All my businesses failed to be profitable.
At age 28, I started an artificial jewelry business.
Imitating a friend who had a successful jewelry stall in a busy shopping center, I bought jewelry from India and tried to sell it at a local school fete. I barely recovered my money.
At age 37, I got into the real estate business. That was the year Australia experienced its worst recession. Needless to say, I didn’t sell a single house.
At age 41, I established a network marketing business with a reputed company. I spent thousands of dollars setting it up and advertising it.
I even went part time at my job letting go of half the salary for six months.
After giving it to my heart and soul for six years, I had to give it up.
For years, I saw myself as a failure.
Then one day, thinking about them from a different perspective, I realized they were not failures.
They were the stepping stones for bigger and better things in my life.
From the jewelry business, I learned how markets worked. I learned more by doing it and failing at it than I would have by succeeding at it.
From the real estate business, I learned about negotiations and my local housing market.
I saved thousands of dollars down the track when we bought our house and several investment properties.
From network marketing, I learned confidence in presenting ideas, self-mastery, and people management skills. They helped me to win leadership roles in my job.
I owe a lot of what I became in life to my network of marketing business mentors.
The monetary gains are not the only gains you should seek from endeavors you take.
You learn more from failing than you can from succeeding.