Nobody loves to launch new things like small business owners. New offers, new plans, new products, new programs, new businesses; when we have an interesting idea, we want to get it out into the world.
But when we do something new, there’s always a chance it might not work out. When that happens, does it mean we’ve failed?
I think many of us are too quick to assume we’ve failed when things go differently than expected, so here are some examples of situations that look like failure when they really aren’t (and at the end I’ll describe what failure really looks like—to me, anyway).
Deviating from your carefully crafted plan
There’s a misconception about planning that once a plan is made, it must be followed. Ideally, yes. In reality, no one knows what’s going to happen tomorrow let alone 4 months from now, so any plan comes with an asterisk: “Items in this plan may not apply in the near future.”
I’m not advocating for creating a plan and then ignoring it, but some of the value of planning lies in the process of making the plan, not just executing it. In a good planning process, you spend time clarifying your priorities so you can separate your true goals from shiny objects or external pressure that doesn’t matter. You build a foundation of values, priorities, and goals that guide you at a fundamental level.
Planning isn’t about getting stuff done, it’s about getting the right stuff done. Once you’ve gone through a planning process, you’re primed to recognize a great opportunity, even if it wasn’t part of the original plan. So if you upend your original plan to pursue something new that’s fully aligned with your values and goals, or you decide to stop doing something that isn’t a good fit, that’s not a failure at all.
Working incredibly hard to gain traction with something new
There’s no such thing as “If you build it, they will come”. Starting something new is fun on launch day, and it’s a slog every day after that until you gain some traction and start getting regular customers. This is true even if the thing you launched is fantastic and everyone thinks it’s a great idea! It just takes time for people to learn about it and decide to engage.
If you’re investing a ton of time in a new idea or business with very little return, focus on these key elements of growth: visibility, credibility, and clarity.
Visibility: Customers can’t buy something they don’t know about. Marketing is crucial in the early stages, and you may want to try paid advertising even if you normally wouldn’t. Cold calls/emails/DMs are brutal but you should send them anyway, as long as you’re not spammy. Tell everyone you know about what you’re working on until you feel annoying, then tell them again.
Credibility: Customers need to trust you and your product or service before they’ll buy. Tell them why you’re qualified, communicate clearly and consistently to build trust, and share positive customer feedback as soon as you can.
Clarity: Is any part of your product or service confusing or unclear? When something is new, the slightest whiff of a potential issue is enough to put customers off. They need to know exactly what to do, what will happen when they do it, and what comes next after that. People are naturally risk-averse, and new things subconsciously trigger alarm bells.
Deciding to shut down part of your business (or the whole thing)
When something stops working and you decide close it down, it’s tempting to see that as a failure. But things can end for excellent reasons. Even if you’re ending something because it never worked the way you’d planned, there is wisdom is recognizing that and giving yourself a chance to move on to something new.
Everyone has a certain amount of capacity for work, and if you want to grow in one area you may need to prune back in another. Even if that growth looks like closing your whole business and pursuing something else, these things happen and they don’t carry negative moral value.
You may be wondering, “if these aren’t what failure looks like, then what does it look like?” After experiencing my own business ups and downs and talking to clients about theirs, I’ve come to understand that the only real way to fail is to violate your values.
So when you have to veer off-plan, or things aren’t as easy as you’d hoped, or you even need to shut it all down, those are normal, hard parts of running a business. If you move through them with your integrity intact, you’ve done well.
Cover image via Unsplash.
