As we start closing out the year, winding down and reflecting, I’ve been thinking a lot about entrepreneurship and resilience.
Because to reach any level of success in starting a fashion business, resilience is virtually a requirement.
There’s no way around it.
And in thinking about this over and over again (even when it comes to parenting my three year old), here’s where I’ve realized we may have gone wrong:
For most of us, the first 18 years of our lives were spent developing an aversion to failing.
We were taught that failure is bad and to avoid any form of the pain that comes with it — get the grades, excel at the sport, earn the lead role in the play.
How many of us were told we weren’t “musically gifted” because we didn’t immediately pick up the recorder at the age of eight?
How many of us were told, “Oh, your sister is the sporty one. You’re more of the artistic type.”
When, in reality, we would have benefited from struggling to learn how to play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” or trying out for the soccer team and experiencing the disappointment of getting cut.
How would those failures along the way prepare us for success down the road?
Because what we all eventually realize is this:
To reach the levels of success that we strive for as adults — starting the business, launching the brand, scaling the company — it not only requires us to be comfortable with struggle but also, failure.
To achieve anything great, you must at least be willing to fail.
That’s resilience in entrepreneurship.
That’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the dabblers.
So as we plan ahead to 2022, and begin to set intentions or write down our goals, it would benefit all of us (current and future business owners, alike) to incorporate exercises of resilience into our day to day.
Because, yes, it’s a skill that can be practiced.
And it’s a reprogramming that is absolutely necessary to our mental well being, our longevity as business owners and our future successes.
P.S. Don’t forget, I’m interviewing Factory45 alum Catherine Huss on Friday at 2pm ET / 11am PT. She’s going to share the highs and lows of launching her sustainable swimwear brand through pre-sales on Kickstarter. Click here to join us.
