The 5 Biggest Lessons You Learn From Your First Failed Business

One of the worst things that may happen when a business fails is suffering a huge loss.You experience bad feelings and a sense of worthlessness as a result. Because of this, most people will try everything within their power to prevent this loss.

Failure has a good aspect despite the lousy energy it carries. You can learn from failure and failure can teach you lessons you otherwise would not have known.

Some of the world's wealthiest individuals could only succeed because of the lessons they took away from their earlier failures. Have you recently suffered a huge loss?

Here are the top 5 mistakes failed business owners made (and learned from):

1. Having poor leadership skills. Every business revolves around its customers and employees. You must work with others even if you run a one-person show in the business.

* Many people sharpen their leadership skills the hard way – after a failed business. Others also wait until far later in their corporate career to understand how to lead others.

* In leading people, you must make a conscious effort to understand your employees. That will enable you to understand how to deal with each of them on a personal level.

* Also, knowing what drives people allows you to help them excel. One of the most challenging skills to master in business is human connection. Learn from the mistakes you’ve made in previous businesses by taking the time to get to know your employees and lead them well. 

2. Not understanding that an employee’s total cost is more than their salary. Many new businesses don’t understand the true cost of an employee. You are responsible for paying for indirect employee costs such as hiring new employees, overtime allowance, benefits, insurance, taxes, and bonuses.

* Costs of general consumables (such as office supplies) and administrative expenses are all a part of indirect costs.

* In the end, it pays to factor these costs into your business. Though it is small when in bits, it costs quite a lot of money when combined. As your business expands, these indirect employee costs may also grow.

3. Failing to choose a business partner you trust and like. You have to start your business with someone you like and flow with. This person can be a close friend or a family member. Your business partner should agree with the company's vision, mission, and objectives.

* Also, your business partners should be people you trust. Building connections of trust is essential to conducting business. Trust is a factor in most business collapses.

4. Not considering an online market. A digital market is now the order of the day. If a mysterious health issue locks everyone back inside their houses once more, you need a digital backup plan. During the global Covid-19 crisis, businesses with no digital options suffered the most.

* Do you have the option of delivering goods and services? Are you still able to improve people’s lives when they’re at home? These inquiries shed light on your digital approach. Adding a digital market to your business may be the reason you stay open in an unpredictable world. 

5. Not learning from failures. Failure is the universe's way of notifying you that there is something you are not doing right.

* You will continue to fail if you use the same approach that caused the failure again. It implies that you need to alter your strategy to succeed where you failed. 

* To succeed the next time, you must reflect on your loss, identify what went wrong, and make the necessary adjustments. As a result, you learn from your failure that accepting change is the only way to succeed.

Failure can be a contributing factor to success. It depends on which perspective you have. You can view it as a learning experience or you can view it as a reason to quit. Thankfully, many entrepreneurs continue to innovate and learn from their previous failures, and you can too!

I hope ypu found this article helpful.

Until next time, PEACE