Rebuild Those Plans

For years Byron and I worked for large corporations. While we loved our jobs we always had the dream of starting our own business. We put in long hours and gave the corporations we worked for all we had. And, we saw success as a result of that. But, there was always that feeling of imagining what it would be like if we own our own company.

Finally after years of looking at different businesses, Byron and I started our first business full of enthusiasm and energy. The business was a seminar business with a focus on self-development. We loved the concept of helping others be more and achieve more. The business fit our backgrounds and we truly loved it.

We put everything into the business – we had ideas, we had energy, we had enthusiasm. We ran into stumbling blocks, but we found ways around it, we had so much determination and passion. Finally our dream was coming true.

An Opportunity
The opportunity to run our own business, a business that helps others achieve their goals was what we once only dreamed of doing. Now that dream was a reality.

We invested heavily, both financially, our time, and energy. After a few months it become obvious we could not compete with the large seminar companies and we had to close the business. We were able to face the challenges that occurred but we did not have the budget that the larger seminar companies had. It was a hard decision to make. At the time it was very disappointing, especially since we both loved the business. We realized while we were able to overcome a lot of challenges we could not overcome the budget it would require to advertise.

Discouraged
It was discouraging, but we learned a lot from that business. Yes, we lost money, but the money we lost could not compare to the experience we gained. It made us realize our plan, as good as it was, was not complete. Sometimes the best of plans, the best of intentions still fail. And, you can let that failure keep you down or you can take the failure and move forward.

I should mention that we don’t look at that business as a true failure. You see, those seminars that we did, did change peoples’ lives. We had people we came back to us and thank us. Because of that seminar it had changed their life. So when you have had an opportunity to help people is it truly a failure? We don’t think so.

Where we failed was in the financial end, we could not keep the business going to generate an income that would support our family. We were not looking to become millionaires, but we did need an income. Yes, we were discouraged as we truly wanted to run our own business. But from the failure of that business we also saw opportunities. We moved forward with revised plans to achieve our goals. Today we are well on our way to achieving our goals. We did not let the failure of one business defeat us!

We had a few family members question why we would risk our money and our time again when we already started a business and failed at it. We explained to them that many people who are successful first fail, but they don’t let failure stop them. They move on with new knowledge and a better understanding.

Now we had some experience. What we learned was invaluable. And, we still had our energy and passion. We still knew what our end goal was – to run our own business, a business that would generate an income to support our family and a business that would help people realize their full potential. We went back to the drawing board, and started again. You see, our goals gave us direction; they gave us a road map.

Successful People Fail
If you read the biographies of successful people you will find that this happens many times. Their first business failed and sometimes their second business also failed, but they had a dream, they never gave up.

So often, when a goal is not realized people have a tendency to never try again. They let one failure stop them. Rather than taking the lessons learned, they let the fear of failure stop them. And, sadly, what happens is they end up staying stuck; they continue to work at jobs they hate; they see no hope and their life becomes one of misery. Well, life is too short in our opinion, to let one failure stop us. If you change the word “failure” to “learn” you whole attitude changes. You “learn”, you pick yourself up, dust off your pride, and let your passion motivate you.

To Summarize
Og Mandino’s quote below truly summarizes our experiences:
“There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.”

An Update To Our Story 2016
Finally, in 2004 we left our corporate jobs. We started another business, and we were doing very well, we were earning more money than we needed. We were now self-employed. Then, in November 2011, the business failed. Without going into the details, it was out of our control, lets just say regulations changed which resulted in our business no longer being successful. Overnight, our income dropped by 90%, what a shock. It woke us up. It was like losing our job. It was hard, to say the least.

So we started again, we were not going to let it stop us. We were not willing to go back to work for someone else. We loved being self employed. We reset our goals, we worked hard and we did it. Was it easy, no! Did we again learn from the failure of our second business, yes! I am happy to say that we have retired from that business now. It was a success.

So we are retired, does that mean we no longer work. No! We now have another business, one that focuses on helping people. And here we are with lessons learned from our failures, moving forward with our goals.

So, don’t be discouraged. Learn, keep your passion for your end goal. Pray and always do the right thing. You will find success!

Inspirational Quotes for Reflection:
“As long as we live, we will always be vulnerable to making mistakes; even people who you look up to also make mistakes. But what differentiates people that make it on top to those who are stuck at the bottom is how they bounce back up even after these failures.” Jennifer N. Smith

“Any unforeseen challenges that crop up are only there to test your resolve on your way to ultimate success in reaching your goal.” Byron Pulsifer

“Take a hard look at your failures and any incident where you didn’t achieve your personal goals. This will help you to figure out a realistic measure of your ability as well as a chance to focus on skills, strengths or other qualities you need to work on.” Scott Hinsborough

“If you study any consistently successful person you will find out that they have failed more than most people could imagine. These successful people do not look at failure as the end but only a step closer to their goal.” Milton Stewart

“To learn from failure, you have to accept that you have failed, not feel sad about failing, and then use failure as feedback on how to improvise your actions, behavior or thinking to get the desired happiness in the next attempt.” Swaati Shiv

“Think and feel yourself there! To achieve any aim in life, you need to project the end-results. Think of the elation, the satisfaction, the joy! Carrying the ecstatic feeling will bring the desired goal into view.” Grace Spear

“I cannot stress the importance of having clear goals in life. Goals give you direction.” Sean Lysaght

“So intentions and goals are reciprocal, relying on each other. We set our intentions based on what matters most to us, our inner core and values, thereby deriving goals to align our actions with our deepest desires.”Elles Lohuis