The Positive Power Of Failure

Sometimes failure becomes a different kind of success. While I was very fortunate to be part of a successful business in Thirty-One, I’ve had my fair share of attempts at other things that were grand flops. No one goes into business for themselves with the expectation of failure. No one starts working in a job with the expectation of being fired or let go. No one takes a role in a company expecting it to be a bad fit. But I’m here to say it’s okay to try and fail in all of these situations and I’ve been through them all myself and lived to tell about it. Those opportunities are yours to learn from no matter how they end. There may not be a raise, bonus or even a job at the end of your effort but you likely learned some invaluable things along the way.

One such example was when I was a college student and I worked at a retail store as a cashier. Part of the responsibility was totaling up all the sales and returns at the end of each shift to balance the register till. I really didn’t l enjoy much about the role because of having to stand the entire time and deal with customers, but I put my best efforts into it anyway. After working there for quite a few months I was falsely accused of giving employees of the store deeper discounts than were allowed. In reality I had only been responsible for processing a refund on an order that had a deep employee discount on it but no one wanted to hear my explanation. I was fired without a valid reason and no prior warnings or issues. I happily moved on from that job while having learned a valuable lesson on how not to manage a business.

Another role I took that proved to be a bad fit for me was a call center rep for a portrait studio. I’m one of those people who prefers to use my phone for anything but actually talking. It seemed that customers only called into the call center with issues and were always irritated and upset. I mean it’s understandable that their precious family photo had some sort of issue but leave it to me to prove my lack of any sort of sympathy in my voice as I tried to talk to them about their concern. Easy to assume that I didn’t stay in that role for long and jumped for the next job opportunity that came along.

To be honest, I may have been able to succeed in direct sales in terms of the Thirty-One story, but along the way I learned a lot about myself and why behind the scenes is where I belong. Time after time I convinced myself that with my experience I could be successful at product sales in the direct sales space. Turns out I am not gifted at sales and I am the prime example of what not to do. Over the years I’ve purchased enrollments kits from direct sales companies and excitedly waited for them to arrive. Once the box showed up at my door that’s where the roadblocks began. Not only was I overwhelmed with all that was required to “jump start” myself into the business but I felt a shear sense of terror that the next step was to start reaching out to others with the “sales pitch”. To say I am uncomfortable in sales in an understatement. I feel a sense of dread and fear that I am burdening the other person with my product offering. Sales may be a natural gift for many, but for the rest of us there are plenty of other opportunities out there.

I personally love the strategy and start up side of business on the back end and I’m happy to leave the sales part to others. I love supporting others with their big ideas and will go above and beyond to do what it takes to make them dream bigger. I am grateful for where my career has taken me and am thrilled each time someone reaches out to me and shares their behind the scenes situation and asks for my help. I have been fortunate to build great trust with some very gifted entrepreneurs and forge some great relationships that will last a long time.

I will say that one of my biggest takeaways after working professionally for 25 years is that it is important to create boundaries between “work” and the rest of your life. The sure fire way to find satisfaction in any role is to love what you do but not let it take any of your light and energy when you are away from work. I know from experience how hard this can be and by having felt the impact of trying and failing, I have a strong opinion on why this is so important. Family, faith and friendships matters so much more than all the rest. Don’t let life pass you by because you’re sacrificing it all away with work. Whether in a time of success or failure in your professional life the tide will likely turn and it is in those times that you will be grateful for not having sacrificed for material things that will not matter.

From the perspective of a parent, I believe the best way to look at balancing work and all the other precious areas of your life is to consider this quote from Forest E. Witcraft, a teacher and scholar - “A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove... but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”