Not too many people know of my own personal entrepreneurship learning lessons or “failures”, if you will.
I think it’s important to view failures as learning lessons.
The way I see, the only true failure is giving up…
That being said, I’ve failed 5 business ideas (that either had momentum or made sales)…
I’ve:
- testing the waters of creating a non profit by creating a brand and selling decals
- sold essential oil fresheners and soy based candles (before they became mainstream)
- helped assemble a small team to try to create an app that rounded up your purchases to donate to a cause
- was in an incubator trying to create the next food thermos container
- networked with roughly 18 community development financial institution across the US to try to launch a software as a service business
Looking at all of these “failures” I can now pinpoint what I learned (and what I needed to learn at the time).
Some key lessons from these experiences are:
- You don’t need to be a non-profit to give abundantly and create change
- You should test small batches of before large scale manufacturing
- Creating multiple distribution channels is essential
- A great idea is not a great business model
- Market demand is everything
Learn from the principles of these lessons I’ve learned over the years and apply them in your business.