Are you failing?

December 28, 2012 in Company Culture, Tools with 6 Comments

http://www.dreamstime.com/-image16068887Over the years of connectedness I have made friends with many entrepreneurs and enjoyed the services and products of their startups, films, gadgets and writings. Some of those startups are now thriving businesses or part of larger companies through buy-outs. Some, did not make it.

Yesterday I was doing some end of the year house cleaning on the blog. One thing I had put off was fixing all the broken links that have inevitably show up after writing for 5 years (by the way here is a great tutorial showing how I did that). What I did not expect was to be reminded of those great ideas that just did not make it. Tools like Forecast or Whrrl had gone by the wayside. There were more but these two seemed to sting the most since they were ones I really enjoyed.

I am glad they tried though. I also know the great folks behind them will not stop trying.

I had a great conversation yesterday with a good friend about failure. A trusted mentor had told him recently that if he was not failing at least a couple times a month his business was just not experimenting, risking or trying hard enough.

So, are you failing?

I look forward to trying your beta app, your cool new Kickstarter gadget or reading that blog you have always wanted to start.

Go ahead and leave a link telling me what you are risking to start. I can’t wait to see them. Better yet add it too my open list I created here.

Oh, and for a bonus, Johnny Leckie wrote a really good post last night on a similar topic. Check it out.

About Johnflurry: John is the director of communications for Soma Games and Code-Monkeys, a company culture addict, artist, writer, speaker, blogger and mobile app evangelist.

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  • http://coachradio.tv/ Justin Lukasavige

    It’s funny, John. The times I thought I’d fail and push the limits anyway, end up being the most successful things for me. Rarely do I fail when I think I will. Most of the time, I think it turns out that I’m just scared.

  • http://www.facebook.com/davidmschroeder Dave Schroeder

    Man I love failure. I’m in the middle of it in so many ways with my current job and it has pushed me to take the real risks toward what I’m meant to do in this next stage. I’m thankful for it not working out the way I’ve wanted. Thanks John for the excellent and challenging post.

    • http://www.flurrycreations.com/theblog John Bergquist

      @facebook-547532803:disqus can you imagine of some of the things we set out to do succeeded. Things would be so different. Hindsight is not only clear but very enlightening.

  • http://www.jondale.com/ Jon Dale

    This is so important. We try to ask our kids about the big successes ad failures each day. If they have no failures it’s a shame.

    • http://www.flurrycreations.com/theblog John Bergquist

      @jondale:disqus That is a great idea. We do highs and low at the dinner table. Adding in failures and successes would be an awesome addition.

  • bwcole

    Stepping out this year and finally starting http://www.mentorflight.com – mentoring teens through aviation. Had this vision first in 2007 – and was waiting for the “perfect” climate. The years have gone by, and it’s time to move. Here we go!