Why Failure is the Best Tuition You Will Ever Pay

As entrepreneurs, we are wired to chase success. We want the home run, the big exit, the legacy. But the reality of the grind is that setbacks are not just possible; they are inevitable. The difference between those who burn out and those who go beyond the grind isn't luck it's how they process failure. If you are currently facing a roadblock or fearing a potential flop, you are not stuck. You are being set up for the next level.

The "Dream Team" Fallacy

One of the quickest ways to fail is to have the right ambition but the wrong personnel. I experienced this firsthand in 2010 when I tried to launch a tech platform connecting hairstylists with clients essentially the "Uber for hair" before Uber was ubiquitous.

We assembled what we thought was a perfect team: finance, operations, sales, and legal backgrounds were all represented. We wrote the business plan and pitched the vision. But we failed to launch. Why? We didn't have a technical founder. We were trying to build a tech-heavy business without anyone who could write code. We couldn't produce a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to validate our idea, and without an MVP, we couldn't raise capital.

The lesson? Whatever business you want to start, your core team must possess the primary skill set required to deliver the product. If you are starting a financial firm without a CFO, or a tech firm without a developer, you are missing the boat.

Fail Fast, Fail Cheap

The goal of a startup shouldn't be to avoid failure at all costs, but to fail fast if the idea isn't viable. We call this validating the idea. You need to put an MVP out there quickly.

Don't drag a bad idea out for two years to the point where you are so emotionally invested that you can't let it go. Emotional attachment is the enemy of strategic navigation. When you are assessing a setback, you must be able to sit back and ask: "What could we have done better?" Is it the people? Is it the product? Conduct a retrospective: identify what is working, what isn't working, and what needs to be added.

The Due Diligence Trap

We are seeing a trend right now called the "Silver Tsunami" a massive wave of baby boomers selling their businesses. It is creating a lot of opportunities for acquisition, but it is also creating a lot of traps for the unprepared.

We see people, like dentists, wanting to buy trucking companies for passive income without understanding the industry. You cannot just jump blindly into a specialized industry like trucking without knowing what it takes to drive the truck or maintain the overhead.

When you are looking at these deals, or any business opportunity, you have to be a pessimist with the numbers. Do not do your math based on the best-case scenario. Look at the business's worst year. Calculate the worst-case scenario. If the business can still survive and make sense effectively at its lowest point, then you have a viable deal.

Building Your Playbook

Ultimately, your failures are just pages in your entrepreneurship playbook. When setback happens, you write it down. You learn from it. You don't let it beat you down.

Failure is not the end. It is the tuition you pay to elevate to the next level. If you gain experience, resilience, and a clearer understanding of what not to do next time, you haven't failed. You've invested in your future success.

Watch the full episode at https://youtu.be/Obg1XLweLkI. 

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