How Failure Can Help You to Succeed as an Entrepreneur!

May 27, 2023

Photo of a woman sitting on the floor reading her bible, with text in a green box above reading how failure can help you to succeed as an entrepreneur.

Recently, someone asked me a really interesting question in my community. She asked me how failure can help you to succeed. We spend so much time thinking about failure as a negative thing in our lives and businesses, but actually, it’s the opposite! It’s one of the things that’s helped me be so successful and grow a multi-six-figure business.

So in this blog, I’m sharing my answer to this question and a few more to encourage you to keep going and embrace the hurdles in your business journey!

Learn How Failure Can Help You to Succeed. How I’ve Grown as an Entrepreneur!

I get asked a lot of questions about my business journey. And after over a decade as an entrepreneur, I’ve learned a lot! Some of the biggest lessons and best growth have come from moments where I failed. So when I took some questions from my community recently, it’s no surprise they wanted to know how failure can help you to succeed. So let’s dig into my answer to this question, plus a few other fun ones!

What Would You Say to Your Younger (8-10 Year Old) Self?

There will be a long period of your life where what other people say to you will feel devastating. Their words will feel like the truth and you will feel that you are not good enough. These words will keep you afraid. You will wonder what type of person you are. You may think you have failed.
All of those things are lies because what other people say about you and to you that is damaging is coming from inside of them. They are hurt and they are scared. So be brave little girl, and keep your head up. You are amazing, worthy, and God has got this.

White background with gold sparkles, and text reading you are amazing, worthy, and God has got this.

How Do You Make Your Mental Health a Priority?

Mental health is so different for so many people. You have to find what works for you. For me, there are different phases of my life where I’ve needed different things in the area of mental health, self-care, etc. For a while, it was actual therapy and getting through things that happened throughout childhood.

Then, for some time, it was stepping away from work. I went through a breakdown in 2016. After going through the therapy work, I worked on forgiveness, writing letters, having hard conversations and doing self-work, and letting go of business for a while.

Now I’m in a better place where things are operational and groovy for me, it looks different. You have to ask yourself, where do I sit today and what do I need to get my mental health back on track? And once it’s on track, what do I need to do to fuel it? A big part of it is knowing that my failures in business are not a reflection of me as a person. They are just opportunities for growth. I needed to get comfortable with knowing how failure can help you to succeed.

So today, prioritizing my mental health looks like an hour in the morning, prayer time With God, She Rises journal, and scripture. It’s also an hour at the gym, just me, no kids, doing what I love to do. It’s getting a massage as often as humanly possible so that I can break free and just be.

And I turn off social media, every single weekend. This is a hard-core non-negotiable for me. Those things are what keeps me in that optimal kind of mental state. Also, know when it’s time for more help, like a coach or mentor in whichever area when you’re really in that dark space and you can’t seem to crawl through yourself.

Along with prayer and the spiritual side, sometimes we just have to raise our hand and say, I’m kind of in that spot and it’s okay. And you have permission to get help, whatever that might look like for you.

I’ve had some epic failures. I’ve had zero-dollar launches, group coaching that flopped, courses that flopped, and I’ve done completely the wrong business model. I started a blog about how to decorate your home, like, who am I? I’ve done so much crap in my life that made zero sense. And some of it was right. And some of it was just not, and a lot of it was a failure.

But if I didn’t have all of that stuff, I wouldn’t have learned through it. Pinterest would be impossible and I wouldn’t know how to run a blog. I wouldn’t know copy or how to do a course, how to launch a podcast, or how to attract the right woman. In the early days, I sold in a way that was super spammy and weird, and I got unfriended. I lost friendships over it, but if I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t understand the woman who’s still doing it.

So I think what all of those failures do for you is they give you the gift of empathy towards your future customer, client, student, etc. They give you the stories to resonate with her. They give you the testimony to go and create an impact in the world. This is exactly how failure can help you to succeed in your business.

And so if you look back, even wherever you sit today, however old you are, whatever you’ve been through, look back at all the times you thought you had a failure. Pull from that the top three things that it did for you that were actually a blessing in disguise. And you’re gonna see a recurring trend.

Beige background with gold sparkles, and text inside a white box reading what all of those failures do for you is they give you the gift of empathy toward your future customer.

Was It Really Scary Stepping Out Into the Podcasting World and Letting Your Community or Your Friends Know About It?

No, not at all. I just do stuff before I think through it. I’m like I am just gonna do it. It wasn’t scary to launch the show because I was already talking about that stuff. What was scary was to drop the veils and talk about personal things like getting my breast implants removed, that was flipping terrifying. Anything that was outside of business for me. That was terrifying. But I know how failure can help you to succeed, so when I started the show, I decided they were getting all of it.

If I’m the brand, I’m talking to my listener as if she’s literally my best friend on the other side of the table drinking coffee with me. I would tell my friends this deep dark stuff. I would tell them when I failed. and I would tell them the truth about my business. So I’m gonna talk to my Lolas just the same way. And when I decided that, that’s when anxiety crept in because I was doubtful if I should. It was uncomfortable. Anytime you have to be really vulnerable about something that you think will bring judgment, it makes you squirm and it makes you afraid.

But the cool thing is when you push through those anxieties, whatever that is: launching a podcast, launching a blog, doing a course, taking the first client, going on Instagram stories for the first time. Everybody’s at a different place in their fear. What you may be scared of others aren’t and what others may find scary, you’re fine with.

Anytime you push through fear and you just do it anyway, regardless of the anxiety that you have on behind it, you will grow and the next time will be easier. And then the next time will be easier. And before you know, it, you’re almost addicted to pushing yourself. I ask myself what’s the next thing I’m afraid of because right now I’m comfy. But God didn’t call me to be comfy, He asked me to be fearless and died just so I could pave the way for other people that are sitting in a more fearful space than me.

Seeing the impact you make is huge. You get to see the change that you’re creating. Imagine if you just sat there afraid. this would never have happened. You wouldn’t have ever helped that person.

White background with a green strip and blue quotation marks, with a quote from Stefanie Gass saying God didn't call me to be comfy, he asked me to be fearless.

Embrace the Failures as Part of Your Journey to Being Successful

So, I hope you loved the questions asked and that you took away some value to help you in your own life and business. You’ve seen from my answers how failure can help you to succeed in business. They help you achieve breakthroughs and give you empathy toward your audience. Embrace the hard parts of your journey and know that you are still valuable, worthy, and loved.

Sending you off with love and light.

I pray this blesses you!

Xo,

Stef

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