That’s right, Dear Listener: this week I have the show all to myself!

And by my power as host, I’m going to use this opportunity and talk about the #1 critical skill every entrepreneur needs, no matter who they are…

Dealing with, and bouncing back from, failure.

Here’s why it’s so important:

If you run a business, sooner or later you will screw up, period. No exceptions.

And 99% of the content you read, hear, or watch about being an entrepreneur doesn’t prepare you for this inevitable moment.

Best-case scenario, it glorifies failure as the ultimate experience that you need to seek out if you want to improve. Trust me: you don’t — there will be more than enough failure in your career even if you don’t come looking for it!

And worst-case scenario, it pretends that failure is something that happens to other people, or something that magically stops once you reach a certain level of success. Well, guess what: it doesn’t. Whether you’re a new business owner, a seasoned entrepreneur or a billionaire, you will never stop messing up.

I’m not a fan of either approach, to be honest.

That’s why, in today’s Backstage Business, I want to show you a more useful, more practical way to respond to failure. The one where you accept it, do your best to fix the mess… and move on with your life.

I’ll share one of my recent screw-ups and tell you exactly how I dealt with it — mini-breakdown and all. I’m going to show you how to avoid falling down the rabbit hole of panic and self-loathing (well, mostly avoid it); how failures can be opportunities in disguise; and how every mess you make serves to remind you of a very important, very comforting truth…

…that no matter what happens, you’re always the one in control.

Back when I started out with my first business, I really needed to hear something like this. And while I can send this recording to Past Summer, I can do the next best thing: share it with you and hope that it helps you in the same way.

Enjoy!

If you liked this week’s episode, consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. And if you’d like to hear more personal episodes like this one, please let me know in the comments!

Also, to make sure you catch the next week’s Backstage Business when it comes out, please subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.

SHOW NOTES:

Why you should listen:

In this week’s episode, I share some raw, behind-the-scenes details of what it’s like when things go south in your business, and everybody looks to you as the CEO to fix them. I’ll tell you about a recent mistake that cost The Draw Shop a lot of money, and how I dealt with it without losing my marbles in the process — well, mostly!

What you will hear:

[01:05] How The Draw Shop stopped getting new leads, with zero warning

[03:14] Keeping your cool when all you can think of is, “I’m a big fat failure”

[06:39] The #1 business lesson that’s hidden in every disaster

[10:21] How to stop yourself from falling down the rabbit-hole of self-loathing

[13:09] Why your breakdowns are also your breakthroughs

Resources:

Backstage Business on Apple Podcasts