5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Overcome Business Failure Now that you have started a new business, brace yourself for failure. Sounds a little pessimistic – doesn’t it? Well, every entrepreneur needsRead More
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]]>5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Overcome Business Failure
Now that you have started a new business, brace yourself for failure. Sounds a little pessimistic – doesn’t it? Well, every entrepreneur needs to be prepared for the worst. Even super successful individuals such as Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Colonel Sanders, or Henry Ford didn’t succeed at their first attempt.
In fact, it took most successful entrepreneurs and leaders multiple attempts to reach their goals. What was the likely key to their ultra success? It’s their approach that differentiated them. As Edison summed it up – “I haven’t failed; I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work”.
But the question is – why do startups fail often? The reason is simple – you just don’t have the necessary experience to run a business. This leads you to make many mistakes, and soon they start to make a significant impact on your day. No planning, forgetting taxes, emotional pricing, wasting money on unnecessary details, and so on lead to trouble.
And if you don’t identify your mistakes and rectify them on time, you end up as a failure. But if you think it is the end of the road, you are seriously on your path to a letdown in your life. It is at this time that you need to think and act and turn your failure into success.
How do you do it? Here’s how I’ve learned that top entrepreneurs overcome business failure:
Switch to a positive mode
No, it doesn’t mean you try to fake a smile and look happy even when you feel down in the dumps. It implies that you treat your failure as a life lesson. Don’t fight it; embrace it. Only then you will be able to understand what an experience it was. Create a spreadsheet and write down what you did right and what you didn’t.
Appraise your assets
Be it an office space that you have leased or great relationships that you have created – don’t ignore their potential. Consider what worked splendidly for your startup – was it your employees, or, your certain client relations, or, your intellectual property? Draw up a chart to understand and evaluate your best assets.
Sell off whatever you can
Whether you want to give away your business or sell it, you need to get in touch with the right people. If you think that it may still work, keep a percentage in it. If not, just give it away to a new entrepreneur. If you decide to sell, don’t be shy; contact everyone you know to see who you can sell it off to.
Read up
Akio Morita began Sony selling a rice cooker. But it burned the rice. Yet, Sony is one of the best success stories of today. Fred Smith almost failed his business management course with his business idea. It later developed into FedEx. And good old Edison actually failed more than 9000 times before he made the light bulb.
Most importantly, start again
Now that you have failed, you have two choices – you can leave it and go back to where you were before you tried entrepreneurship. Or, you can get up, brush off the dust from your fall and tread along towards your next venture. And when you choose the second option, you will have the lesson you learned to guide you.
Success in business, quite similar to success in life, is not dependent on whether you make it at the first jump. It relies on whether you have the courage to get up and get going and make your failure just a stepping stone on your journey to success.
The Art of War for Small Business by Becky Sheetz-Runkle | Listen to my interview with Becky here
The Road To Reinvention by Josh Linkner | Listen to my interview with Josh here
Getting Things Done by David Allen | Listen to my interview with David here
Invent Reinvent Thrive by Lloyd Shefsky | Listen to my interview with Lloyd here
The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz | Listen to my interview with Mike here
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]]>A summary of things you should know about The Art of War for Small Business according to Becky Sheetz-Runkle Introduction In this episode, Becky Sheetz-Runkle gives you a deep diveRead More
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]]>In this episode, Becky Sheetz-Runkle gives you a deep dive into her book The Art of War for Small Business. In her book, Sheetz-Runkle brings to life her belief that if small businesses took Sun Tzu’s strategies and applied it, they would be able to build themselves into mighty organizations. This book is for entrepreneurs who need a very practical and easy to read guide to applying the Sun Tzu style of business.
There are a lot of books on The Art of War but this is the only mainstream book that applies Sun Tzu’s Art of War to small businesses.
The passage directly from Sun Zhu…”In war the victorious strategists only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.” – Sun Zhu
The belief that you are going to be successful, you’re going to win and get what you have set out to accomplish. You never fight a battle unless you know you are going to be victorious.
The book is really practical and easy to read. I have a lot of illustrations throughout the book that make Sun Tzus words really practical and will allow businesses to learn how to apply his work.
There are four parts and 12 chapters. The 12 chapters are especially for small business leaders and entrepreneurs. I give you 12 chapters, 12 concepts and 12 ideas that I really need to impart upon readers and broken those down to show you all the applicable passages and illustration’s.
The first part is about seizing the advantage. The context is what the art of war was all about and what Sun Tzus objectives were and teaching you how to apply those to your small business.
The second part is about understanding the essential pieces of Sun Zhu. If you read no more than this section, you will have graduated out of Sun Zhu 101. You will have understood the fundamentals of what this book can do for you. The basic keys are understanding yourself, your enemy and understanding the market.
Part three talks about the principles for the battlefield.
The fourth part we talk about maneuvering, adaptation, the spirit/energy that you need to be successful, deception and finally Sun Tzu in the future of your business.
“Everything we do is autobiographical.” – Becky Sheetz-Runkle
“Now, to win battles and capture lands and cities but to fail to consolidate these achievements is ominous and may be described as a waste of resources and time.” Sun Tzu
I am a Speaker, Author, Martial Artist and Marketing Consultant.
My inspiration for writing the book was asking myself how Sun Tzu would adapt the principles from the Art of War to wage war and to wage peace for his small business and build it into an empire. I believe that if small businesses took Sun Tzu’s strategies and applied it, they would be able to build themselves into mighty organizations.
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Buy The Art of War for Small Business by Becky Sheetz-Runkle on Amazon today
Visit SunTzuStrategies.com to find more information on Becky
Follow Becky Sheetz-Runkle on Twitter and Facebook
Download the full transcript here
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books: The Art of War by Sun Tzu | Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
Relevant advice and tips: 5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Overcome Business Failure
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