I’m perfecting the art of learning to fail fast (you should too.)

One of the most important aspects of achieving success in self-employment is learning to fail fast. Not failing doesn’t seem to be an option. Now I don’t mean “failing” in the oh-my-god-I-have-to-go-back-to-the-cubicle way. No. I mean all those small “failures”—our new niches that don’t work out; our new products that don’t sell; our seminars that don’t get filled. Women are so afraid of the word failure. We take it personally. We translate it to “We failed” instead of “Well, it looks like that new program didn’t work out”.

Case in point. I have killed a program- the Virtual Earn Your Worth monthly program for self-employed women. Perhaps I didn’t let it run long enough. Perhaps. But I think there were some serious flaws in it and I learned some really good lessons. For example, I tried some new technology and in reality, in was a pain in the butt and people didn’t really use it. I think a more important learning was that once a month is simply not often enough to meet as a group, if it is not in person.

The point is, when a program or product doesn’t work and you kill it, you have to learn as much as you can from the experience. But first you have to grieve it. I was really bummed for a couple of weeks. I wallowed away in indecision at first, then pulled the plug and wallowed some more. (If you read my blog, you know I hang out with plenty of supportive women who keep me balanced.)

When the wallowing was done, I listed out what I learned. I mean, this is an expensive lesson! I sure as hell better learn a lot!!! I think of the movie Awakenings, with Robert Deniro and Robin Williams. Deniro’s character has “awakened” from a debilitating disease due to the help of Robin William’s doctor character. But then Deniro’s character starts deteriorating again. It is just heart breaking! Robin Williams films his patient, trying to study the illness. At one point, in the middle of a filming session, Deniro’s character has an acute attack and Williams stops filming him out of pity. But Deniro begs him to keep filming him, shouting, “Learn! Learn! Learn!”

Okay, perhaps that is too dramatic, but you get the point. When things don’t work out, it is painful. But if you are going to “fail”, learn all you can from it. Learn! All learning is expensive, so make it pay. Whether you learn in the classroom or from the school of hard knocks, learn your lessons well. Don’t wallow too long. But don’t be afraid to fail. If you never fail, you are not taking enough risks.

I finally launched the program that people have been asking me for. Mikelann’s Three Month Conquering Underearning Program is a simple 12 teleclass program over three months. One class a week for 12 weeks. The Phoenix has risen out of the ashes.

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