My learnings as a Businessman. (Part 24)
My idea didn’t pan out the way I expected.
Yet, it would be too much of a blow for me to accept defeat.
So I push on endlessly, hoping against hope, that a miracle would turn the tide and my fortunes.
Learning No 26:
There are no failures.
While it is important to have perseverance, stretching an idea beyond its life span, is suicidal.
If you have tried (and really tried hard) to make it work, but it still does not show results, exit it. There is no point flogging a dead horse.
In one of the companies where I worked, the promoters of the organization came up with an idea of streaming live video from entertainment events.
Great idea in today’s world? Yes.
Unfortunately, they planned over 14 years ago, in an era when internet connections were really slow, internet penetration was not as high as it is today, laptops were a luxury and tablets/smartphones were not invented yet.
The limited number of users who wanted to access the service, weren’t thrilled to bits watching live streaming which played for 5 seconds at a time, followed by 30-45 seconds of buffering.
So the idea bombed.
Great idea. Wrong timing.
Did the promoters give up?
No. They accepted that it wasn’t working, shut down the business and got on with another venture. They went back by a few years, but came out stronger than before.
As an entrepreneur, you would need to be eternally optimistic. Looking at every problem and trying to see a positive in it.
Yet, there are times when you need to face up to a situation and see it for what it is, not what you hope for it to be.
If its not working, accept it. And learn to let go!
So what if the idea did not click. There’s more where that came from.
The only thing you would lose is some time and money. However, the more you delay the decision, the more the time and money that you would lose.
As long as your attitude is right, short-term money losses can be covered. It is just a matter of getting it right once.
There are no failures. Because every time you fail, you get better at what you do.
There are many successful entrepreneurs who have run multiple, limited success ventures before hitting the big league. Why should you be any different?
Be realistic in the amount of time you commit for a business to start giving you returns.
If the turnaround extends beyond your time calculations, take a long hard look at the way it is functioning.
If you do not see any light over the horizon, call it quits! It will give you more time to work on an idea that could actually be successful.
Don’t get caught in the self-rationalization trap. The only person who will be harmed by it, is you!
Live to fight another day. Call a spade a spade. And move on.
You owe it to yourself!
TO BE CONTINUED…
(This is part 24 of a series of blogs on my learnings as an entrepreneur )
Read Part 25 here
photo credit: tokyoform via photopin cc
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