How Can You Turn Failures into Opportunities

The most prolific and successful entrepreneurs of our time embrace the idea of failures as successful stepping stones. Thomas Edison once said, about how long it took to invent the light bulb, "I have not failed 10,000 times - I've successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work." If you've only failed a handful of times, you have a ways to go before being likened to Edison.

Failures are rarely celebrated joyously, and instead create anxiety and frustrations that ultimately lead to the end of your dreams. But it's entirely possible to turn every failure into a success story that shapes the ultimate outcome of your business. Here's how.

1. Turn Dissatisfied Customers into Advocates

Skimping on service and ignoring dissatisfied customers can roast your business before it takes off. When keenly engaged disgruntled customers can actually turn your business from a failure into a success. Ask unhappy customers to get involved and invite them to join a product improvement program or test a new product you want to roll out. Tell them their opinions and feedback are invaluable and integral to the success of the company. Customers who are involved in and engaged with your company are more likely to turn into brand advocates and sing your praises.

2. Seize the Opportunity to Pivot

Peter Munga is the founder of Equity Bank Kenya’s largest commercial bank in Kenya. Munga’s early life was marred with poverty and so he grew in a struggling family, a situation most of us are familiar with.

His father, a small-scale trader, was jailed in 1952 when Munga was still in lower primary, and after the colonial government declared a state of emergency. This forced him to join his mother, Beth Nyambura, in her small business to provide and fend for the family.

He spent the emergency period moving from place to place with his mother in search of a better life, after his father, Ben Kahara, was detained by the colonial government. Today, Munga owns less than 0.5% of the publicly-traded bank, but he owes the bulk of his fortune to his 26% stake in Britam Holding, a listed financial services giant. His shares in Britam are valued at more than $50 million.....do the math....... He is also a major shareholder of Equatorial Nuts, one of the leading macadamia processing companies in East Africa. The slightest opportunity when well utilized can lead to magical wealth creation machine.

3. Grow Your Confidence

Confidence doesn't just happen from officially opening your doors for business. It's something you acquire by nurturing it and confronting those things that typically hold you back. Know that failures will happen no matter your business idea. The point isn't to avoid them altogether but to keep putting the momentum behind those failures to overcome them. Being able to persevere and pull yourself up by your bootstraps is what ultimately grows lasting confidence.

4. Spin a Positive Outcome

There's always a positive story somewhere within your failure. Steve Jobs was ousted from Apple by the very CEO he hired. Jobs could have quietly retired or worked on a revenge scheme. Instead, Jobs grew Pixar into a multi-billion dollar company and changed the face of movie animation forever.

If your business is failing, or already in the trench, pull out the pieces that were working and patiently rebuild learning from the very failure. Turn failure on its head and reframe the outcome it has on your life.

5. Teach Others

I can't think of a better teacher than one who tried, failed, tried again, and ultimately succeeded. Turn the invaluable knowledge gained from your best and worst experiences into an opportunity to consult other entrepreneurs, or develop mentorship skills highlighting your expertise.

For example, embraced all stumbling blocks, failures, and challenges to help others grow their business.

6. Focus Only On What Matters

As an entrepreneur put all your efforts on aspects and processes “things” that would guarantee you expected result. For you to achieve this I would strongly advice that application of this two rules would be great;

a) Stephen R. Covey 7 habits of highly effective people rule no 4 that states that Put first things first. To prioritize your work, focus on what’s important, meaning the things that bring you closer to your vision of the future. Don’t get distracted by urgent but unimportant tasks

b) Pareto principle (also known as the 80/20 rule, the law of the vital few, or the principle of factor sparsity) that states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

Example J.K. Rowling was a depressed single mother who never thought she would amount to much. She finally decided she didn't need to hide from who she was and the situation she currently faced, and used her rock-bottom life failures to release herself. She decided to focus on what really mattered to her, embraced her imagination, and created the now-billion dollar Harry Potter franchise.

Failure can release you from the bonds of busy work and keeping up with the entrepreneurial Joneses. Start over and focus on what truly matters in your next venture, whether that's developing a rock-solid product and social media following, or focusing on listening to your customers instead of critics.

7. Crush Bad Behavior

Feeling overwhelmed and burned out can lead to procrastination and burying yourself in nonessential busy work. Or, you may find yourself avoiding colleagues and investors instead of staying transparent and handling the fallout and criticism of why your business isn't performing better.

Take some time to examine and reflect on some of your bad behavior to help shape your future successes. Face your worst self, acknowledge negative behavior patterns, and use it as an opportunity to crush it forever.

8. Practice Failing

Show me a successful entrepreneur who has never failed not once, but multiple times. Whether its investing all their savings and losing it all before the business even takes off, having extremely harsh competitors who can do anything to keep someone else off their monopolized market or even business partners walking out on you and the list is endless. But hold on that thought since when you think of success, think Tabitha Karanja. The Founder of Keroche Breweries has had to encounter so many challenges that could have completely set her back. Being a woman in a male dominated industry and getting into a business that was already monopolized, her resilience pushed through to make her one of the top entrepreneurs in Africa. Some of the major challenges she faced were a smear campaign against her drinks that claimed her drinks were unhealthy for consumption. She also had to fight a court battle on tax where she was asked to pay Kshs. 1.2 Billion in 14 days but she fought the case and won. At some point, Keroche Breweries billboards were pulled down upon charges of unethical trade practice; and these are just a few obstacles she faced. In an interview with Capital FM, she was quoted saying ... “The way my challenges came you could never try to think of giving up because if I ever gave up, it meant that I could have hurt a generation, especially my children and anyone trying to come up in business. Then people would have later said… you remember that woman who started a beer business and closed down?

Lesson from Tabitha is never be get caught up in the perfection trap. Launch your product or service boldly and get ready to fail, at least partly. Nothing will go as seamlessly as you want it to regardless of how prepared you are. Use those failures as information and lessons to make your business bigger and better than before.

9. Learn to Leverage Quick Wins

Everyone needs quick wins to help push through mental blocks and failures. Instead of strictly focusing on the "failure" of not meeting your revenue goal, strategize how to diversify your income streams to fill the gap. Take a look at smaller wins that lead to big-picture goals and leverage on low hanging fruits to tame your quench for more fruits.

10. Reimagine What's Possible

Failure isn't the stopping point in your business journey. It's just a crossroads. Take the opportunity to re imagine what you want and what's possible for your life. It's likely you've outgrown your current business model, are dissatisfied with the work-life balance it created, or have new interests. Instead of wallowing in the failure in front of you, seize it and reimagine your life for the better.

How have you turned your own failures into successes? Let me know by leaving a comment below: