Thoughts On Failure

In life, failure is inevitable, and as an entrepreneur, that lesson is something that we face more often than we would care to admit. 

A few months ago, I was walking door to door to businesses that fit with my own sense of design and personality. While most of them gave no response, there was one who had a moment of time to speak with me. 

I turned a two minute window into a 15 minute meeting. In that time, I held a storytelling session; who I was, the problem I saw this company had, my vision for a solution. They loved it, and wanted a proposal. 

Taking everything I had said in the meeting down and putting into a document that detailed out everything from resources to timeline of deliverables, to ROI, I sent it over and waited for a response. A few days had passed, so I sent a follow-up email. I was told by my point of contact that they would pass the info on to their manager. 

A week passes. Silence. Nervousness and doubt begin to crawl into my thoughts. I send another email out. Finally I get a response. They passed on me shooting for them. 

Even with all the time, consideration, and effort that went into making a tailored pitch, they passed. And that's okay.  I gained so much knowledge of proposal making that I feel ready for whatever the next big client will be.  The biggest takeaways from this whole thing:

- Know Yourself - Having an ideal type of client in mind made it very easy to pitch the concept of how I wanted to…

- Solve A Problem - Knowing what my client needed, what I could offer that could add value to their brand, and how to execute that vision and finally…

- Being Prepared - Having a budget in mind. Know how much you need to charge to get the job done, from renting tools, to the time it takes to doing the actual job itself. Do not undervalue your work. Know your numbers and you’ll be able to craft a better proposal. 

All that in consideration, it won’t always work out. Maybe your price might be too high, or the timing of their needs might be off. Even if the proposal doesn’t work out, take the lessons from the previous proposal and take it into the next meeting.

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