How Smart People Tackle FAILURE Head On!

Photo: Courtesy of Chris Griffith via Flickr

Best-selling author John C. Maxwell, invites us to take a look at a topic that makes most people cringe.  Whether reflecting on a mistake made 10 years ago or 10 minutes ago, Maxwell makes argument for not allowing our failures to cause us to cower in fear and regret; rather, he encourages people to embrace the reality of our mistakes so that we can move forward and use them to our benefit.  He even goes a step further by evaluating what contributes to a person's level of success.  

Below is an excerpt from his book, Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes Into Stepping Stones For Success, where he examines the common misconceptions about the reasons or factors having contributed toward people's successes.  In turn, we can fall into the trap of minimizing others' success when we focus on a particular factor that we believe led them down that much envied road, instead of paying careful attention to what Maxwell calls "perception."  

WHAT'S THE ROOT OF ACHIEVEMENT?

What makes the difference?  Why do some people achieve so much?  Is it...

•  Family background?  Having a good family growing up is something to be grateful for, but it's not a reliable indicator of achievement.  High percentages of successful people come from broken homes.
• Wealth?  No, some of the greatest achievers come from households of average to below-average means.  Wealth is no indicator of high achievement, and poverty is no guarantee of low achievement.
• Opportunity?  You know, opportunity is a peculiar thing.  Two people with similar gifts, talents, and resources can look at a situation, and one person will see tremendous opportunity while the other sees nothing.  Opportunity is in the eye of the beholder.
• High morals?  I wish that were the key, but it's not.  I've known people with high integrity who achieve little.  And I've known scoundrels who are high producers.  Haven't you?
• The absence of hardship?  For every achiever who has avoided tragedy, there's a Helen Keller who overcame extreme disabilities or a Viktor Frankl who survived absolute horrors.  So that's not it either.

Photo: Courtesy of Amazon.com

No, none of these things are the key.  When it comes right down to it, I know of only one factor that separates those who consistently shine from those who don't:  The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.  Nothing else has the same kind of impact on people's ability to achieve and to accomplish whatever their minds and hearts desire. 

In the world of entrepreneurial articles and business books alike, there seems to be a common thread with regard to success and achievement:  Perception.  How can such a seemingly insignificant word carry such great weight in how it affects the outcome of our lives?  The interesting part is that it is entirely in our control, how we choose to perceive the situations we face on a daily basis:  do we look at them as opportunities or misfortunes?  

Is there a failure in your business or personal life, which you need to change your perception about? 

In case you missed it, check out The 4-Hour Work Week...SERIOUSLY?!

10 Most Ridiculous Ideas About Business

You might be SHOCKED by this list, but our friends over at Business Marketing Online and Offline posted this great article on 10 ways you can mistakenly destroy an otherwise good business.  They have given us permission to go ahead and repost it exactly as is, for your benefit...Enjoy!

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I'm no Letterman, and the following are not intentionally humorous.  I could give you a list of 100, but here are my top 10.  

10.  Believing that it is easier to make money with Multi-Level Marketing than other small business options.  Multi-level, whether it is an establish brand like Amway, or a brand new offering like Scentsy, requires tons of work to turn them into businesses.  Finding, motivating, and managing part-time workers is like herding cats.

9.  Believing you will get rich easy with any scheme, but especially affiliate marketing.  If anyone says they want to sell you the secret to a get rich scheme, ask them why they aren't so rich that they could care less about selling it to others.  Most of the online efforts to help you become a great affiliate marketing are just making their income selling you the method.

8.  Starting or buying a business that you know nothing about.  Many, many people buy or start businesses that they have no education, experience, or even passion about.  Odds of success are pitiful.

7.  Thinking your product or service is so great or in demand that you don't need to market or sell.  If you have Gold at $10 an ounce, you still have to put up a sign.  

6.  Having one customer represent more than 20% of your revenue or profits.  When you allow a client to dominate (think especially WalMart, Target, CVS), they own you.  This is also true for the $1,000,000 wholesaler or manufacturer selling to a major account.  If they switch horses or go out of business, you are toast.  If they stay with you, they dictate the terms.

5.  Believing that you can undercut your competitors who are gouging consumers.  Many enter business because they are on a mission to help consumers whom they believe are being ripped off by the rapacious businesses they will compete with.  Margins are what they are for a reason.  The market is very good at driving overprices to reasonable pricing and underpricers out of business. 

4.  Failing to stay on top of trends in your industry.  Famous statement - There is only a small difference between a goods business and a museum.  Book retailing was a great

business not so long ago.  Not to mention newspapers, magazines, cameras, GPS devices, ad infinitum.  

3.  Offering open credit terms without adequate research and a great collection plan or without adequate cash flow to finance the accounts receivable.  So many cases where otherwise great businesses give easy credit and end up broke.

2.  No business plan. Maybe one person in a hundred is able to run a business from the seat of their pants.  Why take the chance.  Spend 48 hours of your life writing up a plan.   That time could be the difference in success and failure.  Don't have 48 hours.  Pay someone $3000 to do it for you.  

1.  Clearly the biggest one.  Entering business without full support of spouse, or with inadequate understanding by spouse of sacrifices that may have to be made in time, energy, stress, and money.  
Your business and your marriage will suffer, and the suffering of each will impact the other.

What would you add to this list from your own experiences in business?

You will definitely want to check out this post: How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success.