The journey of an entrepreneur is not an easy one. Typically, an entrepreneur is fuelled by a passion to create value for and to leave an indelible mark in society. In the process, he/she seeks to create a meaningful identity for himself/herself. However, they fail, maybe multiple times.
The conventional wisdom coupled with research studies of the '80s and '90s suggested that over 95% of new busineses are destined for failure over a period of 5 years, with over 50% dropping dead in the first year itself. More current estimates seem to signify greater probability of success. Certain case studies suggest that success rates vary from sector to sector, with businesses in the domains of natural resources, education and healthcare having the best survival rates of 50% over 4 years. One fact is though inescapable - there is a significant probability for failure.
While the aforesaid facts are for the academically inclined, there are those who adopt an amazingly phlegmatic perspective. After all, is life not a heady concoction of success and failures, they would say? The platitudes around life - the crests and troughs, the ups and downs, trials and tribulations, as the night the day - are aplenty. The significance of these are not lost, particularly when riding a low. One could even see enlightenment in the adage - change is the law of nature....and God fulfils himself in many ways!
And then there is the story (which is narrated to us early in life, almost like a homily) of Robert the Bruce, the King of Scotland. The King having tried six times to recapture his kingdom, retreats to a cave. And in his lonely, defeated and contemplative frame of mind, he witnesses the unrelenting pursuit of the spider to jump from one place to another. The King promises to try once more, if the spider succeeds the seventh time around. Lo and behold, he does. And as the story goes, the King succeeds as well on his next attempt. The moral of the story, apart from the obvious, i guess is that seven is a lucky number after all.
On a more serious note, perhaps successful entrepreneurs are those who fail multiple times but take pride in their creation, acknowledge their mistakes and failures, without feeling the need to self-deprecate, quickly learn from their mistakes, and move on.
However, what defines success is that like the King of Scotland and the Spider, the Entrepreneurs just don't hang up!
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