Having helped hundreds of women into an online business I can pretty much tell you that the majority of them all have a very similar fear.

The fear usually is – what if I invest this time and money into my business and it fails? 

That was also my fear when I decided to go into my business full-time about ten years ago. 

When you think about it; it is completely understandable because fear is generally triggered from uncertainty, and then our brain tries to adapt and find solutions so it feels a little more in control –  but the problem is, business can be such a big intangible thing in loads of different ways, so it is very hard to really know for sure about a lot of things until you actually just try it and see. In saying that, you absolutely can learn a few strategies to make some very insightful decisions to avoid it as best you can but what I am saying is, sometimes failure isn’t a dead-end, it is a part of the journey.

So with helping hundreds of people into their business and also sharing the ups and downs of online business in my Facebook group which has over 15,000 like-minded business mums; I’ve seen, experienced and learned a lot of things about failure along the way.

And, I am going to share them here with you so perhaps instead of resisting it so much, we can surrender to it and see where it takes us with the belief that there is always something amazing just around the corner. 

Acceptance

So firstly, if this is your first time starting a business accept the fact you’re probably going to suck it at for a little while and know this does not mean you’re going to fail. In fact, it actually means you’re right on track. After all; it is very rare that we are automatically good at things straight off the bat with no practice, right? 

Running a business is exactly the same, it is like learning a skill for the first time. So take the pressure off yourself from feeling like you cannot fail at all costs, and instead go easy on yourself and accept that you may well fail at a few things in the process and feel completely out of your comfort zone but this is completely normal and certainly does not mean the end, in fact, this is the growth zone. In these early stages to take the pressure off a little, I tell my clients to give themselves some time on purely just learning how everything works before putting too much pressure on themselves to make coin. 

Knowledge 

It is a myth that we only gain knowledge from things working out well or as intended and in fact, we can gain a lot of valuable experience and intel from when things don’t work out the way we expected.

The key here is to detach yourself from what ‘failure’ means. A lot of us associate it with our worth and we judge ourselves for not being ‘better’ but what if like a toddler learning to walk, we are meant to fall down lots of times to get the hang of things so we can learn to really run, jump and play to our full capacity?

Each time you ‘fail’ you can then use that experience and build on it for the next one. Did you know Thomas Edison’s teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything” He was fired from his first two jobs for being “non-productive.” As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. This tells me we all have an inner power and potential and regardless of what anyone else says or how many tries we take it is there waiting to be uncovered.

For example, Rebecca Searles who is one of our longest Business Jump Family members started out her first business with us called Family Garden Life. We taught her everything she knew and she grew the business very quickly and gained a loyal following fast we were even featured on Channel 7’s, Kochie’s Business Builders together.

Within this time Becky tried out different income streams and different tactics all the while gaining valuable experience and moderate success. But then, she saw an opportunity that was too good not to investigate and knew this was her true calling.

Becky followed her gut and switched her direction, took everything she had learned and moulded it into her new business Lake Macquarie Family Life which has been successful from Day 1. And, we love that we’ve taught her life long skills so now she can launch business after business whenever she sees an opportunity.

Reframe 

A lot of the time we attach failure to our self-worth in that if we can’t be good at something then it is our fault and we self deprecate but what if we detach from this association and yet choose to see that maybe ‘failure’ can actually a piece to a larger puzzle at play; and you were learning the skills you needed to go into the next stage?

And what if the value you got was not necessarily financial but came in a different way? What if by through the ‘failure’ you shifted your perspective on something? Gained greater insights? You discovered and amended a limiting belief? Found an inner strength you never knew you had?

And, what if there was one small thing within that which connected you to your next growth-phase and then that stage unlocked massive financial and/or life gain? Our experiences are never separate and always interlace whether we realise it or not.

Realign 

I’ve had clients of the Business Jump Family not continue with their business we started for them and it would be easy to look at that as ‘failure’ but you know what they did?

They started a new one. They took everything they had learned from their first go and used it to create an even better second one with the skills and insights we had given them.

Along with reframing, understanding that each time we try we get closer and closer to that beautiful end goal of success if we are mindful of our journey, that we learn from our experiences and then we use that intel to recreate.

I had many businesses before Business Jump, some ‘failures’ and some successful, however, what I know for sure is they all were like a breadcrumb trail giving me the life experience and skills to arrive at Business Jump which has been my most successful, but you know what? Business Jump won’t be my last either.

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