I’ve been an entrepreneur for 14 years, and I can say that most of the reason I’ve found success is because I’ve picked myself up again and again after many failures over the years. I’ll share two of my biggest failures with you, so you never feel bad or stupid or worthless after failing. Failure is proof that you’re trying, doing your best, and taking action. We don’t learn anything when we succeed; we learn and grow when we fail.

Listen on the player in this post or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or your favorite podcast player. Or scroll down to read a full transcript.

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Takeaways

  • Face the fear of failing: Sit with your fears and understand that failure is a growth tool.
  • Go down the outcome rabbit hole: Explore the worst-case and best-case scenarios of failure to put it in perspective.
  • Evaluate past failures: Reflect on previous failures and identify the valuable lessons and skills you gained.
  • Make a plan: Set a goal and create guideposts to stay accountable and overcome your fears.
  • Take action: Don’t let fear paralyze you – take the first small step to move forward.

Resources Mentioned

Ghostwriter – Terrence Roche ([email protected])

Promote your food blogging services: www.eatblogtalk.com/audioclip

Megan’s recommended books and resources at eatblogtalk.com/books.

Transcript

Click for script.

EBT562 – 5 Steps for Dealing with Failure When Starting Something New

Intro  00:01

Hey food bloggers. Thank you so much for joining me in this mindset and self-care focused episode here on Eat Blog Talk. One of the reasons I started a blog talk was to hold a space to talk about the importance of mindset and self-care. Being an entrepreneur can be a lot. If we are not taking care of ourselves, then getting actionable information about SEO Pinterest or whatever else is all moot. I will meet you back here every Wednesday to discuss various mindset and self-care topics. So you have the energy and space to tackle the rest.

Sponsor (Terrence Roche)  00:36

Are you overwhelmed by the amount of unfinished posts in your computer? You sometimes wish you just had more available time? My name is Terrence Roche and I am one half of the Plant Power Couple, food blog I run with my partner, Brittany. I’m also a former English teacher who spent 20 years helping young writers find their voice. I currently offer freelance content writing and copywriting services for other bloggers. I can ghost write recipe posts, informative content, About me pages, LinkedIn bios and more. If you have any old posts or outlines sitting in your backlog, I can help get those up on your site by writing SEO keyword rich posts for you freeing up your precious time for other personal or business endeavors. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions or to request writing samples and my rate sheet you can contact me at terrence@plantpower couple.com That’s T-E-R-R-E-N-C-E@plant powercouple.com.

Megan Porta  01:27

Hello food bloggers, welcome to another self care and mindset focused episode of Eat Blog Talk. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Thank you so much for being here. In this episode, we’re going to talk about five steps for dealing with failure when you start something new. This topic was actually requested by a listener. So thank you for offering it up. I love this topic, it is a very important one for our jobs that we do. By the way, if you have topics you want covered in these episodes, definitely let me know reach out at [email protected]. Okay, I love talking about this topic, because number one, failure is a given for entrepreneurs. And number two, starting new things is also a given and essential for entrepreneurs, if we cannot handle failure properly, and if we don’t start new things, entrepreneurship unsuccessful, I’ve officially been an entrepreneur for 14 years coming up in a few weeks. That’s hard to believe. And I can say that most of the reason I have found success and by the way, success for me does not equal money, it just equals happiness and freedom is because I have picked myself up again and again and again after many, many failures over the years. And just so you know that I have failed and not just failed, but failed big, I will share one of my biggest failures with you. And for you it just never feel bad or stupid or worthless after failing. It’s something that you start failing at something is proof that you’re trying, it’s proof that you’re doing your best, it’s proof that you’re taking action. And we do not learn anything when we succeed. We learn and we grow when we fail. 

Megan Porta  03:20

Actually, I just decided I will share two of my big failures with you. Just a few years into blogging, I decided that I was going to publish an ebook. I chose the topic based on what I liked. It did not occur to me to check in with my audience. And oh, by the way, I didn’t even have an audience at this point. And that’s another fail that we won’t talk about today. I didn’t check in with anyone about what sort of ebook they might want from me or anything along those lines. I love grilled cheese sandwiches. It’s something my mom used to make for me as a kid. I love the creativity that can be built into grilled cheese sandwiches. So guess what I created an ebook about grilled cheese sandwiches. I put a lot of time and energy into creating this ebook, you guys. They were all brand new recipes. I worked hard on the photography. A lot went into this project and it never occurred to me once I put it on Amazon that nobody would actually buy it. But guess what happened? Nobody bought it. My mom bought a copy. My mother in law bought a copy. Even my sweet husband bought a copy which was so awesome of him. Literally no one else cared. I don’t think I’ve sold a single copy since thinking back it’s kind of funny because I remember feeling just blown away by this. I thought the orders would flood in so when I heard nothing but crickets. I was shocked. My second big fail I was going to tell you about was the time that I decided again without asking a single person what they wanted to create a course about productivity and time management. This took five months, and a lot of work to complete, I did everything myself, I did all of the writing, all of the planning, recording, editing, I put a lot of other projects on hold during that time, just to get the course published. And again, I assumed that once it was done, once it was published, the orders would flood in, and they did not. To make it even worse, I invested somewhere around $2,000 to get help with my sales page and messaging for this course. I ended up selling maybe three courses. And I think that might be generous. It was a very humbling experience. I felt so stupid afterward. Now looking back, I definitely do not because I learned a lot from it. I could go on and on with my fails you guys over the years. So if you’re feeling like you’ve had more than the average number of fails, please know that you’re not alone. And that failing is making you stronger. It’s making you so much smarter, and better equipped to be an awesome entrepreneur. After each of these fails, and so many others, I was extra afraid to start new things. 

