I love a fun and informative Google Hangout. I'm currently on a super long roadtrip but thanks to technology I was able to watch a Google Hangout moderated by Tradesy CEO Tracey Di Nunzio featuring supermodel turned business woman Tyra Branks and the incomparable Sir Richard Branson. The hour long chat focused on the notion that a true entrepreneur cannot go through their career without failure.
Here are 3 quick things I learned from their discussion.
1. What are the most common mistakes that entrepreneurs make?
1) Not being customer centric
Tyra spoke about how some entrepreneurs focus on a product or service they love instead of focusing on the benefit to the consumer.
2) How can I make a lot of money?
Mr. Branson says instead of creating a company that will make people's lives better people entrepreneurs tend to focus on getting rich quickly. That can't be your motivation.
3) Find mentors to help through difficult times.
Mentorship is key. In addition to surrounding yourself with a great group of people who will celebrate the good times and lift you up through the bad.
2. Tyra's BIG risk
When Tyra was a supermodel with Victoria's Secret she had a lucrative 10 year contract with the lingerie brand. When the time came to renew her contract Tyra opted to walk away from the company. "The risk was walking from modeling and into new moderately successful talk show. I don't think that was the smartest thing" she says. Looking back she thinks should have done a year or two long contract with VC instead of walking away. Being a model has an expiration date of course so her thinking was "you have to walk away before it walks away from you." However it would have been better to have a steady income and a graceful transition into her new career. That's a lesson for all of us, don't quit your job without a solid plan.
Richard Branson on his big risk
"At Virgin we've moved into a lot of different areas. At times we almost put the whole company on the line. One of the big decisions we had to make recently after the spaceship accident was deciding if we should carry on. The whole company pulled together and with almost one voice - decided to continue. People are working day and night to make the next era is stronger."
3. The importance of self funding
The truth is when you're first starting you have to hustle. Tyra knows all too well about that hustle life since she just launched her own self funded company Tyra Beauty. "Being from the entertainment industry I would get asked to give my name and likeliness to certain companies. That was not appealing to me, it's not what I wanted nor is it very fruitful in the end. I decided to risk my own capital and money for something I truly believe in. I didn't want to have a say, I wanted to have the say and in order to have that voice I needed to own that company."
Failure goes hand in hand with being an entrepreneur - you simply cannot avoid it. So how do you know when to try again after failure? I really loved what Richard Branson had to say - "as long as you know what the failure was and how to avoid it...it would be sad not to try again. Learn from what went wrong."
Failure humanizes us. There is no successful person who hasn't fallen flat on his or her face. As you aim to get fatter pockets it's so important to reach back to help others, not burn bridges in life and no matter what - NEVER GIVE UP!
How have you bounced back from failing? What are your tips for turning failure into success?
