Why I’m grateful my first business didn’t work out

As difficult as it was to shut down my first business, when I look back on it now, three years later, three, nearly four years later, I think, wow, I'm actually really glad that I didn't get what I wanted. The thing, so when we're in the thick of failure, when we're in the middle of it, it can feel like the absolute worst thing ever, and it definitely did at the time. With a little bit of time and a little bit of perspective, it's really a lot easier to look back and see that actually, yeah, it worked out for the best. It's a little bit like the heartbreak that with hindsight you can look back on and realize that it wasn't meant to work out or the job that you thought was going to be your dream job. And then you were so disappointed when you saw the reality of the job and that didn't work out and now you look back on it and you're glad that it didn't work out because you've followed a completely different path.

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5 reasons why I'm glad that my first business didn't work out

 

#1. I learned all of the lessons that I needed to learn at the time

When I first started that business, I didn't know what I didn't know and there was no way that I was ready to run an e-commerce business at scale. I thought I was ready to run an e-commerce business at scale, but there was absolutely no way I was. And if you read my last blog, I share a few of the reasons why that business didn't work out as well as the lessons that I learned as a result from the failure of that business.

 

#2. That business that I created actually created a job for myself

It wasn't a business. I left my corporate job because I wanted freedom, and that's why I started my business, but the business that I created, I ended up being stuck just packaging orders anyway. I wanted to travel, but I couldn't actually leave the country because I needed to be here to pack and send orders. It wasn't scalable, it had really low profit margins, and ultimately I ended up basically working harder and getting paid less than I had been in my corporate job.

 

#3. I ended up having to go and get a part-time job

At a startup when my business ran out of money and that part-time job ended up being the best thing that could have happened because that is how I got into podcasting.

I was working as a digital marketer for a startup in a coworking space and the guy who was sitting across from me at the coworking space, who is still one of my biggest mentors to this day, actually ran a podcasting agency. And that was where I first got introduced to the world of podcasting and had the idea that maybe I could launch a podcast and had that idea implanted in my head. If my business had taken off, if I hadn't run out of money, if I hadn't got that job at the startup, I probably wouldn't be talking into this microphone to you today.

 

#4. It forced me to swallow my pride and do the hard thing

Nothing like failure to really humble you. It forced me to admit that things weren't working, it forced me to close doors, and I had to swallow my pride rather than keep on struggling through it and pretending that everything was okay.

At the time I felt like I had something to prove to everyone who didn't think I could succeed and it was a really tough decision. It was really tough to tell people, “Well, actually you were right. I didn't succeed.” Funnily enough, nobody said, “Oh, I told you so.” Or nobody said, “Oh yeah, you failed.” Everyone was actually really empathetic about it and it didn't frighten me off from starting my second business.

 

#5. My current business allows me to help more people and have more freedom

The last reason why I'm grateful that my first business didn't work out is that the business that I run today, what I created after that first business didn't work out, this is exactly why I left corporate, so that I can help more people, so that I can make money, and that I can have freedom. I don't work ridiculous hours, I can design my days and my weeks exactly how I want to, and I can help people at scale without being tied to a particular location. I mean, pandemic aside.

But I still managed to take an entire month off in Feb and go travelling around in a van. If we were allowed to travel internationally right now, I could run my business from anywhere in the world. So that is exactly why I left corporate today and it's been such a journey to get to where I am, but everything that I've learned along the way has played a massive part in getting here. It hasn't been easy. It's been really tough. And part of me thinks that if I went back and told Steph pre-first business exactly what she would have to go through to get to where she is now five years later, I'm not sure if I would go through with it, because that would be enough to scare anyone off. But you get through it, you survive it, you end up tougher for it, and I'm so grateful for all of those little lessons, all of the challenges, all of the times I wanted to cry, quit, give up, because they have led me to the business that I have today.

 

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