I’m confused.
I walked out of a Spin 66 session encouraged by the dialogue about business failures. While the talk led by downtown developer Matt E. Miller was mostly philosophical and lacked meat on the bones, it felt like we were getting somewhere. It seemed like the entrepreneurial community was making progress in accepting failure – a key tenet if you believe the folks at 1 Million Cups.
So when Springfield Business Journal reporter Brian Brown followed up with Miller about the specific lessons he’s learned through failures, I was surprised to hear he wasn’t willing to share any. The momentum stopped. The brakes screeched.
This was just days after hearing such comments in the session as, “Failure’s kind of the next big thing,” and “Apparently, I’m a pretty big fan of this concept.”
Of course, the latter statement was in jest, given Miller was directly approached to lead a session titled, “Failure Is a Chance for a New Start.” Someone had to lead it. And I don’t believe Miller is a decorated failure in his business ventures. But I think that’s the point. We all fail in certain ways and at various times. There are successes on the other side. The encouraging factor is now we’re creating a space to talk openly about our failures and move forward together in what we’ve learned.
Or so I thought.
As journalists, our intent is to bring such honesty to a wider group of entrepreneurs and businesspeople for the greater good. In fact, it’s a mission that 1MC has echoed in its pursuit to connect and educate entrepreneurs and build bridges for startups. That’s why they ask each presenter in closing: How can we as a community help you?
Entrepreneurs can help other entrepreneurs by speaking frankly about their failures and the lessons learned. That’s not my idea. That’s paraphrasing from Miller’s presentation. I support it wholeheartedly, but I’m still confused. What I know is Miller did not follow his own advice.
I also know in a separate session unrelated to failures, Jeff Schrag candidly shared his two biggest failures: buying a plumbing supply circular in the early 1990s, just as digital distribution was developing, and opening a short-lived salon in downtown Springfield. His session on taking ideas to market was called “There Is No Boilerplate.”
Is Schrag a bigger failure than the next? No. He’s just willing to talk about it.
You see how critical it is that someone who has created success with a notion about craft beer can talk about previous ideas that stunk? It’s not terribly important for that successful person, but it is for the early stage entrepreneur who’s struggling to put business plans in place and hungry for some bit of success (whatever they’ve determined that to be, because we define success differently).
I personally know many people who need that kind of support and encouragement to stay the course or to chase down a different idea.
I think that’s why 1MC and other entrepreneurial networking groups, such as Springfield Creatives and Springfield Collective, have gained a footing here. It’s caught on even at Evangel University, which in the fall will offer an entrepreneurship course in partnership with 1MC. Entrepreneurism is beginning to shape our city.
A Spin 66 promotional video described Springfield as an “open source city.” I think that’s brilliant, and candid talks about failure fit right in. Entrepreneur Shawn Matthews says on the video, “There is still a lot of work we can do in the city, and we each should do our part.”
Work involves failures, because work involves risks. Honestly, failure sucks. It sucks because it is difficult, and there are real consequences. We want the easy path.
While I’m not an entrepreneur, I’ve had my fair share of failures in work. The first was my idea to go into sports broadcasting – not good for a mumbling shy guy. I learned that the hard way during an internship at KY3 under Ned Reynolds. (I hope KY3 has no record of those mock audition tapes.) Another of my failures I can hardly believe happened. In my previous role as SBJ news editor, we launched a yearlong series in 2006 to examine the flow of federal dollars in the Ozarks, and we never published a second installment. I think we bit off more than we could chew at the time.
Failure is usually due to our own weakness or others’ opposition. The aim isn’t to avoid failure. If we’re not failing, we’re probably not taking risks. What I believe I hear 1MC organizers say is that they want to create an environment where it’s safe for entrepreneurs to fail as they take necessary and calculated risks.
As Miller rightly said, “It’s OK to fail. It’s part of the process to success.” And then he touched on something I think is key in this discussion. He said we must be secure enough with ourselves to properly handle failure, which leads to failing responsibly.
Sure, there are different degrees of failure with commensurate economic damages. But together, we can manage our failures well.
After all, as Miller says, “There are no failure police out there. So fail responsibly.”
Now, that’s advice worth following.
Springfield Business Journal Editor Eric Olson can be reached at eolson@sbj.net.
