I just had a big strategy session yesterday on what it will take to fit regular blogging into my life, and concluded that I will set aside 30-45 minutes every Friday to make that happen. So look for Friday posts from me going forward.
Today I want to talk about failure. Failing used to mean that you did something wrong, or that you just weren't up to accomplishing the challenges you needed to do in order to be successful.
But now failure can be a good thing, given that you learn from your mistakes and use your new knowledge by applying it to any new ventures you may tackle in the future.
I was an investor and involved with a start-up company (trying to battle P2P piracy with a legal P2P media network) from 2001 - 2006. 5 years later and all we had was a buggy software product, no business model, and basically went to zero with a bullet.
I've learned a lot from that failure and now live by the rule that if you are going to fail, you better fail quickly otherwise you are going to lose a ton of money and time in the process.
If you see any signs of failure, or if times are getting tough and it's impossible to push through the dip, then do yourself a favor and throw in the towel before you are left with nothing but ancient computers and crappy technology.
I vow not to let this happen to any company I'm involved with again. Simply put, I would rather fail quickly, than have mediocre success longer-term. I live my life to change the world, and if I'm not adding value to that goal then I'm wasting my time.
Do you agree with me? Have you learned this painful lesson in your lifetime?
