Do you feel like a failure? Marie Forleo, renowned coach, transformation guru, and all around achiever, stopped by to give us some insight on how you can harness that feeling and turn it into something awesome.
Do you ever feel like you kinda suck at your business?
Despite the amount of money you make, or the amount of time you’ve been in the game, I think it’s fair to say that we all feel like failures, from time to time.
At a recent conference, I had the pleasure of hearing Russell Simmons, Ted Turner and Bill Clinton speak about business and life, and was intrigued by what I heard.
My favorite line from Russell was (I’m paraphrasing), “Many of my biggest business endeavors were failures before they became a success. Some failed for as long as six years before they hit. Everyone around me thought I was crazy. You just have to stay at it.”
Interesting, right? Loads of business “failures” coming from an entrepreneur with a multi-passionate net worth of an estimated $340 million.
At that same conference, I also had the pleasure of some ridiculously good close up magic from the incomparable David Blaine. I didn’t know that much about him before meeting him, but let me tell you, this guy’s talent is off the chain.
While I was holding playing cards in my hands he managed to make them jump, tear, flip and completely transform. Talk about jaw-dropping. After hanging out with him, I became mildly obsessed and went online to watch everything I could about his other high-profile feats.
It Takes Failure
Turns out, David gave an amazing TED talk about his many attempts to break the world’s record for holding his breath underwater.
He pulled some pretty crazy and outrageous stunts to get there. And, a lot of his failed attempts were very public. Like to the tune of millions and millions of people around the world watching him fail to before he finally succeeded with a mind-blowing time of 17 minutes and 4.4 seconds.
Despite all the public disappointment, criticism and embarrassment, Blaine stuck to it. He kept changing his strategy and eventually, achieved his goal. He continues to be one of the most legendary illusionists and endurance artists of our time.
Then there’s my friend and fellow marketer, Frank Kern.
Turns out Frank, too, had some pretty seismic stumbles in business (he got sued by the Feds and was nearly bankrupt) before becoming one of the most highly respected, highest paid and most sought after online marketing consultants in our industry.
Side note: one of my favorite nuggets from a recent seminar was Frank’s response to a question on how to write a sales letter: “You sit down and f*#cing do it.” Gotta love that kind of simplicity.
So what’s the point here?
It’s Bound to Happen
Anyone who accomplishes great things in business and life is bound to “fail” along the way.
Feeling like a failure is a natural part of becoming a success. It’s actually a good thing and means you’re taking action and putting yourself out there. Which is way more than most critics and naysayers have the cajones to do.
I’ll be the first to admit I feel like a failure. Often. I’ve burned through a lot of cash, time and energy hiring programmers, virtual assistants and designers for projects that never saw the light of day. Of course, I learned something from each experience, but at the same time, they could accurately be considered “failures” too.
Here’s the bottom line.
If you feel like a failure, don’t worry–it’s normal. It simply means you’re human like the rest of us. The good new is that you’re actually in the game rather than sitting on the sidelines.
Legendary success in any field requires a ton of stick-to-it-ness.
When you know you’re meant to birth an idea into existence, take it from Russell, David, Frank and yours truly: feeling like a failure often means you’re moments away from your biggest success.
About the Author
Marie Forleo is a marketing and lifestyle expert who teaches entrepreneurs to live Rich, Happy & Hot. If you enjoyed this article, join more than 40,000 others who get her weekly business training videos at www.marieforleo.com (It’s Free!).
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