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“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work” – Thomas Edison
August 4th, 2009 | Author: 
Innovation
Many stories and quotes are attributed to these successful men. The above quote – “I have not failed. Ive found 10,000 ways that wont work” – To me addresses the trials and tribulations of a small business owner or entrepreneur. Failure in start ups happens. It can happen again and again, and will happen. Failure doesn’t get dealt with as a defeat, rather is viewed as a setback. Many failures turn into policy and/or procedure to avoid similar future problems. If you buy a business you can have a pretty good feel on what to expect assuming you’ve performed adequate due diligence.
Ive been part of many discussion revolving around starting up a company and how many years to either break even or make a profit. Some people say it is one year others say 2 years, others 3-5 years. For every business reaching this milestone of “break even” or “profit” is different. The measuring stick used and the timeline expected should be considered. Arbitrary goals and time frames should not be set. There are many unknowns in a start up. You can only do so much due diligence on something that has yet to happen – “You dont know what you dont know”- this quote may or may not be from Thomas Edison,- but applies.
I think that many people have a certain entrepreneur spirit within. Only a certain percentage act on that spirit. And the successful ones I believe are the ones that are successful at understanding failures will happen, and are resilient enough to accept the many failures that will come your way. Failing 100′s and or 1000′s of times and then coming up with the light bulb is a prophecy most any small business owner / entrepreneur would accept.
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About the Author
Scott M. Messinger is a former and current business owner that has directly purchased multiple businesses to support organic growth. Former owner of successful production/manufacturing/distribution business of 20 years that was successfully sold and transitioned. Member of International Business Brokerage (IBBR) that is based out of Miami Fl, and member of the Business Broker of Florida Assn. Background experiences includes the fields of management,water, energy savings, marketing. For a FREE current listing of Businesses FOR sale see:
www.sellabusinessflorida.com | www.energreenusa.com | Phone: 239.770.2421
Visit Scott Messinger's profile and other posts.
Posted in about business, business tips, personal development | Tags: business failure, business owners, due dilligence, small business ideas
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Hi Scott,
This is such an inspiring article. It’s true, even if we can’t succeed on a particular goal, we can always learn a hundred or thousand lessons on it. The important thing is don’t stop and quit in searching for a success – if not on a particular thing, on other things.
Scott,
Congrats! Your article has gone viral on Reddit (It went into the first page!) with 100+ thumbs up and 50+ thumbs down, with 20 comments so far.
It seems that Edison-related topic does good for a small business (and stir opinions on Reddit – Interesting to read) – http://www.reddit.com/r/business/comments/97lef/i_have_not_failed_ive_just_found_10000_ways_that/
Vic- thanks for taking the time to comment. The flipside to this article on failure , and you allude to it as well, is the upside of pushing forward -the success. regards Scott
We must have some on hand experience before investing into any tradiotional business. For example, job in the same feield or previously done research study.
Hi Term Paper- thanks for taking the time to comment. I think setbacks are inevitable. Research, prior experience, trial and error, mentors, training, are just a few methods that do help mitigate some of these setbacks. I think the bigger problem can be failing to try, not trying and failing. Scott
Hiya!. Thanks for the info. I’ve been digging around looking some info up for shool, but i think i’m getting lost!. Google lead me here – good for you i suppose! Keep up the great information. I will be coming back over here in a few days to see if there is any more info.
Albert- hope you found what you were looking for… Scott