Failure; even the word sounds bad. Its something that people fear the most and yet only it offers us the best lessons in business, life, and within ourselves. I’d like to say at the outset that I hate failure. Failure is hard and it asks the best of us as people and as humans. Failure is never easy but if you can utilize the pain and heartache not only as fuel for future endeavours but as great lessons then you will have mastered the fine art of Failure.

Failure is something that has been almost ever-present in my life. When I was 16 years old I started writing as a side job. I wrote resumes, press releases, and simple articles. I helped  a variety of clients and I eventually built up more and more services until I was offering content, SEO, marketing, and strategy. Then the recession hit and I lost $55,000 in unpaid invoices for work performed. My freelance business that had been my bread and butter in college was failing me at 21. Only at this time I had a girlfriend, a house that I was renting, and all the usual expenses. I was also in graduate school and that wasn’t helping the expenses. By 2011 after struggling along, I quit freelancing. So what did I do after that? I hit the streets, I pounded the pavement. I did what I could to keep going and to find the next thing that was to be my project.

For those facing failure

Now is the time to be Brave and to begin to accept the consequences as well as the joys of what is about to happen. There is unexpected and instant failure and there is the failure that you know is coming but sadly cannot stop. My last media company was a planned failure. I got up one day and decided that it could not go on. I wrote everyone involved in the project and that was that. The next day I still got up and I still went on. I knew that if our products weren’t a hit that that day might very well come and it did. Am I better now? I think so but its hard to tell empirically.

The point is that I knew it came I could steel my nerves and then make the hard decision. It is in those first days that it is important not to unpack what happened. The shock is too fresh. You need perspective and that only comes with time. Take the first 2-3 weeks. Relax, take some time for yourself and for family and then once the initial shock has worn off begin to analyze what went right and then what went wrong. This is where a mentor or a confidant can be helpful.

For Those Who Are Trying To Find What To Do Next

As in many things in life, what happens after the failure is more important than the failure itself. Getting back up and back on the horse is as important as anything. However, that doesn’t mean you should continue riding poorly. Now is the time to reassess and get real with yourself. For some its obvious, for others it requires a time of introspection to figure out that introspective question, “What is it about me?”

After failure you should:

• Contemplate what you did right
• Contemplate what you did wrong
• Take and Assign responsibility
• Plot your next move

The last point in the list is the most important because not only do you not want to wallow in the failure but your next thing could be your silver bullet to success. Finding a way to turn your failure and your situation into tremendous success is one of the best uses of failure. Your next thing may involve a similar industry or it may involve something completely different. Consider all options. Failure may be a time to take on the creative project you’ve been putting off or getting involved in a pet start-up that you just didn’t have the time to be involved in before.