Fail Big!!

Three of the Biggest Business failures and bounce backs in history!

1. Bill Gates ( Traf of Data) Have you ever driven over one of those weird black cables that stretch across the road and measure traffic by counting tire bumps? Bill Gates and a few of his friends did, which is why he founded Traf-O-Data…

2. Steve Jobs (Apple 1 & Apple Lisa) Do you remember the Apple I or Apple Lisa? If not, you’re not alone. These were two products Apple produced that crashed and burned. Unfortunately for Steve Jobs, these were products that he pushed for and cost Apple millions of dollars in development, money it failed to recoup. This pattern of costly production decisions led to Jobs being ousted from Apple in the mid-eighties.

3. Jeff Bez (Amazon early years) Amazon founder Jeff Bezos made some mind-blowing mistakes while getting the company off the ground and even more after its successful launch. Here are just a few of them:

4. When Amazon first launched, people could leverage a glitch that allowed them to buy a negative number of books and receive a credit from the company.

5. When the company began selling toys and books, Bezos insisted on changing the business model so the company could purchase and store millions of dollars in toys. More than 100 million toys were purchased and warehoused in anticipation of the Christmas season. After the holiday, 50 million toys were left. Amazon gave most of the toys away because of insufficient warehouse storage space.

How to deal with failureFailure is inevitable in business and life. While no one likes to fail, doing so doesn’t have to jeopardize your future successes. Here are some tips for dealing with your failures when they arise:

• Reframe your failures as short-term setbacks and learn from them. Rather than viewing your failures as a sign to give up, reframe them as short-term setbacks to help you learn from your mistakes. When you understand where you went wrong, you can develop creative solutions to ensure you do things differently when confronted with the same problem in the future.
• Think strategically to step out of your comfort zone. Once you’ve dusted yourself off from stumbling, think strategically and take calculated risks to plan your next move. Weigh your options carefully and make decisions with a clear, calm mind. Lean on your support system and ask for their unbiased opinion. To grow and gain new experiences, both personally and professionally, you’ll need to move past your fear of failure and take some calculated risks.
• Seek out the advice of a mentor. Everyone needs encouragement when they’ve encountered unexpected problems and challenges. Mentors have the advantage of hindsight and can impart the wisdom they gleaned from their mistakes. In addition to sharing their advice, the right mentor can also help you make important connections to elevate your business and spur professional growth.
• Maintain a positive mindset to persevere past your failures. Rather than letting your failures drag you down, focus on learning from your mistakes, and believe you have the skills and knowledge to succeed in the future. In addition to the entrepreneurs featured here, there are plenty more who failed on their way to success. If they can find success after their failures, you can as well.

References:

Successful Entrepreneurs Who Were Rejected First | business.com

Top 6 Reasons New Businesses Fail (investopedia.com)

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