We Need To Talk About 'Failure': 8 Rubbish Things That Happened to Me in My Biz This Year
We Need To Talk About 'Failure': 8 Rubbish Things That Happened to Me in My Biz This Year
As you may know, I host the Empower and Evolve Podcast, which is a mixture of solo episodes and incredible interviews with humans, to help you feel more empowered in life. At the beginning of this month, I sat down with Phoebe Greenacre, in an episode entitled Failure, Reinvention and Growth in Business. In this episode Phoebe shared her journey of reinventing herself and business, and in turn, drove home the importance of sharing ‘failures’ and the not-so-glossy moments, especially in the entrepreneurial world. ESPECIALLY online.
We need to normalise open discussions around when things don’t go to plan. Failure is inevitable; however, I do also believe that it is a word that we should start to slowly remove from our everyday vocab, especially as a word to describe ourselves and others. If you have failed at something, it means that you’ve tried. Failure is not the opposite to success; it is simply part of the road of success. Success has no final destination, signposted ‘YOU’VE MADE IT’. I personally believe that success is a mindset over anything else and is something that no one can determine for you, much like happiness.
SO! With that in mind, I want to share with you all 8 pretty rubbish things that happened this year in my business. Some of them are small, some of them somewhat bigger, all of them compounded at times made me question myself, my work and my self-worth.
There are lessons to be found in all ‘failures’. Sometimes that lesson is constructive, sometimes that lesson is that it is not the end of the world. I hope by sharing some of the crap that’s happened in my business this year, this post will spark thoughts, conversations, and some nourishing self-forgiveness.
1 // Clients asking for refund on a programme
2 // A 1:1 client breaking contract and legally owing me £1000+
3 // Majorly messing up a project for a B2B client
4 // Having people copying my website word for word
5 // Having 0 people sign up for my 1:1s
6 // Hosting a workshop that nobody came to
7 // Someone being very, very rude to me on a call
8 // Accidentally infringed copyright and had people “curse” me online (this was fun!)
Ups and downs are part of our human existence. They are also very much part of the natural flow of our professional journeys as well. In the past 18 months, whilst I have seen soooo much success, I have also experienced some pretty intense heartbreak, a fair few conflicts with my dear old mum, and a whole lot of fun and joy. It’s hard to always talk about these things online, as they can be painful and shameful.
In the world that we live in now, it is increasingly hard to separate our self-worth from our output, and as work consumes more and more of our time, it also has the capacity to consume our identities. When shit things happen, it can feel like a hit. There is nothing wrong with these feelings, nor is there anything wrong with taking pride in our work. However, it can be a heavy load to carry and one which is lighter when we 1) share with others and 2) don’t hold onto it too tightly.
So my advice to you? Next time to you royally fuck up, something bad happens, or some old silly sod breaks your heart, don’t afraid to talk about it online. It will make you stronger, and your community will see you’re a human, which will build that trust factor I am always blabbing on about!
You can find the whole episode with Phoebe on iTunes or Spotify.
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