Best Advice, Biggest Failures, and Defining Success From 13 Inspiring Entrepreneurs

I have always loved the process of being an entrepreneur - the fun parts, the freedom, the financials, the marketing, the newness of it all.... but one part I have always shielded myself from is the failure. 

In fact, you could argue that none of my businesses have failed, THTC is still going and growing after 15 years, Spearfish may have changed but it exists, whilst Great Marketing Works has kept me employed either full time or part time for 8 years straight.

So what's this about the F word.... Failure?

Well in all honesty, THTC kept going due to the hard work, finance and brilliance of others, Spearfish started losing money and clients straight after I left and is now more like a charity, whilst my last business, my digital marketing training agency Great Marketing Works, after Mia was born has not grown lots (unlike my lovely daughter who is quite wonderful and very tall for her age)...

Which is why I have launched several side projects over the years. And all of them have failed to make me a millionaire.

My latest, after just 3 months, is going to have to put to bed as well - which is a shame as I loved it so - RIP NowTryThat version 1.

So I loved this article all about Failure. About successes too and key lessons learnt by some amazing entreprenuers and people who I admire.

The lessons are for us all. The article is taken from Entrepreneurs.com

 "Biggest Failures, Best Advice and Defining Success From 14 Inspiring Entrepreneurs"

1. Barbara Corcoran

The Shark Tank investor went from achieving straight D's in high school to creating a multi-million dollar real estate firm in her early twenties.
Biggest failure: My fabulous new idea to put all our apartments for sale on videotape so customers wouldn’t have to go out to see them. I pissed away my first profit of $77,000 and it was dead on arrival.
Biggest lesson: In an effort to save face, I put them on this new government thing called the Internet. It was 1989. We had two sales out of London in the first week. I registered all of my competitors URLs under my name. One by one, they called.
Best advice: “You will never succeed without me!” The prediction of my boyfriend and business partner when I ended our business partnership -- after announcing he'd marry my secretary.
Definition of success: Feeling proud of yourself got trying.

2. Guy Kawasaki 

Guy dropped out of law school to complete an MBA at UCLA. His years working alongside Steve Jobs shaped his work as chief evangelist at Canva and co-founder of Alltop.
Biggest failure: That Macintosh did not achieve 100 percent market share of the PC market.
Biggest lesson: I learned that the best gizmo doesn't necessarily win. It's taken 30 years, but I've gotten over this.
Best advice: Never ask people to do something you wouldn't do. This is a very good test for how you treat your employees and customers, assuming you're not a sociopath.
Definition of success: First, that you made the world a better place. Second, you don't "have to" do anything.

3. Gary Vaynerchuk 

From managing seven lemonade stands as an 8-year old, Gary hasn't skipped a beat with numerous startups, bestselling books and, most recently, creating VaynerMedia.
Biggest failure: In 2009 I had founded VaynerMedia, purchased Cork'd and was involved in about half a dozen other business ventures. I tried to do everything, and ended up not doing anything.
Biggest lesson: Since then, I've learned how to focus much better, and I've built up a team around me that allows me to do just that, so let's see if I've learned anything.
Best advice: Word is bond.
Definition of success: I'll define success by how many people show up to my funeral.

4. Christiane Lemieux

The Ottawa native started DwellStudio from her apartment in 1999 after grinding it out for years as a fashion intern in New York.
Biggest failure: The biggest mistake I made was not seriously vetting an investor I had in the business.
Biggest lesson: Not all money is helpful or strategic, and all money has strings attached. Sometimes theses strings become a noose. Be very careful. Ask all the right questions, vet your investors very seriously.
Best advice: "Stay focused.” As a serial entrepreneur with “shiny object syndrome,” my path to success has been a jagged line. A straight line meets milestones much more quickly.
Definition of success: Success for me is defined by how my business touches the people I work with.

5. Grant Cardone

After starting off in automotive sales, Grant has gone on to become a New York Times bestselling author, successful entrepreneur and founder of Whatever It Takes Digital Network.
Biggest failure: I should have gone 10X bigger from the get go.
Biggest lesson: It's the same amount of work to stay small as it is to go big. Building a $100 million dollar company is no more work than building a $1 million company.
Best advice: The best investment you will ever make is in yourself. (Grant's mom told him this).
Definition of success: The attainment of the gap between my current reality and my potential.

6. Jack Canfield 

Graduating from Harvard, Jack turned the Chicken Soup for the Soul series into an international billion-dollar enterprise.
Biggest failure: We spent a year attempting to create a new human potential oriented internet portal, and we never got it off the ground.
Biggest lesson: To stick to our core business -- writing and training. And having adequate funding for the marketing needed to pull off such a huge venture. We were ignorantly going up against AOL, which was spending millions.
Best advice: Dream big, ask boldly and take action on an idea immediately.
Definition of success: Fulfilling your soul's purpose. I believe everything works better when it is done in the spirit of love and joy rather than fear and greed.

