How to deal with failure as you jump from Corporate to Entrepreneurship

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of EDEL Technology Consulting Ethel Cofie said: “statistics show that in Africa 90 percent of businesses die out in the first 5 years.”

Cofie asserted that everybody fails including her and other top-notch entrepreneurs.

Here are steps to help you handle failure as you move from the corporate world to entrepreneurship.

• Don’t take failure personally

People will be thinking of why they should not take failure personally but Cofie said that “just because you have failed at something does not make you a failure.”

• Take stock: learn and adapt

Ask yourself “why did I fail?”

Using her personal failure experience Cofie said her first job failed because she did not know how to sell. She, therefore, decided to pick up jobs that will teach her to sell.

She urged that when you fail and realise the cause, take a decision to learn from your weaknesses and learn to be a better person.

• Don't spend time dwelling on it

Cofie, in this case, gave another example here. After she started her second business (EDEL Technology Consulting), she employed someone who later became her best worker and was handling her biggest client.

Then after 2 years, the best worker decided to leave and he had also convinced her biggest client then to go with him. She had lost two things at a time.

“In that period sometimes I will sleep and wake up in a sweat thinking how am I going to pay salaries etc.”

She said you have to deal with the problem rather than dwell on it for a long time. “Do not dwell on the failure. Quickly take a step back and then find a path out of the situation,” Cofie said.

• Release yourself from people's approval

Do not always think of what people will say about you. Cofie said people will talk no matter what “there are people that will judge you, there are people that will see your failure and talk about it and make you feel bad about it.”

“But you do not need anybody’s approval,” she added.

If it is your dream keep trying as many ideas in various ways as possible until one works for you.

• Reframe your thinking

Instead of thinking entrepreneurship is not your thing after you fail, keep working at it, you will succeed.

Cofie said that when a child begins to walk and falls it does not mean he/she is not a walker.

“If I fail I am one step closer to succeeding. I am smarter because of the knowledge I have gained through this experience,” Cofie said.

When you fail, see it as a learning curve to be better when you try again.

How to deal with failure as you jump from Corporate to Entrepreneurship

Failure is one thing most would-be entrepreneurs are afraid of, especially when they have to move from corporate world to entrepreneurship.

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