How Failing Immensely Made Me More Successful
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 11:18PM I started my own restaurant right out of college. I knew the odds, that the majority of small businesses fail, that running a successful restaurant is even harder, but I did it anyway. There was no stopping me. I was sure I’d be massively successful, independently wealthy and yes maybe, just maybe become the star of an awesome reality show.
Until I walked away just five months later having failed miserably. Add one to that statistic, please.
Yes, my name is Josh and I failed. Immensely.
In retrospect, my restaurant may have been destined to fail. I served only breakfast, leasing the building and the equipment from what was an already established restaurant. As I’d find out, though the margins are huge on breakfast food (you wouldn’t believe the mark up on pancakes these days) it was just impossible to generate enough revenue charging $1.95 for scrambled eggs and $1.25 for a side of sausage to cover all of the overhead that comes with running a restaurant. I know that now, but had you tried to convince me of that six years ago, I wouldn’t have listened. And yes, people did try.
But as tough as it was having to give up my restaurateur dreams so quickly, failing taught me something very valuable. Simply, that failing really isn’t so bad. Sure, at the time it was a little rough and obviously it wasn’t what I set out to do, but in the end, I got through it and I learned a lot. Hell, if given the chance, I might even fail again.
Because here’s the thing…In a lot of ways that experience has made me all the more fearless, and as a result, more successful. So many people let that fear of failing hold them back from truly chasing their dreams. Would I have had the guts to start this blog and write In Search of Monsters had I not already had a taste of what it’s like to fall on my face? And known that I could survive it?
Maybe not.
Reader Comments (3)
I say you have always had the guts, and the ability to brush yourself off and move forward. You just might not have noticed.
Maybe so. If anything the experience taught me that I did have that ability to dust myself off. It also taught me humility, which to a 22 year old, can often be in short supply.
Now I'm hungry for breakfast...