7. Mark Cuban 

After a billion-dollar deal with Yahoo, Cuban purchased the Mavericks. The Shark Tank investor's court side dancing as entertaining as his appearance on Dancing with the Stars.
Biggest failure: Lots of failures, but I haven't had my biggest one yet.
Best advice: Today is the youngest you will ever be, live like it.
Definition of success: Waking up every morning with a smile on my face knowing its going to be a great day.

8. Alexa von Tobel 

Launching her personal finance company, LearnVest in 2006, Alexa was inaugurated by President Obama as a member of the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship early this year.
Biggest failure: As an entrepreneur, you have to be OK with failure. If you’re not failing, you’re likely not pushing yourself hard enough.
Biggest lesson: “Fail fast” is a concept we tend to encourage at LearnVest. Don’t be afraid to try something, but be ready to learn from it and move forward.
Best advice: Get up, dress up, show up.
Definition of success: Success is working towards a goal I can believe in. My life’s mission is to make financial education and advice accessible to people nationwide.

9. Noah Kagan 

Beginning his career at Intel, Kagan joined, and left, Facebook as employee #30. The marketing expert has numerous startup successes in the tech world, currently working behind AppSumo.
Biggest failure: Ha. This has been documented more than I care. Getting fired from Facebook. Losing out on $200 million at today's market value.
Biggest lesson: The best way to get known is to create things that help others.
Best advice: I ran away from home and then my mom went across the street and made me come home. My step-dad then said instead of running away, I need to face issues head on. I think about that moment and the message a lot. Face your fears and go towards them -- never as scary as they seem.
Definition of success: Doing work that I'm proud of and having fun. Be careful to avoid having others put their success pressures on yourself.

10. Erika Trautman 

Having owned an Emmy award-winning video production company, Erika's current venture, RaptMedia, is about enhancing interactivity for online video.
Biggest failure: Rapt Media went through some scary moments getting off the ground. I thought if my team knew how tough things were, they'd panic and quit their jobs. So I kept them out of the loop. When we finally closed our seed round, I turned to the team to celebrate only to discover I’d lost their trust.
Biggest lesson: Without openness and transparency, you can lose the trust of your team. Since then, I share the good news and the bad. We tackle the issues together because the vision is worth it.
Best advice: "Fearlessness is a muscle. The more I exercise it, the less my fears run me." This is a quote I once read by Ariana Huffington.
Definition of success: Success is building and leading an amazing team capable of creating something indelible and transformational.

11 & 12. Steven Pressfield & Shawn Coyne 

A prolific writer, Pressfield is known for many works including The Legend of Baggar Vance, and The War of Art. He has partnered with fellow writer, Shawn Coyne, and created Black Irish Entertainment.
Biggest failure: Failing to start doing what matters sooner.
Biggest lesson: The lesson learned is to start before you're ready.
Best advice: Never pass up an opportunity to use a rest room.
Definition of success: Discovering what you're supposed to be doing and then doing that.

13. Jessica Butcher 

Based out of London, Jessica is the co-founder and CMO of Blippar, the augmented reality platform that turns printed images into digital experiences.
Biggest failure: Allowing a negative situation to spiral downward, and then choosing to quit rather than salvage the situation through small, positive steps
Biggest lesson: Sometimes it’s the right decision to end a particular course of action or working relationship, but I now make a more concerted effort to salvage or reverse a situation.
Best advice: Invest in memories. It’s ultimately what life is about—people, places, moments and experiences.
Definition of success: Achieving a true work-life balance. Doing something you love work-wise, whilst also coming home to a happy, healthy home.

So why 13 rather than 14 as in the original?

Because this last person is a ex client of Great Marketing Works with Blippar - which is a great company growing at a HUGE rate - kind of a pin up poster child for UK business.

I am humbled to have worked for them in the past and end with it here to remind me of what can be done for my future tech company....or client to come.

Oh and Jess you were right - Blipp builder did take a year longer and Malaysia was not the right call for the company - New York was. But you know that.

Which is why you also said the wisest thing on there about your definition of success  -

Doing something you love work-wise, whilst also coming home to a happy, healthy home.

Truly a winner. 

The top 10 lessons learned from a journey from fax machine saleswoman to entrepreneurial superstar worth $1 billion

I have just been researching entrepreneurs and personality types for a new app idea I want to create with Dr David Bozward. Matching your personality type to entrepreneurial archetypes and examples in real life.

However, half way through, we realised that we didn't have enough entrepreneurs examples that were women! 

We have now corrected that with great people like Oprah Winfrey and Adrianna Huffington. 

But whilst researching it was  this article by Kathy Caprino about Sara Blakely, creator of Spanx, and who's Myers Briggs personality type I still can't find, that caught my eye.

