• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Submissions
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Jun 6, 2023
  • Startup
    • Creating a Plan
    • Funding a Startup
    • Franchise Center
    • Getting Your Office Ready
    • Making Your Business Official
    • Marketing Your New Business
    • Personal Readiness
  • Run & Grow
    • Customer Service
    • Human Resources
    • Innovation
    • Legal
    • Operations
    • Risk Management
  • Leadership
    • Best Practices
    • Communication
    • Green Initiatives
    • Open Culture
    • Strategic Planning
    • People Skills
  • Sales & Marketing
    • Advertising and Lead Generation
    • Marketing Innovations
    • Marketing Plans
    • Online Marketing
    • Relationships
    • Sales Activities
  • Finance
    • Budgeting and Personal Finance
    • Payments and Collections
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Pricing Strategy
    • Working with Investors
    • Working with Lenders
  • Tech
    • eCommerce
    • Hardware
    • Software
    • Security
    • Tech Reviews
    • Telecom
  • Shop

SmallBizClub

Helping You Succeed

taxbandits banner
Home / Business Coach / 2nd Time’s a Charm: Trying Again is the Winning Strategy
2nd Time’s a Charm: Trying Again is the Winning Strategy

2nd Time’s a Charm: Trying Again is the Winning Strategy

2652 Views

Dec 2, 2020 By Karen Condor

There is no shame in trying and failing. Life is like baseball. It is mostly failure with a few notable successes. Think about it: A baseball player batting 300 is considered wildly successful. That player fails to get a hit 70% of the time. Most sales jobs have a worse average. You are lucky to get 1 sale in 10 attempts.

If you have only attempted one business, you haven’t even gotten started. Going one and done is to not try. Further, your ambitions are probably too small. You shouldn’t be trying to start one business, but the first of many. It shouldn’t matter if your first business succeeds. You should always have a bunch of failures over time because you are always creating, always working on the next one, always swinging for the fences. Play the business game just right and failure is not an option. It is a certainty.

The thing to keep in mind is that failure is baked into the process of success. You can do everything perfectly and still have your business fail. You should not be despondent when things go wrong. It is like losing the first three quarters of a football game but winning in the end. Make your adjustments and keep playing the game. Here are some of the adjustments you should make if your first try wasn’t all you had hoped:

Take Care of Personal Debt First

A lot of people jump into starting a business as a way of solving their personal debt issues. Some do it in spite of personal debt issues, convinced that one has nothing to do with the other. What you need to know is that personal debt will act as a boat anchor that keeps your business from setting sail.

Your business will not be entirely firewalled from your personal finances. So make sure you have a platinum debit card so you can have all the perks and protections of a major credit card regardless of whether you are using the personal or business account. Be sure to set up a savings account while you’re at it so that there is a little safety net available in case things don’t go as well, as quickly as you had hoped.

Establishing the security of your personal finances ensures that a business failure does not cause your entire micro-economy to collapse. Don’t bet your home on an untested venture. Look into becoming an LLC. And make sure no one failure means the end of your business journey.

Consider the Long-Term Effects of Current Trends

The coronavirus is a trend that is here today, and will be gone… someday. The point is that it will not be here forever. But it will have some lasting effects. You have to think about ways to help your business thrive during Covid. But that is not enough. You also have to think about ways the virus will change things in the long term. Bake those possibilities into your business plan. Some of those long term implications are as follows:

  • People will be spending more time at home and less time on the go.
  • People will be doing more communications over a smartphone or computer via the camera.
  • People will be looking for more delivery options from the places they do business.

With a little research, you can forecast like the pros. Shine up your crystal ball and look ahead. Don’t just prepare for the realities of the moment.

Think Bigger but Start Smaller

If you wanted to quit after your first failure, you were probably not thinking big enough. You have to have a vision big enough to survive a few bumps in the road. That said, you have to take a smaller bite of the elephant. Don’t try to launch three locations before you have the first one functioning well. Don’t try to serve 50 menu items. Get really good at 10. Don’t launch with a TV marketing campaign. Try local SEO.

Initial failure in business is the norm. Make your second attempt more successful by shoring up your personal finances, considering long term trends, and taking smaller more measured steps toward your grand vision.

Filed Under: Business Coach, Covid-19 Tagged With: COVID-19, Credit Cards, Debt, Failure

Karen Condor

Karen Condor

Karen Condor writes and researches for the life insurance comparison site, QuickQuote.com.

Related Posts

  • 4 Benefits of Increasing Your Credit Limit
  • How Virtual Credit Cards Can Protect Your Business Against Fraud
  • the-real-costs-of-accepting-credit-cards5 Ways for Your Small Biz to Easily Accept Credit Cards

Primary Sidebar

From the Editor’s Desk…

What We’re Reading

Leading With Gratitude, by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton
Research shows that grateful bosses have happier more productive workiers and they fare better themselves. Here’s how to do gratitude right

Working From Home: Making the New Normal Work For You, by Karen Mangia
Look good on Zoom; When to accept meetings; How to pass on new workloads, and other helpful tips.

Blue Collar Cash: Love Your Work, Secure Your Future, by Ken Rusk
Guidance to those who want to skip the student loans and 4 years and pursue blue-collar careers that lead to success, from someone who did it.

Making Conversation, by Fred Dust
When work meetings become joyless time suckers, here’s advice for conversations designed to move things forward with clarity and context.

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
Subscribe to our Mailing List

Run & Grow

Guide: How to improve the recruitment process with ChatGPT

Jun 5, 2023 By SmallBizClub

15 Reasons No One Cares About Your Small Business Right Now

May 31, 2023 By Jeremy Bowler

4 Things to Keep In Mind When Choosing Your Next Vehicle

May 30, 2023 By Becky Wilson

The Power of Collaboration: Why It’s Essential for Small Businesses

May 25, 2023 By SmallBizClub

taxbandits banner

Footer

About Us

Small Biz Club is the premier destination for small business owners and entrepreneurs. To succeed in business, you have to constantly learn about new things, evaluate what you’re doing, and look for ways to improve—that’s what we’re here to help you do.

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2023 by Tarkenton Institute, Inc. All Rights Reserved | Terms | Privacy