Rose-Marie Almond, Hatchlings Incubation Centre, Oshawa, Ontario

James Dyson: “Enjoy failure and learn from it. You can never learn from success.”

Many new entrepreneurs worry that they will be defined and haunted by their mistakes and failures. I believe the opposite, that it is how you recover and learn from your mistake that defines you as a true entrepreneur. After all, setbacks are a standard element in 99% of business ventures.

I have personally made a LOT of mistakes. The mistakes I made in the early days helped me to find new, better solutions. More importantly, they helped me understand how I react to failure so that I could move forward as a leader and entrepreneur. I still hit setbacks frequently, but I always try to analyse what went wrong and learn from them so it doesn’t happen again. I also take note of other people’s mistakes and how they react – you don’t have to repeat their mistakes in order to learn from them!

The key is not giving up when things don’t run according to the initial plan. Be flexible and react quickly to minimise damage. Remember that each mistake is simply another learning opportunity on the path to reach your end goal.

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