 Here are the top 10 lessons learned from Sara’s journey from fax machine saleswoman to entrepreneurial superstar:

1)      Fail Big  

Sara’s beloved father followed Wayne Dyer’s guidance in teaching his children the power of failing big.  Each day, her father would ask – “So, what did you fail at today.” And if there were no failures, Dad would be disappointed.  Focusing on failing big allowed Sara to understand that failure is not an outcome, but involves a lack of trying — not stretching yourself far enough out of your comfort zone and attempting to be more than you were the day before.   Failing big was a good thing.

2)      Visualize it  

Sara is a big fan of “visualizing” your big goal, in specific, concrete ways.  She saw herself clearly on the Oprah TV show 15 years before it happened.  She simply knew it would happen.  She’d see in her mind’s eye sitting on the couch with Oprah having an exciting conversation, and wondered, “What are we talking about?”  The rest was just “filling in the blanks” to get there.

3)       Don’t share your fragile idea with the world too soon.  

 Sara kept her idea of making a fabulous new undergarment for women under wraps for an entire year while working on developing the prototype.  Only after she was 100% committed to it and ready to launch, did she sit her friends down and explain her new direction.  Sara explains that ideas are vulnerable, fragile things.  Wait until you’re completely read to move forward before you share it with people. Meaning well, they’ll shoot it down, offering all the reasons why it won’t work.  But when they do,  you’ll be ready to deal with it.

4)      Don’t take no for an answer. 

 Sara reached out to slews of manufacturers and lawyers to help her patent her idea and create a successful prototype.  In every conversation she had with potential manufacturers, she was asked three questions: 1) Who are you? 2) Who are you with? 3) and Who is backing you?  When the answers to these three questions remained, “Sara Blakely,” no one wanted to take a chance on her, until one manufacturer called her back and said “OK.”  Why? Because he had gone home and told his daughters about the idea, and they said, “It’s brilliant!”

5)      Hire people you like and trust (even if they don’t know a great deal about what you need them to do). 

 Sara hired a head of Product Development and a PR director who had been friends and supporters from the beginning.  Neither knew anything about the functional areas they were hired to oversee, but Sara trusted they’d be fabulous at their new roles, and they were.

6)      You don’t have to go in order.  

Sara’s passionate commitment to her new Spanx product was so fierce, she just tackled each task in the development and marketing journey as they came up, not necessarily in the best order for a smooth launch.  She landed a Neiman Marcus deal involving placement of the product in seven stores, before figuring out how to mass produce “crotches” for the product. The Oprah show called to do a feature on her in a staff meeting in her “offices” before she had an office or a staff.  She winged it, and it all went well.

7)      You CAN figure it out – you have the ability. 

Sara knew absolutely nothing about women’s undergarments, patenting a new product, manufacturing, marketing, product development, website development, online commerce, and more.  But that didn’t stop her. She researched what she needed to, hired out what she couldn’t do, and marched forward with undying commitment and energy. Don’t stop yourself from pursuing an idea because you don’t think you have what it takes.

8)      You can build a billion dollar business starting with $5,000.  

Sara had only $5,000 in savings on that fateful day when she cut the feet off of her stockings in order to wear them under her white pants for a more flattering look (and thus, realized the world needed a new undergarment product that would be comfortable yet flattering to the female form).  From that $5,000 she embarked on designing a prototype, securing a manufacturer, naming the product, legally protecting her product, and getting the word out to potential buyers.  You don’t have to be rich to move forward with your fabulous new idea.

9)      Don’t worry about the outer “stuff” until the time is right.  

Sara worked tirelessly from her apartment creating her product, avoiding investing in outside office space or other marketing and business tools until the product had taken off.  She didn’t have a formal website until she made it on the Oprah show and needed one.  Anything that wasn’t essential to building the product and getting the name out there simply wasn’t a priority.
 

10)   Breaking the mold is a good thing.  

When Sara began to research undergarments for women and how they’d been made for the last 50 years, she was astonished.  From the absurd sizing protocols (only one average waist measure was used on all the products, regardless of the size of the garment), to how products were tested (on manikins not real people), Sara saw that the undergarment industry needed a female perspective – insights from a real woman wearing these items to shape the product development direction so the products were useful, effective, and as comfortable as possible.  She broke the mold, and developed a completely new approach to developing women’s undergarments.

Sara’s most important tip:

“Believe in your idea, trust your instincts, and don’t be afraid to fail. It took me two years from the time I had the idea for Spanx until the time I had a product in hand ready to sell into stores. I must have heard the word “no” a thousand times. If you believe in your idea 100%, don’t let anyone stop you! Not being afraid to fail is a key part of the success of Spanx.”

In the end, Sara Blakely’s story shows us what’s possible when we believe, when we’re resourceful beyond measure, and when our passion and commitment to something outside ourselves brings us to a calling.

My question to you... What are you most afraid of failing at?