Failure is the Road to Success

Byjoel

Failure.

The word is laced with negative connotations.

That’s why I think failure gets a bum rap.

Failing at something is not necessarily a bad thing. It just means you are trying. And it means you have found a way to not succeed.

Thomas Edison went through thousands of experiments before his first lightbulb was illuminated.

Ben Franklin is quoted as stating, “I didn’t fail the test, I just found one hundred ways to do it wrong”

Sven Goran Eriksson said “The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.”

Many businesspeople, bloggers and entrepreneurs are quick to tout their successes. I made “x” amount of dollars. I sold “x” number of products. I’ve been recognized by so and so for doing such and such.

There’s nothing wrong with celebrating our successes. I like to do it as well.

But I’m also proud to confess that I have had my share of failures.

That’s right, you heard me. Everything I touch does NOT turn to gold!

In fact, some things I touch end up far more like tin foil than gold.

Would you like to hear about some of these failures? Read on…

In 2001 I thought it would be a great idea to launch a digital greeting card site based on the famous Budweiser “Whassup?” campaign that ran from 1999-2002. Visitors would be able to choose from a number of animated cards featuring well-known celebrities chanting the classic “Whassup!” line.

They came in droves. If by droves you mean a handful each day.

The greeting card site never took off, but I have left it online as a testimony to failing with a website. You can still see it today at Virtual-Whassup.com

What’s the lesson? I became distracted by the “bright, shiny object.”

Stay focused on your core business. If you stray from “the main thing” you may have to pay a price.

In 2006, I launched Instant AdSense Templates with my JV partner, Eric Holmlund. Since I already had a large following of people familiar with my teachings on how to make money with AdSense, we thought it would be a good idea to provide them with a method of creating content-rich sites without having to pay for a designer.

The package was massive containing hundreds of templates, graphics and tutorials. In order to help users kickstart their sites, we provided them with five private label rights articles for each niche featured. Eric received assurance that the PLR articles were original and new from the vendor we were dealing with.

The launch was a big hit, but about four hours in I received an email notifying me that the PLR articles were not new, but had been duplicated from another PLR membership site.

Needless to say, both Eric and I were shocked to make this discovery. When you outsource a work, there is the expectation that the work will be original. In this case, we had major issues with the vendor.

I immediately sought to make it right and cut a deal with the rightful owners of the articles. It took a significant cut into our profits, but a valuable lesson was learned.

ALWAYS be sure that the vendors you are working with are reliable and trustworthy. It’s not worth taking the risk on people without integrity.

My next big mistake took place in Fall 2007. (See how frequently this stuff happens?)

This time my error centered around poor judgment in hiring, along with poor management decisions.

The person who had been handling my financial books let me down in a big, bad way.

I won’t go into the gory details, but let’s just say I lost a lot of money.

On top of that, I had to deal with morale issues, damage to the business and damage to my reputation.

Now I make sure that the person handling my finances is trustworthy AND accountable. You may think that some people aren’t capable of going to “the dark side.” But given the circumstances, people are capable of some pretty heinous things.

The bottom line is that we are each responsible for our own choices. We must own our mistakes. And we must learn from them so that we grow in our capacity to love others and walk in freedom from our past.

It’s not easy, but it is necessary if we hope to grow.

Here is what I know for sure.

Humans are fallible.

Everyone is human.

Therefore everyone is fallible.

Admit it. You’ve made mistakes as well. You may not be proud of them, but if you look at them under the right light you may discover that you’ve learned a valuable lesson along the way. That’s why failure is the road to success.

Care to join me and ‘fess up to your failures here? You are in good company.

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45 Comments

  2. Oh goodness, where to start??
    The biggest baddest one (that cost me the most $) was launching a new web-based company and going for all the bells and whistles with our site before we had earned a penny. We spent tens of thousands on a custom-coded site (when in retrospect WordPress would have done just fine). We had it set up so we couldn’t add anything unless we had a designer design it and a programmer code it. It was ridiculous. We didn’t turn a profit b/c so much overhead was tied up in site maintenance and updates.
    Now I remind myself that we don’t have to have the Rodeo Drive version of a site before we can start selling. When I’m tempted to over-invest, I tell myself that Phil Knight started selling Nikes from the trunk of his car, and Apple started in a garage. If it was good enough for them, it’s good enough for me.
    Thanks so much for sharing some of your mistakes! It helps me realize that I’m not alone.

