Can Everyone Be Successful in Starting Their Business?

Misconception of Failure

Before I get to your question, I want to address your comment about failing. Because as far as I’m concerned, the closing of your business didn’t mean that you failed; it merely meant that you had to close it down after it failed to generate your desired results within a year.

Many people have a misconception that failure means the inability to achieve X results in Y period. That’s not true though. True failure only happens when you give up on your goals and dreams prematurely. Closing of a business isn’t the end of the story; you can always return to starting a new business (be it in the same or different field) in the future, whenever you want to.

Years ago before I pursued my passion in the form of my personal development business, I contemplated the possibility of failure. I was afraid that I was going to quit my job, dedicate X period of my life to my business, but ultimately fail, which would result in a waste of that part of my life (plus loss of the money I could have earned from continuing my corporate job and the jeopardy of my career path from quitting).

What if I fail? What was I to do then? were questions that circled in my mind.

Interestingly, these questions drew blanks, for I genuinely could not think of anything I would want to do other than to be in the personal development field, work on my personal development business, and help others grow.

Despite brainstorming for alternatives, be it to return to the corporate world or to work for some NGO which would provide some semblance of financial stability over starting my business, these alternatives failed to enthuse me. My mind kept returning to my personal development business—basically to keep working on it regardless of the result.

I realized that even if I were to run out of financial reserves, it didn’t have to be the end of my business. I could always take up a part-time job or return to full-time employment to generate more savings, after which I could then use my spare time to build on my business. I could then repeat this as many times as needed until my business finally takes off.

This was when I realized that it was literally impossible for me to fail unless I decide to quit on it prematurely before seeing results. After all, as long as I kept going and kept pushing through, I was definitely going to succeed at some point. Whatever I accomplished in my business before “making it” (defined as achieving financial stability) could never be a waste, because it would only give me the necessary knowledge to progress further.

Realizing this was a big aha moment for me. By expanding the time frame to work on my business to infinity, failure became impossible and success, inevitable. By looking at my business as a lifetime project rather than something I had to “make it” in X years, I could then make decisions and action plans that would ensure my eventual success, rather than hasty plans driven by fear and not in line with my bigger vision.

The One Time It Is Okay To “Give Up”: When Your Goal Does Not Resonate Anymore

So basically, my point here is that it’s impossible for you to fail unless you decide to give up yourself. As long as you keep persisting (coupled with smart work and hard work), you will eventually succeed. There is simply no doubt about it and I’m a living example of that.

That said, there is one scenario and only one scenario where you should give up on a goal/dream/business. And that’s when that goal/dream/business does not resonate with you anymore, be it due to misalignment of values, change in life priorities, or change in your life vision.

The Role of One’s Character in Success

As for your question of whether it is possible to change your current character to become successful in business (or anything for that matter), my answer is: yes, it is very possible.

Just as weaknesses can be turned into strengths and talents can be cultivated from nothing, personalities are 100% malleable. No matter what your character is today, you can develop a totally different character, if that’s what you desire and that’s what is necessary for you to achieve your goals.

The whole process of character transformation is exactly what I have been doing throughout my personal development journey. While I am very assertive, directive, and fairly accepting today, I didn’t used to be like this in the past. These are traits which I honed over the years as part of becoming a better person and achieving my goals.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, anyone—in my opinion—is fully capable of success, be it in business or anything in life. I don’t see success as a function of your current or inborn character traits, as much as it’s a function of (a) your persistence, (b) hard work, and (c) smart work. Regardless of what your character is today, as long as you have the desire to achieve a goal, you will naturally change and adopt the right characteristics to succeed in that goal.

As Zig Ziglar said before, “It is your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your altitude.“

All the best in your ventures guys. 🙂