"One fails forward toward success" ~ Charles F. Kettering
I believe someone once said "Tomorrow is another day for opportunity". And my wise husband always tells me not to dwell on things that I cannot control or situations that I cannot change.
During the past year my husband and I have started a new business venture along side our daily jobs. I really wasn't supportive or sold on the idea at first, but soon I learned that it was not only a great opportunity to make some extra money, but to also meet amazing people. To put things simply, our business deals with selling products via an internet supplier. In order to get the products sold, you need customers. A sales strategy that we've been training to execute is making sales pitch to people via "grand openings"... you get a bunch of people together (or just one person) and show them some of the products, let them sample a few, etc. Kinda like the tupperware parties moms like to throw.
So I invited a few friends over and about 6 said that they would be available to come for an hour or so. I was sooo excited! I went shopping, bought food, cleaned the house in preparation for having guests. Two of our friends and mentors in the business were also coming to assist and support me. I really thought this was going to be successful.
Well, life happens unfortunately. Two of my friends bailed out on me and another had a family emergency (aka their kid was sick). So, as it turns out only two of my guests showed in the end and even my mentors couldn't make it because they were stuck in traffic. I felt bad that they were driving all the way from Virginia. It seemed like everything that could go wrong went wrong. I did the best I could trying to pitch the products with what I had (thankfully my husband gave me a little kit of stuff to give out). I felt mediocre and unprepared. It was embarrassing and upsetting. To make things worst, I was still upset about people apparently semi-committing so it was hard for me to keep a smile on my face. I just wanted to curl in a corner and die.
Sales and promotion is really not my level of expertise. I feel like I blunder when I speak and that I'm never prepared when people ask me questions. I don't want people to feel like I'm pushing them to buy from me or that they feel obligated to because we're family/friends/acquaintances. It's not where my confidence lies, but mainly because I lack the experience. I can put in a foley and clean out a patient's tracheostomy, but getting you to buy something is not easy for me. At least my two guests that came (my husband's cousin and her mom who is now his ex-aunt I guess) are family and I believe were genuinely interested in what I had to offer. I was touched and appreciative that they actually stood by their word and came out to support me. Even if they don't buy anything, it meant a lot to me that they came.
I hate the feeling of failure and it's hard for me to not dig myself into a ditch of self-pity and grief. But I am learning to stay positive and not beat myself up over it. If there is one thing starting this business and training has taught me is to not let your failures stop you or bring you down. You will go through many failures before you reach success, but at least you tried!
"The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed" ~ Lloyd Jones
How true those words are to me now and I wouldn't have appreciated such advise had I not experienced this day. I always thought that failing was the end. You're done. You suck. Try something else. It wasn't until today that the light-bulb lit up in my head... all those words people kept telling me finally made sense!
"There is no failure except in no longer trying. "
~ Elbert Hubbard
Tomorrow is always another day for opportunity!!!!
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