Some of our most significant successes in life and business come from learning from our failures. Our ability to remain accountable, committed, and open to learning from others’ mistakes can often be the difference between quick defeat and long-term success. Humility trumps hubris every time.
A lot of that humility comes from admitting your own mistakes, learning from them, making amends, and, most importantly, not being afraid to use those experiences to help others achieve their dreams and goals, as opposed to having a closed mind, bossing people around, and telling them what to do.
MJ Gottlieb, a friend and fellow “fail up” entrepreneur recently shared with our team that he does not tell entrepreneurs what to do or how to run their businesses. In fact, he is 100% against it.
In MJ’s book How To Ruin a Business Without Really Trying, he specifically tells entrepreneurs what not to do when running a business. He highlights 55 painstaking (and often hysterical) case studies throughout his 23-year journey as an entrepreneur to educate us on some of the most prevalent and destructive mistakes entrepreneurs make when running a business.
MJ explained to us why he believes telling entrepreneurs what to do and how to run their businesses simply doesn’t work. We agreed with him on all counts.
Long Live The Rugged Individualist
- Entrepreneurs do not like to be told what to do. Period. That is why they forge their own paths and start their businesses in the first place. Learning the key mistakes to avoid, on the other hand, allows them to prepare while still giving them the freedom of their own experience. There is no single blueprint for success as all businesses are different with their own unique circumstances. There are, however, many common mistakes that all entrepreneurs can learn from.
- Most entrepreneurs lead with their egos (whether they realize it or not) and they do not respond well to authority. Learning from the experience and failure of others provides the entrepreneur with valuable lessons without letting their ego cloud their judgment.
Telling It Like It Is
Our team at Fishbowl agrees with MJ that it is vitally important that aspiring entrepreneurs know what they are getting into before making the leap into entrepreneurial waters. MJ notes, “Society tells the story of the entrepreneur through rose-colored glasses, which I think to say is unfair would be the understatement of the century. What aspiring entrepreneurs see are the champagne wishes and caviar dreams. There is way too much written about success, and way too little written about failure. If nine out of 10 businesses fail, then why in the world are we not addressing the most important issue that’s staring everyone right in the face? What aspiring entrepreneurs need to know is the failure part because the secret to all success is hidden inside the lessons from the failure.”
Why Tell People How To Ruin A Business?
If you’re wondering where the book title came from, there is a definite method to MJ’s madness. He believes entrepreneurs are some of the most determined people in the world. But their stubbornness, which is usually an asset, can be their biggest liability if it keeps them from learning from others’ mistakes.
MJ says, “If you truly become a student of business and study the history, you will see an overwhelming number of common-thread mistakes that most businesses make that entrepreneurs can learn from so they can easily be avoided in their own entrepreneurial journey.”
In the 55 case studies throughout the book, MJ brings up all the big mistakes… having too much inventory and/or overhead, over-promising and under-delivering, and signing personal guarantees, among others. You name it, he’s made the mistake and lived to tell the tale. The question is, who has the humility to listen? That’s where the “Ruin” part comes in. By simply not paying attention to their mistakes, entrepreneurs ruin their businesses every day… without really trying. Get it?
Daymond John and FUBU… MJ’s Biggest Screw-Up
MJ’s biggest mistake came in 1996. He let his emotions cloud his judgment when he had an opportunity to help grow the fledgling FUBU brand. Not coincidentally, Daymond John, CEO of FUBU and co-host of ABC’s “Shark Tank,” wrote the foreword to MJ’s book. MJ laughs, “Daymond knows what an experienced screw-up I am. He also knows how invaluable it is to learn from the mistakes of others, and he has the humility to admit his mistakes. That’s what makes him who he is. He doesn’t sit on some high ground thinking he’s better than everyone. His most powerful asset is his ability to listen. That’s what makes him deadly on ‘Shark Tank.’”
Daymond talks about his failures in an interview MJ and I did with him for the Lemon-aide Interviews last year.
Why The Book Almost Never Existed
MJ admits the book was never supposed to be written. Shortly after losing one of his businesses in 1999, MJ began writing on a yellow notepad all the mistakes he had made strictly as a way to get them out of his head so he could sleep at night. He would write every night in the lobby of Reebok Sports Club in Manhattan after he finished playing basketball.
One day, a friend of his, David Belafonte (son of the great actor and singer), told him he should quit feeling sorry for himself and use what he was writing to help aspiring entrepreneurs learn from his mistakes so they wouldn’t have to go through the same heartache and pain. He jokingly told MJ to call it “What Every Entrepreneur Should NOT Do When Running A Business.” Years later MJ started turning those notes into what is now How To Ruin A Business Without Really Trying.
MJ adds, “It is so important that people learn from my mistakes, I am totally cool with being the lab rat. So long as I can continue to help aspiring entrepreneurs learn from my mistakes then everything I went through will be worth it.”
How To Ruin A Business Without Really Trying is the first book of The Lemon-Aide Guide, a series MJ created that focuses on stories of people and companies who have turned previous failures into current successes. It’s a solid read and we look forward to sharing a few more of “juicy tidbits” of wisdom with you in the coming weeks.
Have a great week and remember, if you fail, fall forward!
Additional reporting for this article provided by Mary Michelle Scott, Fishbowl President. The 7 Non-Negotiables of Winning is available from Amazon. For additional training offerings: www.7nns.com.
