Making mistakes is a necessary part of the road to success

When you first start a business, it’s easy to feel like a failure by comparing your mistakes to other people’s successes.

You examine your inadequacies and contrast them with those of someone who is far further along the path, rather than focusing on your development. You can’t win in this kind of comparison, so it’s a surefire way to end badly.

Consider this: You wouldn’t advise a young child to draw comparisons between their journey and that of a top-performing professional athlete, would you?

No, because that would lower their self-esteem and make them constantly feel inadequate.

It’s a bumpy road to success. Failure, errors, and should-haves, would-haves, and could-haves are all part of it.

My first webinar ended thirty minutes early because I was so anxious that I spoke much more quickly than usual. I was feeling defeated.

One individual purchased a group program the first time I tried to sell it to a group of people; therefore, I had to go back and inform her that I was discontinuing the program due to an unforeseen circumstance. Instead of enjoying the victory of a single yes, I became mired in the misery of a single yes, so I never charged her credit card.

I hired someone else to produce copy for my sales page for an online video product I was intending to sell after persuading myself that my internet copywriting was the issue. I chose a horrible launch day because I couldn’t be there because I was in New York City with pals.

The emails came pouring in. It didn’t sound like me, and the copy was terrible. Everyone was attempting to see the video on the sales page on their mobile device because it was not mobile-friendly.

For this copy, I had spent a considerable sum of money. We didn’t make any sales. I felt like a failure once more.

This woman once wanted to employ me to handle social media for her business. Despite my initial negative feelings, I went ahead and did it. Her invoices remained unpaid for months on end. When I followed up, she would tell me that the money would arrive and that she truly needed me, so she shouldn’t worry or give up. My instincts were screaming for me to stop, but I persisted.

I learned a lot about paying and trusting my instincts after losing many thousand dollars. I also discovered that exposing business owners who engage in such behavior makes you appear to be the villain, so I endured my suffering in quiet for fear of how it would be perceived.

Every time anything like this occurred, I wanted to give up. I believed that I shouldn’t have done this.

However, I was motivated to continue by something more powerful. There were moments when talking to someone about my struggles and realizing I wasn’t alone made a big impact.

On other occasions, I was able to come up with solutions with the help of my team, which allowed us to learn from our failures. Additionally, whenever I needed encouragement, someone who works with me or reads my blog would always send me an email or thank-you card to let me know that I had changed their life.

I only disclose this with you because, to be honest, it is uncomfortable and dangerous to discuss my shortcomings with you. I want you to persevere, which is why I’m sharing this with you. I want you to know that even though the road is tangled and full of errors, you have the strength to persevere.

You already have the solution; all you need to do is pay attention to your inner guidance system.

I almost always realize that I could have avoided my blunders if I had followed my intuition sooner. After all, hindsight is 20/20.

Here are three things you should remember:

Quit evaluating yourself against those who are further ahead in their business than you are.
Pay greater attention to your gut.
Look for a peer, coach, or mentor who can encourage you when you need a little boost.

Additionally, The Pilot Project can help you get started if you need assistance establishing your own route to success.

Have you had this experience? Leave a comment with your most recent error and the lessons you learned that ultimately improved the performance of your company.