Megan Porta  06:16

I still occasionally think back to what colossal fails those were when I’m starting something new. It takes me a second to realize that growth came from those experiences, and that I just need to keep moving forward toward these new ventures that come into my mind and that I research. And that feel really inspiring to me. Maybe you have failed at something in your business in the past, or maybe you haven’t experienced a huge failure yet. But You’re just afraid of it happening. Either way, I hope this episode helps you to get past that fear of failing. So you push through and do the thing anyway. Because even if you do it and you fail, all will be well I promise. It’s part of your story no matter what. So let’s talk through five steps for dealing with failure when you start something new.

Megan Porta  07:05

Number one face the fear of failing. First and foremost, we must come to the place where we face our fears of failing. And understand that failure is our biggest growth tool. As hard as it might seem sometimes it’s okay to sit with fear. It’s so easy for me anyway, I too want to run in the opposite direction as fast as I can go. When I feel those twinges of being afraid of something coming on. It’s built into our DNA to run from danger. Scary things are scary, pushing them away, feel safe, it feels comfortable. Whenever a new venture is making you feel afraid, just try to sit with how that makes you feel. It could be as simple as saying to yourself, This feels scary. And then just allowing that to marinate. Commit to not running from it. Because this new thing you’re starting is going to require that you push through the fear. When I encourage my oldest son to do something scary, he says, but I can’t It’s so scary mom. And I have to remind him that he has done so many things in his life, far scarier than whatever it is we’re talking about. This kid has walked into Children’s Hospital for nearly 30 surgeries. Some of those surgeries are very serious and life threatening, and scary. Those things are truly scary. So I tell them all the time, if you can do that, you can push past any scary thing. So think of something in the past that was terrifying for you, yet you did anyway. And that produced results or blessings in your life or in your business. And let that memory be your guide. You did that and good things happened. So you can do this much less scary thing. And good things are going to happen here too. Even if you fail, and especially if you fail. There’s so much baggage that comes along with the anticipation of failure. I think we can fear so many different things. Like what people will think of us how much time we’re going to waste. Maybe how much money we’re gonna miss out on whether or not we’ll have the motivation to ever try anything new again. Or that maybe this will sink us or deplete us or completely ruin our business. 

Megan Porta  09:20

So here is a little exercise for you. Write down what comes to mind for you about this? What are your top three or so specific fears that come to mind when you think about failing with this new venture? Journal about each one. If you’re inspired to do that, it’s very likely that it’ll bring you tons of clarity about how to move forward or you might find that what you thought was scary isn’t actually scary at all. An example is if you’re considering starting a podcast about I don’t know healthy cooking for busy moms. Perhaps your fears are being judged if it fails, or nobody for tuning into listen and having to throw in the towel on the project. Or maybe it’s wasting six months of your time when you could potentially be working on other projects. We’ll talk about some follow up things that you can think through in the next step. Also, I wanted to say, write this on a post it note or somewhere in plain sight where you see it in your house often, Write, “I learn from my failures, this is a great reminder, and it will help to defuse the feelings around it.” 

Megan Porta  10:32

Number two, go down the outcome rabbit holes. So you have your specific fears written down about your new venture. Now answer this question about those fears. What is the worst that can happen? So if my podcast about healthy cooking for busy moms fails, I’ll be judged leading to embarrassment. The worst case scenario, the embarrassment could cause me to never start another project again, leading to a failed endeavor, money loss, and maybe even a failed business. Now ask yourself, Is this likely? No, probably not. Because you are a committed entrepreneur, you’re seeking freedom in your life, so a little embarrassment isn’t going to stop you from forging ahead into this new venture. If embarrassment does lead to a failed business, which is probably the worst case scenario, then you probably weren’t very interested in or passionate about it in the first place. Now think of the best case scenario, the embarrassment could lead to seeking out new knowledge and support before launching your next big project. With each new venture, you’ll be better equipped to handle judgment, you will seek out a supportive network of peers, maybe you’ll continue learning and growing your business exponentially. And in ways that you never could have dreamed, really allow yourself to go down the rabbit holes of both good and bad potential outcomes of failing at this new thing. You’ll see that the worst case scenarios either aren’t actually that bad, and or that they’re very highly unlikely. And the best case scenarios are really exciting. I always like to remind myself that most of the time, things end up even better than I could have ever imagined them too. Good things that you cannot even anticipate are waiting for you on the other side of the fears you’re feeling. 

