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Lesson #3: “To be successful, you need to fail”

John Ilhan Quote


Article Overview: Ilhan was one of those entrepreneurs who believed that the more mistakes he made, the better he became, and the better his business performed. Maybe it was his close call with bankruptcy in the early years of his business, but Ilhan had almost reached the brink, and managed to make it back. He had developed a risk tolerance beyond most of his competitors, and the confidence that he could always find a solution to any problem.

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Lesson #3: “To be successful, you need to fail”

Ilhan was one of those entrepreneurs who believed that the more mistakes he made, the better he became, and the better his business performed. Maybe it was his close call with bankruptcy in the early years of his business, but Ilhan had almost reached the brink, and managed to make it back. He had developed a risk tolerance beyond most of his competitors, and the confidence that he could always find a solution to any problem. What that did was create a corporate environment where making mistakes was seen as a positive learning experience. Ilhan's employees knew that they could come forward with their ideas, not be afraid of testing new strategies, and not be punished depending on the consequences.

"Telstra came to dealers and said, 'Who wants to grow and open some shops? We will support you with a few dollars but it will be up to you to make the stores ongoing entities,'" recalled Ilhan. "Well, most dealers wanted more guarantees, but me, who had nothing, said I'd do anything. I knew if they supported you with three or four shops they were not going to leave you in the lurch.

"You know, I was the only one who put his hand up. Out of 20 dealers or more, I was the only one who did take the risk, and it was the best decision I ever made."

Learning how to deal with failure and make it back is something that comes with adversity, said Ilhan. "You give me any person who has had a crippled child, had to bring themselves up, single parents - anybody who has had adversity in their life, I'll take them any day of the week," he said. "And that is my point - they are made because of experience. You are not born with it."

Ilhan credits his own childhood with teaching him how to handle failure and rejection. "When I was a kid my parents couldn't drive me to soccer training, so I would walk the four kilometres every week," he said. "You know what? I didn't get picked for a game all year. I was about 13 and I used to get disappointed. But I still walked to training every week.

"Then next year I got a couple of games but kept getting dropped. But I kept on walking to training. The following year they made me captain. That was a good lesson for me about perseverance."

According to Ilhan, failure is part of life. What matters is knowing how to fail, and how to make a comeback. "Don't let anyone say you can't do it," he says. "To be successful, you need to fail. The more failures you have, the more successes you will have. People just don't get that."

From not making the soccer team to nearing bankruptcy from his business expansion plan, Ilhan has been to the bottom. But he has managed to make it back each time.

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Article Tags: bankruptcy, brink, confidence, risk tolerance



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Re: Business Failure Rate – What is the Real Business Failure Ra Re: Business Failure Rate – What is the Real Business Failure Ra - [quote="ZekeLL":x66k5x4x]Ever wondered what the business failure rate is? Between 75% and 90% of all new businesses fail within the first 10 years. If we also take most dotcom startups into consideration, 9 out of 10 new businesses won’t make it to their third year. The actual figures vary according to the source, but it looks like the overwhelming majority of startups end up failing.[/quote:x66k5x4x] Hi ZekeLL, Nice article! So of the 1 out of 10 new businesses that make it to their third year... are they actually successful and if so, how would you define "successful"?
Re: Is A Business Plan A Waste Of Time? Re: Is A Business Plan A Waste Of Time? - We should have a poll here - who has a business plan and who doesn't. I think I contributed to this thread when it first started, but I agree with our recent contributors to the thread. A Business plan is simply a must. If you fail to plan... you plan to fail.
Willing to Fail Your Way to Success Willing to Fail Your Way to Success - Entrepreneurs in my opinion, must be willing to fail. (This is that risk-taking factor quoted in the other post). If you aren't willing to fail then you don't take risks and if you don't take risks you do I like to call (I am qouting an awesome book called Play to Win!) 'Playing Not to Lose' instead of 'Playing to Win'. When you Play to Win you must risks. Risks are how you build a business and innovate.
Re: Why do people hate Network Marketing / MLM? Re: Why do people hate Network Marketing / MLM? - You make a great point abotu the sales industry GT. Unfortunately, sales businesses have a really high attrition rate. From car salesmen to real estate or insurance agents, anywhere from 60-80% (depending on the chosen market) fail and quit without ever making a single sale. Since most people think of MLM as a sales business, it's no wonder the attrition rate is that high or higher. The fact is, MLM is NOT a sales business. It's a PEOPLE business, or more specifically, a Coaching and mentoring business. As for an example, I do have one, as you would expect. But, rather than pitching my company here, I would suggest learning the basics of what makes a successful mlm company. A mentor of mine, Michael Dlouhy developed the 5 Pillars to Network Marketing. If the company has all 5 pillars, you can almost guarantee success. If not, the chances are not good. Michael developed this over 20 years ago. He knew MLM could work, but had no luck himself. SO, he joined over 100 companies in under 2 years just so he could compare and see what worked, and what didn't. Bottom line, you need a 5 pillars company if you hope to be successful. Bill
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