time's a tickin' / fail fast
Fail Fast-
It may sound like strange business advice, but I’ve invested a lot of money and years to learn this valuable lesson – so trust me.
If it seems harsh to propose failing fast, imagine the alternative of failing slowly – with the small heart attacks that never end year after year. Dare to fail fast.
Isn’t it true that everything we learn and know in life come from trial and error? From learning to walk, to starting a business, we fail in order to master. Sure, you should read all the “how to” business books and give thought to the business plan, but it will still be like learning how to swim by reading a book. It’s just not enough.
There’s been really fast (Wow Cookies-weekend) and really slow (Pike Place Market cafe-15 years) business failures in my life. My shelf life for ideas is now six months maximum. Whether I’m starting something new, or a project inside a current business, I get in, prototype, get it out there. Is it going to fly or not? The faster I know, the better.
I have no patience for perfectionists. When people tell me they are working on a business idea but waiting for the perfect time, location, or partner, my experience is that they will never launch. I don’t live in that world. You can have a Facebook page, twitter handle, and business card up today. You can design your book cover and put it out for comment before you even write the book. You can prototype a product/service and pretend you are in business before you actually take the real leaps. You can’t know what will happen (and I hope you succeed), but at the very worst your failure will be fast and you can take that idea back to the drawing board or simply pursue the next.
My two highest profit businesses as of today, were at one time certified failures. They later got reinvented, rethought, even “flipped” in an entirely new direction. They were fast failures of great value.
If you want to read more about the above businesses (and how I eventually made them work), check out my new book CRAVING SUCCESS.
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May 10th, 2011 at 1:22 pm
Solid advice today… not many people put this message out there and I think as an entrepreneur, it’s something that should be repeated often so people know its ok to try and move on….
May 10th, 2011 at 11:32 pm
Brilliant! They say if you are in business 5 years that’s a success… so six months is definitely a bigger challenge!
May 11th, 2011 at 2:02 am
Ohhh wow! Thank you… this message really resonated with my procrastination! Deal with it and if it doesn’t work get out!
Thank you!
May 11th, 2011 at 7:53 am
I agree wholeheartedly, M. This is one of the scariest ideas to embrace, but the only way to get out of analysis paralysis. Not all failures have to be colossal and costly. In fact, if you “test market” budding ideas quickly, you’ll quickly know if they are worth pouring more energy into or not. Our audience response is always the litmus test at Astrostyle.
May 11th, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Thanks for being honest. Many people are not honest about the trials of entrepreneurship and many jump in without proper preparation of what happens if it fails. I was one of those perfectionist that you described but with a few years under my belt I learned that waiting around was a waste of time. Thanks again.
May 11th, 2011 at 5:44 pm
The universe works in mysterious ways…or maybe it’s that the universe is always at work. I was absolutely meant to read this today. Thank you.
May 11th, 2011 at 6:49 pm
I agree! It’s just about getting your ideas out there and seeing what happens.
May 13th, 2011 at 1:10 pm
thanks for all your comments. it makes me think…why is this subject not talked about much? do you think when people fail they are afraid to talk about it?….kinda like fear itself stops most people from launching in the first place. hum…