Silver linings - an entrepreneur’s secret power in the face of “failure”
As small business owners or entrepreneurs we know the drill: there will be some days when some things will go utterly wrong and there will be those days when everything is fine again. Navigating from some days to those days with grace is not always easy. So here is a question to ask yourself in the days when shizz hits the fan: what’s the silver lining?
The silver linings of “failure”
The 6th edition of the Solopreneurs Mastermind that we host monthly at Journee, brought us a first: a ZERO sign ups situation. To be clear, we had zero sign ups, not zero people showing up for the actual session. As July is our business anniversary month, we had also waived the sign-up fee for all participants. For the irony of it all, nobody “took a leap” to register - taking the leap being the theme we had assigned to this specific solopreneurs mastermind session.
From many angles this was a failure - we accepted it and acknowledged it, to us and publicly. No avoidance and no false positivity. We believe in business there is no losing, it is either wining or learning and without accepting the “defeat” there can be no learnings drawn. So we thought - what can we learn, how can we turn this around, is there any silver lining?
Then we figured that there are actually 2 entrepreneurs interested in the topic whom we could pull in at the last minute to hold the session. Not to mention that both had just officially graduated from “entry-preneurs” to entrepreneurs as they had taken the leap exactly a year ago.
Available, eager to discuss the topic and interested in listening and hearing each other’s perspective on what it meant and how it felt taking the leap. They were us - Diana and Ana Maria, co-founders of Journee GmbH.
Normally taking a back seat during the Solopreneurs Mastermind session we host, the craving to participate in the vivid discussions is always high. We always remind ourselves though, that our role is that of moderating the discussion and allowing our guests enough time and space to express their own thoughts and perspectives. We had found the silver lining to our “failure”.
With no guests to take the scene, we jumped right in the limelight
We were the hosts, the participants, two business partners discussing and ultimately, two friends listening to each other. You can listen here to our “private chat” divulging our personal experience of “taking the entrepreneurial leap”.
Success and failure are already boxed, defined, canonised and respectively, condemned by the society.
In such a world all entrepreneurs, small business owners and ultimately all of us as human beings have one secret power to harness when, according to the norms, we have "failed": …
… always look for silver linings.
We encourage you to always take the learnings and walk forward, when taking a “wrong” step to keep in mind that your journey doesn't end with a misstep - you are simply putting yourself on an alternative path towards the same destination - one that would be personal to you, as an entrepreneur or employee and ultimately as a human being.
About Journee - Digital at Ease
Founded by two digital marketing professionals with extensive international experience, Journee GmbH is a female owned digital marketing and technology boutique consultancy.
We aim to make a big difference for the small: small business owners and solopreneurs looking to start and advance on their business digital journey.
Our combined expertise covers digital marketing, digital analytics, advertising, marketing technology as well as overall digital strategy support and mentorship.