  3. I couldnt agree more!
    Iv just given up my day job to run with a business concept that I am passionate about. There is a 50/50 chance of success…but I am willing to take that chance. Not knowing everything, but willing to learn. Taking the bull by the horns and giving it my best shot…
    Before I decided to resign, I asked myself if I would be ok with failure. Afterall, it was a huge risk I was taking. And my answer was this – Yes, this is a calculated risk, but the worse that can happen is that I fail…if I do, I will dust myself off, and continue… I still have my health, the support from my friends and family and my future!
    If you are afraid to fail, you will fail to achieve anything.
    Here are some quotes that keep me moving forward:
    “just keep swimming, swimming..”
    Dory, Finding Nemo
    “Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street”
    Zig Ziglar
    “Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success.”
    Denis Waitley
    and my fav
    “Failure IS success if we learn from it.”
    Malcolm Forbes
    j*

  4. My principal blog is name:
    Road To Success…
    Coincidence or Deja Vu…
    But I do not take failure as a barrier but as an opportunity. An opportunity to develop hidden skill you may have deep inside you.
    I always keep in mind this saying:
    “Nobody will ever know even yourself how high you can fly until you spread your wind and try to reach the sky”
    Im reading your ebook about making money with adsense after several failure to produce some money with a couple of sites and I’m seeing some result now thanks to you.

  5. I am so glad to hear I am in good company where failure has been an issue.
    Although I really don’t want to label them FAILURES I would rather think of them as learning experiences.
    I know some people would have put up a fuss and demanded their money back (good luck, most of the time of that one) But to me asking for money back never entered into the picture.
    Just an attitude of growing and hopefully learning from mistakes.
    We all make mistakes and I more than anyone hates to be WRONG!!!.
    BUT….. I always try to do the right thing and when I am WRONG It makes me feel good to be a big enough person to admit it.
    Thanks for sharing Joel… I am in good company for sure.
    Cindy

  6. Loved the cat with the cheese on it´s head 😀
    I also think that making failures makes you more aware in future business and people relationships. The point is not to give up after the cheese landed on your head.
    Best,
    Michael

  7. Failure? Who me? Yep, a LOT. Sometimes failure comes in the form of hiring the wrong people and expecting too much. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
    I have learned to stop blindly trusting others and to trust my gut instinct. If I fail then, not a big deal–I can grow and learn from it, but if I give others my power then cry in my coffee over the mess THEY made, then I have failed more than just my company, I’ve failed myself.
    Loved the article Joel, but what’s up with the fat cat with cheese on his head? LOL

  9. I’m old enough to have made a lot of mistakes. Most people do. That’s why most companies I ever worked for are no longer in business (they went bust after I worked for them in most cases, before you ask). I am however, still married and the kids are doing fine. So I must have got some things right.

  10. Well lets see, there are so many, which one to choose?
    A few years ago I was really wanting to get out of my cubicle call center environment making decent money and having benefits, etc.
    Actually, I hated it and was desperate to get out.
    I got a job with a woman who was a caterer and had a restaurant. She had just opened the restaurant and her catering business had been closed for a while but she was starting it back up.
    She assured me that her database was golden and it would be easy to build up business.
    After a day of going through her files I realized that her database was basically nothing. I would have to find business other ways.
    I started to market online. I told her about some sites and some paid advertising. Well it started working. I was getting new business.
    But she didnt get this whole internet thing and thought I was some how commandeering her website and stealing her customers.
    Overall a totally sucky experience.
    What did I learn?
    Don’t believe what people tell you just because you are ready for a change. Get the proof so you can make an intelligent decision.
    I also learned that marketing a local business online is very effective. Now I spend all my time helping businesses do just that.
    Peter Brissette
    Digital Marketing Dude

  11. I relate to Lain Ehmann comment, I know the feeling, I can relate to your comment 100%, paying webmasters thousands and then wanting to make or adjust something on your website, more money again. I would be interested to know which web package you use now.

  14. I once heard a priest saying:
    “There is no success that justifies the failure of the family” I never forgot that! I try very hard to keep up with my family (little children!!) and sometimes it is exausting, but I am very happy and I think my daughters will grow up someday and then I will miss them… such is life…
    It is very nice to read Joel…I enjoy it so much… thankS!!!

