The Biggest Lessons I’ve Learned From Starting A Failed Business

These are the biggest lessons that I’ve learned from starting and ending multiple business ventures.

This post may contain affiliate links to products and services I’ve tried & tested. I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you when you use these services.

As someone who has had an entrepreneurial spirit for most of her life, I’ve started quite a wide variety of businesses. One thing that was constant in the beginning stages of these businesses was that I was incredibly passionate about my idea and I was super excited to get started and get rich doing it. And did that always work out for me? No, not even close.

I’ve seen some success over the past decade while attempting to be self employed and be my own boss, and I’ve also seen a whole lot of failure. I don’t regret jumping into the unknown that ending up flopping though, because with those failed businesses came a ton of learning and a lot of lessons that I can take with me into the future.

Another thing that I can do with those lessons is pass them on to you! Learn from my mistakes, and don’t do the following things:

Don’t spread yourself too thin

It’s very easy for someone with an entrepreneurial mind to have many business ideas brainstormed and constant ideas popping into their head. The problem is that you only have so many resources to put towards these ideas. Time, creativity, and money are all limited resources for us.

I’ve found that when I’m working on several projects and business ideas, none of them are getting my full attention and effort. By spreading myself too thin across so many ideas, none of them will be as successful as they could be because I simply can’t give the business what it needs. Keep yourself sane and focus on your best ideas.

If you’re not passionate about it, don’t do it

Don’t go into business just for the money – you will lose interest quickly and not have the motivation or discipline to stick with it. The journey to success is filled with the creator loving and believing in what they’re creating for their audience. Providing value to your people is what will grow your business, and I don’t think that we can provide true value if we don’t actually like what we’re doing.

Create a budget before you start

Write out where you want your money to go and when you plan on putting it there. If you don’t have a game plan going into it, it’s incredibly easy to get sidetracked and lose focus as you go. Most of us don’t have endless funds to funnel into our business ventures, so creating a budget beforehand will keep you focused on your business path and will also help you spend your money on the most important aspects every step of the way.

Know when to close up shop

Evaluate your business as you go with regular check ins. If time is passing and you aren’t reaching the checkpoints that you want, something has to change. Whether it’s that projected revenue numbers haven’t been reached, all of your ideas have been tried and exhausted, you’ve run out of money in your budget, or any other number of reasons that helps you decide – each one of us will have different limits that we’re comfortable with. I found that by setting deadlines for myself, I was able to take some of the emotion out of it and realize that this specific route just wasn’t the right one, and to chalk it up as the end.

Don’t dwell on it

I know I know, most of the time that is easier said than done. But by dwelling on what could have been but wasn’t, or what you could have done differently, you’re only hurting your present and future self. There’s no time to waste on dwelling, so instead we need to learn from what happened and readjust while moving forward.

There are no failures, only lessons!

Business ideas I’ve had that were successful

I’m grateful that I’ve had failed businesses, because that’s where the biggest lessons are learned. However, I’m also grateful that I’ve started successful businesses! To end this blog post off on a motivational note and help you brainstorm ideas for your own successful business ideas, here is a list of the best successful business ideas I’ve started:

Start your own blog

This very blog that you are currently on is one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. I have a huge passion for personal finance and helping other people get in to their best financial positions, and this blog does exactly that.

There are many niches to start a successful blog in – but they wouldn’t be successful for me personally. I enjoy fitness, cooking, animals, and lots of other areas in life, but I don’t know nearly enough about them to run a long term successful blog focusing on them.

If you’re considering starting your own blog and turning it in to a possible business for yourself, brainstorm which topics and niches you are truly and deeply passionate about. Any niche can be successful and grow an audience – but you as an individual are the reason that other people will come to see your blog. Your words and ideas are what is important for your blog to succeed, and that’s how you will find your best blog niche!

I wrote this step by step guide on how to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost. This is exactly how I started my blog and how I still run my blog today!

Selling on eBay

I started selling on eBay part time several years ago. I was working full time at an office job when I started selling online on the side, and after a couple years of half-assing it, I decided that the time had come for me to finally put in as much effort as I could so that I would be able to quit my day job.

After putting in some real time and effort, I was able to quit my job and sell online on eBay full time! I wrote about my full time eBay journey and business plan here if that’s something that you think you would enjoy doing.

Freelance writing online

There is lots of money to be made by writing online. As long as you can form sentences, you can become a freelance writer online! Not everyone is a professionally educated writer, and you definitely don’t need to be.

The best advice I’ve ever read about how to write successfully is that you should simply write in the way that you normally speak. Let it flow naturally.

It’s easy to get caught up in forming the perfect writer’s voice and avoiding errors. But that’s not natural, that’s not you. Your voice is what makes you unique, and changing how you think and how words tumble out of you is turning your writing into something artificial. Be authentic, write just like you’re writing to a friend online – and that is your writing voice.

I put together this list of ways to get started freelance writing online for extra money.

I hope that you can learn from both my mistakes and my successes when it comes to starting your own business. Keep moving forward and trying new ideas, and eventually you’ll find one, or a few, that are the perfect money making ideas for you!