Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Pick up the pieces, start 2014 with fresh outlook after pitfalls


Different elements come into play in a successful venture, including the ability to learn from failure and put in place corrective measures. FILE

Different elements come into play in a successful venture, including the ability to learn from failure and put in place corrective measures. FILE 
By CAROL MUNYWOKI


The year 2013 was a challenging year for me, but Alas! I am still alive and I do need to move on.
For the budding, struggling, entrepreneurs, investors and business persons that continue to shape the future of this beautiful country – success often comes from mistakes and the ability to learn though constructive criticism or broken relationships.

Getting up after a major shake or fall that might or might not be self-induced, is not easy but moving on and rectifying your past ways is the true and only way to success and personal healing.
All businesspeople must understand that one has to fail a number of times to effectively make it in business.

Business women take falling slightly differently compared to businessmen. They tend to take their failure much more personally, internalise it, take a little more time to recover and sometimes even give up on their pursuit to financial happiness and independence.

A study done by the Global Entrepreneurship fund and Babson College revealed that women had lower perception capabilities, self-esteem and confidence than men when endeavouring to establish and run a business.

Women also tend to over analyse issues and end up thinking too much about the possibility of failure that it takes longer for them to actually start a business. And when they fall – getting back up is harder.

Once you realise that you cannot pursue something that is going to effectively work well and fall in place overnight, then, half the battle of succeeding has been won.

Failures are never the end. In fact, failure can be a way of getting back to the drawing board and thinking up new creative ways of starting a new. Failures must be expected when starting a new venture, but expecting and accepting failure are two disparate things.

Many do not accept failure that easily and some do not even understand what they are going through. A good support system, individual focus and motivation must prevail as well as the notion that you cannot just give up after your first failure.

Overcoming and conquering fear should be the first step. Knowing what one’s fears are, understanding them, dealing with them and moving on with a clearer picture, is key.
A lot of time can be wasted thinking about why you failed and why it did not work, but its working and doing the business that ends the failing procrastination. Get up, dust yourself off and try again — but with a much better understanding.

There are many reasons that startups or businesses fail and some entrepreneurs could be in denial when dealing with their own ideas and concepts. Before you get up again, try to focus and write a list of what went wrong so that you may not plunge into the same hole again.

Pick the right team, get professional advice, try separate yourself from the rest — in order to achieve your own niche, do not get stuck on your original idea (chances are, if you failed the idea was not well executed), do not spend too much money — most people think that having a lot of money is fundamental in doing business. That, is but a fallacy — you can make much out of very little.
Feeling jaded should be the last option for an entrepreneur or business person. Self confidence too, plays an important role in making it after a fall.

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