So I was thinking about business and how everyone tells you if you really try, you're sure to succeed.
Have any of you kept trying your whole life, really giving it your all, and have nothing to show for it. Like none of your ideas really took off ever, and all you had was failure.
if yes, then why do you think that was, lack of effort or just misfortune?
Posted by No_Concert_2696
7 Comments
I just mentioned this in another post, but to me people far too often think in binary terms. Success or failure. What does success mean? How are you setting up a business for success or failure?
To me, you can easily set a business up for failure by huge overhead at the beginning. You dramatically reduce your odds of surviving the more overhead you add that doesn’t generate a positive ROI/ROO.
For you, what does a successful business mean?
“trying your whole life, really giving it your all, and have nothing to show for it”
That wasn’t my experience, though there were a couple of businesses I built that didn’t get to the level I wanted them to even though I felt like I was giving them my all. But what I would say what was one of the main reasons for at least one of them was that I continued on my preconceived plan and didn’t adapt to what the world was clearly communicating to me. I was very stubborn. 😀
“Mt Everest is covered with the frozen dead bodies of highly optimistic people. So, maybe calm down a little.” ~ Werner Herzog
IOW, 90% of all businesses fail in five years or less. Every one of them a product of someone who was completely convinced that their business was going to make millions in no time.
It’s astonishing how many unrealistic overly confident people are jumping into business ownership with literally zero due diligence.
Source: I was a SCORE Mentor for many years. I specialized in niche start-ups.
some people have the minus touch
Systems. Operations. Sales development and a good product all aligned helps. Nothing is guaranteed.
Learn. Keep pushing.
I don’t think it’s lack of effort or misfortune most of the time.
A lot of people really do try hard.
The problem is they keep trying in the same direction, with the same assumptions, and call that persistence.
Effort only compounds when it’s paired with feedback.
If you keep working on ideas that don’t get real-world validation early, you can burn years doing “the right thing” in the wrong place.
Another uncomfortable truth is that trying your hardest doesn’t mean you’re aiming correctly.
You can be disciplined, consistent, and exhausted, and still be solving a problem nobody cares enough about.
For me, the difference wasn’t trying harder.
It was shortening the feedback loop, testing smaller ideas, and being willing to walk away sooner when reality didn’t respond.
Failure often isn’t a lack of effort.
It’s effort applied without correction.
Everyone who knows business does not say if you try hard youre sure to succeed.