It took Sir James Dyson 5,126 failed vacuum designs before he could assemble one working vacuum. Now, we see the Dyson brand in our households with over 1 billion in revenue. At the age of 22, Walt Disney was fired from his job working at a newspaper company because he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” Thomas Edison had over 1,000 unsuccessful attempts before the first lightbulb was created. Nikola Tesla thought his idea of a "Thought Camera" was his next lifetime achievement, but it failed and the project collapsed.
Although I started the blog listing failures from history's most decorated inventors in a very cheesy way, even the greatest innovators fail. These revolutionary innovators failed before inventing life-changing products and services. Currently, I am a rising senior majoring in Supply Chain and Marketing as well as the co-founder and CEO of Greatings. I would like to share my experiences of failing as well as learning in the entrepreneurship world and how it has driven me to continue my passion.
I first experienced entrepreneurship in high school when I took a very small "Entrepreneurship I" course. In this class, we were tasked with creating a business plan and pitch deck for a new product or service. I put a lot of effort into researching and designing what I believed was a fantastic presentation for a future company: I wanted to create the first interchangeable soles for shoes. I ran with the idea and worked very hard to possibly pursue this endeavor once I graduated high school, but I learned that idea was not feasible during our final class presentations. The interchangeable sole did not win the best-in-class award, and through constructive criticism, I learned that this idea was not one to pursue. I'll admit, I was disappointed; I felt like I had failed with a new passion project of mine.
Looking back, I realized that the goal of the class was not to create the next big company but rather to teach us how to create a business plan, pitch deck, and practice presentation skills. This experience taught me the basics of startups and I learned that carrying out an idea to fruition is not only fun, but also difficult and worthwhile. As a result, I signed up for "Entrepreneurship II" the following semester so I could have more chances to learn from my teacher about the field. She was starting her own business and it was important for me to learn about the times she had failed and what she did to adapt to build a stronger company.
During the class, the Covid-19 pandemic cut my high school experience short and gave me more free time during quarantine. I took a failed final semester of high school and turned it into an opportunity to create two businesses. I started a power washing business with a friend as well as an online retail business. The power washing business (Pressureology) was *technically* successful because we made a profit, but we struggled to actively market ourselves and find more clients. From this experience, we learned a lot about the importance of communicating with our clients and how to manage a business plan. At night, I worked on the online retail business. There was initial progress, but over time there was not enough traffic on the site and the project failed. In this case, I learned that I needed to perform better market testing before entering the online retail space to learn if there is a true need for the product.
Both experiences taught me about the importance of perseverance and the value of failure as a learning opportunity. After failing with the online retail business, I began to seek out failure and understand that I need to fail to succeed. I just turned 22 and I have years to learn about myself and the others around me. As long as I am pushing forward, I will be okay. My mantra is to just keep going because even the smallest amount of work each day will go a long way. My philosophy with my current project, Greatings, is to do work everyday even if it simply sending one email or writing ideas down in my notes app. This way I ensure I am pushing the business forward and remaining consistent on a day-to-day basis.
Greatings
This brings me to my current endeavor, “Greatings.” This company was formerly known as Joliver and Potluck. As a team, we have failed countless times, but we keep testing new hypotheses and approaching situations from different perspectives. Our team has made many decisions regarding the direction and future of the company. To find the best path forward, we are constantly testing new ideas and accepting that some of them may fail. Each failure brings us one step closer to understanding how we should move forward. This experience has taught me the importance of being open to failure and embracing the lessons that come with it.
Overall, my journey with entrepreneurship has taught me that it is okay to fail. Failure is not something to be afraid of, but rather something to embrace as a learning opportunity. Each failure teaches us valuable lessons that we can carry forward into our future endeavors. I encourage everyone, especially college students and young professionals, to seek out difficult experiences and fail as much as possible because this is the time when we have the least to lose.
Check out the Greatings Website