  15. Joel, Interesting you mention the “book keeper” as a “failure” area that cost you a lot of money. Money does strange things to people’s psyches. I’ve seen several situations where the person keeping the books took a drastic wrong turn. It never ceases to amaze me. But then looking at our recent national financial bailouts I shouldn’t be surprised. Where there is money there is corruption. And, by the way, I’ve made enough mistakes for everyone. Good post, Joel

  16. Lots of very good comments here.
    Failure is one side of it. Internal dialog must be respected as well.
    If I can turn the fretful hindsight into something to be productive with, well, I find a better outcome.
    In honesty, the fretful hindsight can slow me down.
    I just want to remember the lesson in a better light.
    Little blue post-it on my copy machine:
    Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
    Keep it fun, it gets better.

  18. Just what I needed to read, so thank you Joel and everyone else for your inspiring comments! I’m starting a business out of my home, and had a prospect wanting to visit me in my office. Immediately my mind went on a rampage figuring out if I needed to invest in that office space to get my business moving. Not after reading Lain’s assuring comment. If Phil Knight could start Nike out of his car, and Apple out of a garage, then what’s not cool or up to par about me postponing office space until it makes sense to invest in it.

  19. Joel, you have given me some hope with this post as the past few days have been in a downward turn for me. I will continue forward and stay on track as best I can to make sure I reach my goal.
    Thank You
    Harry

  20. Greetings Joel,
    I’m sorry to say this, but the value of failure is debatable; though it does teach you what not to do if you’re open to its teachings.
    Fortunately for me, AdSense Templates helped turn my failures around and now your Socrates theme has taken the reigns. 😀
    However, I have some dear friends whom I’ve known for a long time who have heart, courage and integrity that are constantly plagued by failures when they should be wildly successful by now, especially after 25+ years of giving their best to all their respective tries.
    So in that regard, I’ve sadly grown to hate the word because of the pain, misery, and self-doubt that it has instilled in my dear ones and many other people with big dreams.
    It’s one thing when you have successes that exceed what you’ve lost (time, money, etc.) from failure, but to have failure become the main staple of your life without anything whatsoever to show for all of your efforts and learning is simply unacceptable especially when it’s good, kind, honorable people who are consistently doing the failing.
    I don’t know, I guess I was willing to go the extra mile for my business and invest the time and money in it where necessary.
    But hopefully my dear ones will finally find their way and achieve the success that has been long denied them and that they truly deserve.
    Best Wishes Always,
    FJT

  21. Hi Joel
    Having or making mistakes only means one thing to me and that is if you have made ten mistakes then those are 10 mistakes that you know don’t work and 10 mistakes you know you don’t have to try again.
    Keep Forging Ahead
    John

  22. Hi Joel
    Great article fessing up to the failures as you saw success. Its refreshing to hear this from The Joel Comm and shows how human you are as are all of us.This blog entry feels like a confession booth 🙂 so I guess we could all share our own stumbles as well.
    Its taken me more than two years of continuous learning from small and big failures, to evolve to a point of making some side income from my sites. This despite all the superb material such as Adsense Secrets, and a ton of good advice. The failures were unique to my situation, and were great learning lessons for me. I continue to learn and things are getting better.
    You are so right about the attitude one should have towards failure.
    Its indeed Attitude not Aptitude that determines your Altitude in life! 🙂

  23. People who are successful are acquainted with failure and rejection. Those without vision are the ones who can stay at a low paying job and complain.
    Unfortunately most people do not exercise their God given right to the pursuit of happiness and they get no where in life that’s why failure means nothing to them
    To these people it is all about being entertained.
    Here is an article with a lot of insight on what great things people are missing in their lives at will!
    http://homebasedbusinesses.biz/life-intelligence

  24. Thank you Joel for sharing your failures, very interesting.
    As I’m enthusiastically starting out in IM, I’m sure I will make mistakes, but I do not see mistakes as failures, more like life lessons. Failure is a harsh word, and in reality you made some human mistakes.

  25. Now I remember, I was in part on the losing end of the article deal. I remember when it happened, at first it did not look good at all, but you gave the members of the article subscription site free copies of your product, I still have them by the way, use some of them once in a while even today.

  26. I live in Western Australia and was brought up on a wheat farm, we had a white cockatoo that had been in a large cage under a peppercorn tree and had not been let out for a number of years. when I was 17 I let him out so that we could play together, he would climb to the top of a tree and watch the other cockies fly over head, as he hadn’t flown for so long he would flap his wings to fly but was to frightened to let go of the branch, one day I was watching him and he slipped, the next minute he was flying and flew around the house for a full day before coming down for a rest. That is like all of us , we know we can do it but are too timid to let go of the branch for fear the of falling.