Megan Porta  12:29

Number three, evaluate past failures. Looking back on previous failures, and lessons learned from those is hugely helpful when you’re forging into something new. It reminds us that good things are waiting for us whether it’s a huge success or lessons, we get to learn from a quote failure. It also helps to build confidence because if we failed in the past and come out, on the other side, a smarter business owner and better human, we know we can do it again. Going back to my ebook failure. Now, years later, when I consider what lessons I learned from that failed venture, here’s what I come up with. As good as a project might sound to me, it’s my audience aligned with inspiration and passion of course, who should determine what I create. I listen very carefully now to what my followers are telling me about what they need. That failure caused me to think like a marketer before creating anything I asked myself, What pain point can I provide the best solution for I also took valuable skills away from creating that ebook, such as book design, recipe writing and photography, I learned how to get an ebook onto Amazon, which is a bit of an arduous process in itself. I also learned not to assume that everything is going to work out just because the idea popped into my head, or because I enjoy a certain type of food. And it taught me the value of establishing that no like trust factor, which authentically creates an environment where my audience wants to buy from me. I could go on and on. I really did learn a ton from that field venture at the time, it felt devastating. I will not beat around the bush about that it was embarrassing, and it felt like I just completely wasted my time. But now years later, I see so clearly that that was not the case. None of those things were the case. Going through the same process with your previous failures will help you truly see and understand that no matter what important lessons and valuable skills are going to come out of all failed ventures. 

Megan Porta  14:33

Number four, make a plan. In my experience, no plan it comes together exactly as I dream it will ever but it is still very important to create an ultimate goal and to also create guideposts. So you, number one, know where you’re going. And number two, have an idea about how you’re going to get there. I go through this exercise with all of my mastermind members and It’s one of my favorite things to do because when we’re done, I can see the excitement of having clarity and having a solid plan in place. on people’s faces. This is such a good feeling for me and for them. Start with your main goal or project or venture. Going back to the example I used earlier, a goal could be to start a podcast about healthy cooking for busy moms. Your audience has told you that this will solve a big pain point for them and the idea of the project lights you up. Now set an end date for launching your podcast and work backward to create guideposts tasks. Just off the top of my head, maybe you plan to launch a podcast in four months. Working backward, that means you can have eight episodes ready to go recorded and scheduled three and a half months from now. You will need to start editing those episodes maybe two and a half months from now and recording them. I don’t know a month and a half from now. A month from now you should have interviews and or scripts lined up depending on if you’re doing solo or interview episodes. Three weeks from now you should have your guest list put together two weeks from now your logos design and website up and running etc. Again, plans change and count on that but having these guideposts is going to help you follow through. Once things start getting really scary. Get accountability, with your goals and your guideposts if you historically have a hard time following through. When I was preparing to launch Eat Blog Talk, I went through this exact process I’m talking about here, I set a launch date, and I worked backwards from there to get everything done. And trust me when I say that starting this podcast was one of the scariest new ventures I have ever done. All the fears, including massive fears of failing came to me not just once, but many, many times. Having a plan though acted as my guide, almost like a firm but loving hands just pulling me along through my fears. My plan encouraged me to keep going. It told me I know this is scary, but you have another goal to meet. And I just kept taking off the goals until the project was done. And despite it being very, very scary. 

Megan Porta  17:10

Number five, take action. This can be the hardest part when it comes to starting something new. I 100% acknowledge this, we can trick ourselves into thinking that we just need to prepare more, we need to think more, research more. But there comes a time when this is just stalling. That fear of failing can keep us from taking a single step in the right direction. I have been at the precipice of starting something new when I’ve felt absolutely paralyzed with fear and just stood there and did nothing. When that happens, it feels impossible to get started. Maybe you know what I’m talking about. But in reality, it just requires us to take the first tiny step. Sometimes when I feel paralyzed like this, I’ll ask myself, what one little thing can I do right now to move me closer to my goal. In the podcast example, it could be something as simple as picking a main color for your logo. That’s super easy. Once you do that, you’ll likely feel inspired to pick out a font. And from there, the momentum is going and things just start getting done. One little step might feel insignificant, but can lead to all the other steps. 

Megan Porta  18:21

But summarize the five steps to dealing with failure when starting something new. Number one face that fear of failing. Two go down the outcome rabbit holes. Three, evaluate past failures, four, make a plan. And five, take action. Being afraid of starting new things because of that potential you might fail is not a good reason to not do them. In fact, it’s the perfect reason to do them. If you’re afraid and your life isn’t in dire danger. It’s a sign that you should be doing the thing and again, if your new venture fails good. That means your growth and eventual success has just been expedited. So celebrate that you’ve got this start the new thing you can do it thank you so much for listening to this episode food bloggers. I will see you next time.

Outro  19:13

Thank you so much for listening to this mindset and self-care episode here on Eat Blog Talk. If you are a food blogger providing a service for other food bloggers, and you want to spread the word about the value that you offer. I would love to offer you a free way to do just this. Send me a 60 second audio clip to be featured in a mindset and self-care episode here on Eat Blog Talk in 2024. Go to eatblogtalk.com/audioclip to learn more.


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