Most businesses fail they say... I'm not sure about physical businesses, but I know that restaurants have a very high failure rate due to the sheer operating costs... and new owners often being "over-ambitious".
But in the online world - why the failure?
Speaking with my mastermind buddies we uncovered a common theme.
One which made us cringe a little, laugh a little - but all acknowledged the problem and joked we felt "personally attacked".
It's not that we "fail" in business - it's that we GIVE UP!
We find ourselves brimming with confidence about a new idea, a new launch - and we set to work.
We go about putting all the pieces into place and launching this fabulous new program which we're really excited about.
The creation firing us up - exciting us... limiting us - and we don't even know at this stage why.
Then... we FAILED TO LAUNCH.
We pulled back at the last moment and didn't promote it. Didn't market it. Didn't ask for the sale.
Blamed our "shitty ideas", the "wrong audience", the "wrong ads" - but the truth of the matter?
WE were the ones who failed - because we GAVE UP.
Because somehow it's easier to back off your AMAZING idea than commit and go ALL IN to BELIEVE that this is it.
You know your idea is great - but you still find yourself backing off and not following through with all your delicious plans.
And it's like you never really gave yourself a chance. You... the one with the amazing idea, the one with all the knowledge and fire in her belly.
Crunch time came and you decided to gracefully back off, blaming circumstances - but never your own inability to truly believe in you. To let the genius ideas flow through you, to let your knowledge be heard and received by those who needed it most.
The cycle repeats.
We all admitted to having done "mini-pivots" because we blamed our failure to launch not on US... but small circumstances surrounding our business.
3 months. That was the usual cycle.
3 months of this. 3 months of that. About turn. Start again. Fail to launch. Pivot. 3 months. Start again.
Like the athlete who got dressed up in their finest competition gear, put their feet in the starting blocks, the gun goes off... but instead of running to the finish line lungs pounding, placing one foot in front of the other like we were BORN to do...
We stand up, walk away, try something new.
It's all just self-sabotage.
At some point you have to look in the mirror and see that it all comes from you.
It always WAS inside of you. ALL of it.
The SUCCESS... and the FAILURE.
You own your trajectory.
Those who succeed just keep going. They refuse to believe that their intuition was wrong.
Or maybe they're just damned pig-headed.
Either way the keep on going and going and going and going and the launch happens. Really happens. Is a massive success. And they keep on going.
And they don't even recognise that woman in the rear-view mirror who didn't believe in herself, who let her own actions sabotage herself. Because she felt if she WAS successful then it would fundamentally change her into something she didn't want to be.
It was easier to look on from the sidelines than to participate. To stand up and say "I'm READY, here I am."
Creating a new program is addictive. Putting all the pieces of the jigsaw together, making sure the tech bits all flow...
But just because PROGRAM X "flopped" doesn't mean you need to abandon in.
You reflect. Pour a coffee. Walk the dog. Have a bath. Eat tiramisu.
Dust yourself down - and launch again. The SAME DAMNED THING!
Tweak the "things".
COMMIT TO THE LAUNCH.
Commit to the product.
COMMIT TO YOU.
You're no princess in a tower - you're going to need to rescue yourself!
NEVER give up on YOURSELF.
