Apparently, stories about successful entrepreneurs are the new crack. People just can’t get enough of them. Everywhere you look, there’s a Shark Tank, Dragon’s Den, Flip This House, you name it… it’s corporate madness, and it’s the success stories that fuel it.
Everyone loves to hear about success, but no one ever talks to you about being knocked to the ground with your entrepreneurial teeth all over the ground. No one ever tells you that you were so stressed out about everything going wrong that you went to the bathroom 10 times a day and didn’t sleep well for 6 months straight. That is the business reality of Pepto Bismol 99% of the time.
However, a true entrepreneur has a skill set that makes them different from everyone else: they purely and simply bounce back. Getting back up seems like it would be pretty easy and it is if you just do it once, because that’s not a miracle. Doing it twice is a little more admirable. Doing it over and over again is what distinguishes the true entrepreneur. It is the sheer beauty and uniqueness of this trait that sets the entrepreneur apart from the rest of the working world.
If you started a business and it took off and did well, bravo! However, you are not really a seasoned entrepreneur. You can’t call an experienced entrepreneur until he has crashed and burned at least once. In fact, you probably need to crash and burn a few times before you can really call yourself experienced and successful. Well-run private equity groups aren’t interested in investing in anyone who hasn’t crashed and burned at least once. When asked why, they simply say, “How would you know if someone could handle a tough situation unless they’ve already been in one?” Make sense.
Often times, while guiding a company through a digital transformation, there are always concerns about the possibility of crash and burn. You are always afraid of making a mistake associated with a change of address. There is one consolation: a digital transformation is not a massive investment in equipment and infrastructure, and if your business needed a transformation in the first place, the chance of the entire digital transformation failing is unlikely. However, the experienced entrepreneur is often much more brazen in these situations for the simple reason that he is used to getting back on his feet.
In closing, you need to cultivate a “get back” attitude in everything you do. Getting back up is what success is all about, and becoming successful is just a matter of how many times you are willing to get back up. So, move on, knowing you’re going to trip and fall, and when you do, get up!