Over the years, after talking with tens of thousands of entrepreneurs, artists and creatives, almost every success story we’ve heard has been filled with stories of failure. Unfortunately, in our view the media rarely covers these parts of the story – instead we often read summaries that make it seem like success happened “overnight.” However, what we’ve learned in our conversations with so many successful folks is that failure is core ingredient in the recipe for future success. Below, we’ve shared some fascinating stories of failure from folks who have ultimately found great success.
Devaughn Wilson
About two years into me being a photographer my camera bag was stolen. Now it may seem small but i ended up loosing not only my camera equipment but also my laptop which had the weeding in it that i just shot a day before on cards. I ended up loosing the weeding and things but i learned one specific thing. Always and i mean always have your cards backed up anytime you finish something big job wise. Read more>>
Christina Meyer
As a songwriter and creative, I’ve dealt with a lot of failures. Any time I submit a song to an opportunity; I am opening myself up to possibly failing. There is a slogan in the songwriting community that goes “Submit/Forget/Repeat”. It basically means that you can’t dwell on every song submission. You submit the song and then forget about that submission and move on to writing the next song. I have submitted songs for well-known artist projects, tv shows, movies and song contests and many times they have been rejected. Read more>>
Andrea Bratti
As an electronic music producer, you are always faced with a “no”; at the beginning, before creating AUGUSTKID project, it took many years before I professionalized myself, which in the musical field means achieving a satisfying sound and a suitable style to bring to record labels, Read more>>
Rachel Adshead
Failure is a huge part of running a photography business. In my experience of over 5 years of running a business solo, I’d say the majority of it is failing. The last two summer season I’ve gone through an absolute hell that most of my friends and family knew nothing about. I had someone sabotaging my business and I was receiving zero bookings for my photoshoots. I was having panic attacks due to financial stress, dealing with being watched and sabotaged, and all around struggling. Anyone else would have thrown in the towel, given up, picked a different career path. I kept going despite it all, kept showing up to the gym, kept showing up to the steadfast and amazing repeat clients I do have, and kept trying to keep a good spirit and outlook on like despite what was happening. Read more>>
Nancy Easton
I love this question because I have an interesting relationship to failure. On one hand, I seriously never think that I will fail. I remember being asked once on a panel to share what failure looked like and it was the only time in my life that I had been stumped! I had no idea what to say. Read more>>