Do Entrepreneurs Learn from Failure?

Succeeding in the new workplace (and life). Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
Paul B. Brown Paul B. Brown , Contributor

We get that question a lot. And our response typically surprises people.

The short answer is: Of course, they do.

The longer answer is we have never met a serial entrepreneur—someone who has started two or more ventures successful—who has ever thought of a venture that didn’t work out as a failure.

It is not that they never had things gone wrong. They have. And they have indeed lost money when things did not turn out as planned. Yet, they almost never refer to these things as failures.

It isn’t a matter of semantics. It goes to how they think—a thought process you may want to follow.

A quick look at the people who have become successful entrepreneurs shows the path they took is as unique as they are. But—and it a HUGE but—while their behavior is idiosyncratic, the thinking these successful people followed is not.

If you study serial entrepreneurs you’ll see they all follow the same approach in building their organizations.

1. They REALLY want to do what they set out to do.  If you don’t have desire, you won’t give anything your best efforts.

2. They first take a small step toward their goal. Starting anything new is risky.  You don’t want to move too far too fast.

3. After taking that small step, they stop to see what they have learned. Maybe they learn their initial goal is still a good one. Maybe the market is telling them they need to go in another direction.

4.  Based on what they have learned, they then take another small step and go through the cycle once again.

In other words the formula for success (if there is one) is: Act. Learn. Repeat.