  27. My worst failure was at 19 years old. I started working for a supplement company in CT, selling products to bodybuilders. I did very well made tons of money but didn’t do much research about the products. It ended up we were selling ephedra and after 7 months the FDA raided our office. I didn’t get in trouble but it taught me a lot about credibility and doing my research before getting caught up in the “Big Money”
    http://www.BriansBrainStorm.com

  30. Hello, my failure “is” about my site. Initially, i had the site wing-chun.ws and it wasn’t so good, so i wasn’t earning money from Google Adsense, then i discovered the “magic” Adsense Code from Joel and my money increased.
    That’s all.

  32. One of my biggest failures, relatively speaking, is a sports blog I’ve created with over 300 pages of content but very low revenue in comparison to the time and effort I put into it.
    One of my favorite quotes has failure as a theme:
    “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

  33. I can’t even start how many failures I have had since I started into internet marketing. But I have always learnt something new and I have that feeling, only if I knew it earlier. Oh well … we can never learn if we don’t make mistakes.
    Another nice post Joel!

  34. It seems like everything I’ve tried uptil now has the SADIM {reveverse the letters} touch about it; and has turned into a septic bag of festering c**p. There have definitely been times when I’ve felt like chucking it all in, but something inside tells me to keep going. Sometimes, even I think I’m crazy for putting myself through all of this torture; but when I read the posts of others who have made the breakthrough it just makes me more determined to succeed.
    Thanks for the post Joel.

  35. Hi Joel, another nice post, the reminder about learning from online failures is very helpful. Winning in business is something I hope to continue reading, you see I just want to help. I just hope someone notices this too. I not sure how I or this can help, I just hope it does. I know failure can be turned around and anything I think is good even when it makes no profit or gets no hits its ok, my time is hmm very flexible. Thanks for the typewriter link too.

  36. hahaha whassup joel,
    You should add the new facbook plugins to that site or better yet make it an free app with ads!
    failures:
    Groupon clone site. spent lots of $$$$ and never got it off the ground. hope to use it in the future for a different purpose.
    Buying lots of domain name and never using them! I could go on….

  37. The only time we ever truly fail, is when we give up. In this line of work, the competition remains small because most give up after seeing little immediate results. I was failing miserably at adsense till I listened to your book Joel and then learned from a few others as well now. I am failing less miserably everyday now as I correct all that I was doing wrong.

  38. I’ve made A LOT OF MISTAKES in these 9 years since working online. But growth without getting out there and doing your best is not possible. It’s true, you’re gonna make a lot of mistakes, but these will help you develop more.

  40. I have made many bad choice in my life as many probably have. Those choices have shaped my future. I have learned a lot from them and are on a more meaningful and better course going forward.
    You must learn and grow from your mistakes…
    I got into internet marketing a couple years ago. I worked on my first website for about 11 months. It has turned out to be kind of a flop but I learned a lot. My current site http://www.premier-kitchen-design.com is something that is much better and I look forward to building it into the future!

  41. It’s always hard to know what you are doing wrong. Sometimes it is being afraid to be wrong that stops us seeing what is glaringly wrong with are actions and others can see it very easily. I’ve been like that two years now (ping!!!!) and I finally see I am going nowhere with it. A passion is one thing…. a bloody shambolicks is another!!!
    Anthony

  42. Yes, 101% agree to the post. Even if only in the title, I agree on it. It’s not right that you will make failure as your reason to give up. When you are failed of something don’t make it as a reason to give up, thus, make it as the reason to pursue. Use it as you inspiration and make thing different, and don’t the mistake twice. Post is good, I like it.
    Twitter Marketing

  43. My two manager failures, first my marriage for not paying attention to the warning signs but I have learned what is important and what is not worth getting bent out of source. What kind of woman I am and what I will deal with and I will not allow anyone to take the place of my Lord and Saviour Jesus. Second one was my business, I am a seamstress at heart and will have another business but handle totally different. Maybe one or two other people and they will be working for me, not doing their own thing, then up and leave me when it gets hard or after the contract has ended.

  44. Failing occurs when you do not try. A person that fails after he or she has given their all doesn’t mean they are not to be sucessful, only just a start. Because you can start over. It may take more time for you to complete something than it would for someone else. You can’t succeed to the next level if you have made up your mind that you are a failure. There is always help.

  45. The words are inspiring Joel thank you.
    As someone who has poured a lot of effort into our blog (see above) I can tell you that sometime the hardest thing is to admit failure.
    I guess I need to rethink and start over. Joel if you have any “good” ideas – let me know 🙂

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