Failure permitted! – A call for more courage and endurance!
If Howard Schultz had given up after having been turned down more than two hundred times by banks, there would be no Starbucks today. If J.K. Rowling had given up her writing ambitions after several publishers told her they did not like her ideas for a fantasy novel, we would never have heard about Harry Potter. If the young Thomas Alva Edison had stopped after one of his failed attempts to create a working light bulb model, I wonder what our world would look like today. Instead of giving up, he just gave it another try and after his final success, he turned to the numerous sceptics and said: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Making mistakes is our generation’s privilege
Working in a fast, globalized and disruptive business environment, while at the same time in a secure social society, is the best thing our generation can ask for! Today, hundreds of people are leaving their “safe” career paths as employees, creating their own businesses and following their ambitious goals of success and wealth. Therefore, it would be foolish to believe that your business idea is the only thing you need on your way to fame and fortune. Because of the many well-educated and trained competitors, it takes hard daily work, endurance and consistency more than ever. You need trustworthy suppliers, partners and employees as well as business angels, experts in venture capital and financial advisors. What it takes is an open mind towards new forms of business organization like co-working and co-creation and many more personal and professional skills. Most notably though, it takes courage to get up again after your business has crashed down. If you don’t get up and attempt to get your business, your team and yourself back on track, you will neither find success nor personal fulfilment.
Failures are permitted, Quitting is not
One lesson I have learned from my own company’s history is that there are a lot of institutions, NGOs, investors and experienced individuals who are willing to help you with your business idea. Professional experts along with the right mindset and skills can give every entrepreneur a powerful head start. This is the reason why I try to offer young business owners my helping hand, before and after their successful take-off, calling on them for more courage and endurance in their business careers.
“Failure permitted” (or ‘Scheitern erlaubt’ in German), is the overarching theme of this years ‘Jungunternehmertag’ (Austria’s biggest fair for business creation, young entrepreneurship and start-ups) which is taking place on October 13th at Messe Wien. It is the perfect opportunity for young business owners, start-ups, students and people who are considering starting their own company to learn more about successful business creations and the opportunities of failure from our special guest speakers who will be talking about their own respective defeats. We are looking forward to getting to know you, and learning about your business ideas!
One thing’s for sure: If you give up too soon or if you don’t get up again after a setback, you will never know what you will be missing. Keep going and don’t ever quit! Go to www.jungunternehmertag.com.
Jürgen Tarbauer is Founder and CEO of the marketing and advertising agency OMNES and Chairman of the Junior Chamber Vienna (Junge Wirtschaft Wien, JWW), an association of young entrepreneurs and leaders between the age of 18 to 40 years. JWW provides several business services and lobbying for better regulations for enterprises as well as national and international networking opportunities for its 3.500 members.
Picture: © Junge Wirtschaft Wien.