Post-Business-Failure Ruminations and Resources

In a recent article, we covered the immediate aftermath of dealing with a failed business. Now let’s look at the phase after the initial shock has ended.

At this juncture, there is usually one main decision, cus bills waitin’ to be paid and money waitin’ to be made; do you go the entrepreneurship route again or do you (re-)join the workforce as an employee?

If you’re looking to strap up and continue in the entrepreneurship race, here are some things you should think about: 

Why did you get into entrepreneurship in the first place? – Was it a burning desire for the associated blend of trials, tribulations and, hopefully, rewards and success? Or maybe you could take it or leave it? If you don’t still connect with a burning passion for this lifestyle that’s okay, it doesn’t need to spell the end of your entrepreneur days – you can still freelance or run a part-time small business while getting back into full-time employment.

Why did you get into the last business specifically?  This is specific to the business that failed; were you attached to the idea/industry? If so then there’s no reason you can’t try again. Maybe you need to look at the problem you were trying to solve from a different angle or analyse your learnings to reformat your model and try again. Remember, most successful businesses stand at the top of a heap of failures.

If you want to exit the last industry you were in, our article on how to get into different businesses might be able to help.

Why did the last business fail? – Understanding failure is crucial. That’s how you take your failing and make it fortunate. I’ve written about useful categories to analyse and help you make sense of this in the article linked above, so that’s a great place to start.

Read & Do Your Research – Trust that you’re far from the only person to have gone through this. There are tonnes of books and articles available to help you through this period and into your next phase.

Some useful resources include:
Articles:
How to Recover From Your First Failed Business

How to Move on When Your Business Idea Fails

6 Tips for Accepting Failure and Moving On 

Books:
Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success – John C. Maxwell

The Successful Mistake: How 163 of The World’s Greatest Entrepreneurs Transform Failure Into Success –Matthew Turner

WTF?! (Willing to Fail): How Failure Can Be Your Key to Success – Brian Scudamore