Nibletz Staff
Building a company isn’t easy.
One of the common themes at this year’s EE Tennessee conference was that most of the speakers spoke about utilizing failure. The benefits to failing, it seems, can be the probiotics for your eventual success.
Jared Steffes used his failure to take his company to a new market. Nicole Glaros encourages failure as an entrepreneurship development strategy. Tony Monteleone used his failures in the corporate world to become the progressive entrepreneur he is today (even in shorts and a T-shirt).
A trail of failure can mean a launch pad for success if you know how to use it as motivation.
Here are the top four things you should take away from your failures according to the speakers at EE Tennessee:
• Re-Evaluate Your Strategy
Why did you fail? How can you correct those measures? Was it really a bad company idea or was the idea just poorly executed?
Steffes’ original strategy wasn’t working because his company simply wasn’t in the right market. So he moved to a new market, a market that had interest in what his company was aiming for.
• Develop Better Relationships and Learn How To Communicate
Glaros said that 65% of startups fail due to poor communication, which means poor relationship management. Monteleone’s first startup failed because he couldn’t communicate well with his other cofounders.
Your company will depend heavily on communication and good relationships. You have to be able to talk to your team regardless of whether you’re failing or succeeding.
• You Have To Have Metrics
How can you measure your success, or your failure, when you have no statistics? Why don’t you have users? Why aren’t you getting unique hits? Why is your bounce rate so high? But don’t strangle your company with those metrics. Choose one to three and use that data to move your company forward.
• Tap in to Resources
Community is key to bouncing back. Your failure will be the end of the line for your endeavors if you don’t have a support network, peers, mentors, and community resources to fall back on and help you bounce back up and get going again.
Laura Whitener is the Managing Editor for Firmology.com, a technology news and resource site for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Follow them on Twitter!
