday night, I realized how gracious many of those nominees were just to be there.

Meryl Streep ““ 16 Academy Nominations and she was having the time of her life!

Sandra Bullock won her first Oscar AND her first Razzy award … all in the same week.

In reflection, actors and actresses are no different than entrepreneurs. They sell themselves in front of the camera, in one role or another.

You and I sell some form of product or service in front of potential buyers.

Sometimes the pitch bombs.

Sometimes it rocks.

Usually there are FAR more bombs than successes … but it can’t hold us back from failing forward.

Can’t.

But does for many.

Being an entrepreneur is NOT for thin-skinned folk.

You need to be driven to win, but accepting of defeat along the way.

Some of the things I took home from my Oscar run, that I also realize are just as important in my business:

1. Never underestimate the challenge (and the competition). I thought that I would do ok this year without having to compete with a multi-billion dollar airline. I didn’t realize that this retail company was so damned aggressive in their pursuit of votes. They had 25 people with them at the awards ceremony … a sign of how serious they took it.

Looking forward, I know just what I would have to do if nominated next year … bust my ass getting votes! I see now where I went wrong … and would do my best to make sure it never happens again.

I have not failed.

I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

~Thomas Edison

2. Are you missing an accountability partner? I was. I should have had my assistant managing my campaign for votes. She could be making sure I had promotions going out, links being posted, videos being distributed, and so on.

Do you work alone? Maybe it’s time you find a solid assistant that can help you stay organized and get more things done. Hint: I found my exceptional project manager through odesk.com.

I don’t know the key to success,

but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.

~Bill Cosby

3. Do you have a workable plan of attack in place? I didn’t. I winged it. Which I should have known better. This should’ve been treated like any marketing plan that had a chance at success.

The only way you can expect to succeed in your marketing is to have a day-by-day, week-by-week plan for what you will do, and how you will track the results of.

Basic? Yes.

Actually done? No.

As simple as this technique is, I would be willing to bet that seven out of ten entrepreneurs have zero actual marketing plan in place.

Do you?

You always pass failure on your way to success.

~Mickey Rooney

4. Celebrate both your failures and successes. Being an entrepreneur can be an isolated, lonely existence. If you let it. I’ll be the first to admit that I am a loner much of the time and do my own thing day in and day out. I have people I work with ““ but they aren’t in my office, nor even in my city. When it is time to celebrate ““ I find people to have some fun and laughs with.

It can be as simple as a night out for dinner and dancing (well, you don’t want to see me dance, not a pretty site).

It can be a movie with my twin nine-year-old daughters (Avatar rocked!).

It can be a night out for a few cold ones with some friends.

They key is to make sure you have people who understand the life of an entrepreneur you can celebrate with. Then plan to celebrate … for good reasons or bad.

There is no failure.

Only feedback.

~Robert Allen

5. No finger pointing allowed. That’s too easy. It always easy to find situations, people or places you can put the blame on. But that doesn’t help you out at all moving forward.
Take ownership of your actions and never lay blame when you could have learned a lesson.

Success in marketing and entrepreneurship IS about trying things, finding out what does and doesn’t work, then taking those lessons to the next phase of your business growth.

There is no failure except in no longer trying.

~Elbert Hubbard

You truly need to believe in yourself and your ability to achieve your dreams.

And you also need to understand and be prepared for many setbacks and failures along the way.

Just because an advertisement bombs, doesn’t mean advertising doesn’t work (like a lady I was talking to this week told me).

It means that the approach that was used didn’t work … and you are one step closer to finding an approach that WILL work.

Reward excellent failure. Punish mediocre success

~Tom Peters

One of your greatest assets you will have as an entrepreneur is the number of “tests” you did that didn’t work. The greater that number is, the closer you are to getting your next big winner.

Never forget that.

And get thicker skin along the way!

Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.

~F. Scott Fitzgerald

Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.

~Henry Ford

I realize this was more of a motivational post than the usual, but I think it holds the key to understanding why some entrepreneurs succeed wildly … and others fizzle out and disappear.

Those who are willing to tough it out and fail forward faster, are the ones that ultimately always find the big winners along the way.

To your success,

Troy White

Editor, Small Business Mastery

Supplement to THE TOTAL PACKAGE

Troy White is a top marketing coach, consultant & direct response copywriter based in Calgary, Canada. He has a powerful approach to growing small businesses and entrepreneurial run ventures on a budget. His FREE Cash Flow Surges newsletter shares tons of great strategies.

He also publishes the incredibly powerful Cash Flow Calendar system that gives you daily, weekly and monthly marketing ideas to promote your business and stand out from the crowd. Click here to get your free tips for growing your business!

Attribution Statement: This article was first published in The Total Package. To sign-up to receive your own FREE subscription to The Total Package and claim four FREE money making e-books go to www.makepeacetotalpackage.com.

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*IMNewsWatch would like to thank Clayton Makepeace for granting permission to reprint this article.