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Every founder I trust will tell you the same thing: The biggest mistakes often inform the clearest strategy. Kim Perell is one of those founders. On a recent episode of The Big Idea podcast from Yahoo Finance, I sat down with Perell, a nine-time entrepreneur and the best-selling author of the book Mistakes That Made Me a Millionaire: How to Transform Setbacks into Extraordinary Success.
Perell has built multiple multi-million-dollar businesses from the ground up and is known for teaching founders how to turn setbacks into strategy. When I asked her how she built lasting success, she didn’t credit luck or timing. She credited failure and how she studied her mistakes. We are both moms and acknowledged that parenthood in and of itself is an ocean of mistakes!
Not everyone has that mindset. According to the 2024 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report, 49 percent of adults worldwide say they would not start a business because they fear failure. Overcoming the fear of failure is not optional; it is foundational to leadership. Here are three Perell principles every entrepreneur can use to turn setbacks into strategy.
Remember that failing does not make you a failure
“So many times something tragic happens,” Perell explains. “We use some of these challenges, and we define ourselves by them. I think that’s a huge mistake.”
To be truly successful, you have to be willing to bounce back. If you spend your energy chasing perfection, you will never find satisfaction because perfection is unattainable. Failure is inevitable, but the lessons you learn and how you respond to these mistakes determine your trajectory.
Perell believes that small-business owners need to take personal responsibility for their mistakes and then decide what to do next.
“Do you learn from it? How do you react? How you react is actually going to make the biggest difference in how that mistake plays out,” she says. “Mistakes are inevitable on the path to success, so embrace it, learn from it, grow from it, and move on.”
Surround yourself with supportive people
One piece of advice I hear repeatedly from the most successful leaders is to build a personal board of advisers. My board includes my girlfriends and my dad. Your board can include mentors, peers, family, and trusted confidants who can offer diverse perspectives. In a recent Kabbage survey of 200 small businesses, 92 percent of respondents said their mentors had a direct impact on their growth and survival.
“You can’t do it alone, you need help,” Perell says. “It’s more of a collaborative discussion on how we can solve this together.” The right people challenge you, protect you from blind spots, and help turn failures into decisions.
Mistakes are the path to success
Perell has invested in more than 100 companies, and she notes that nearly all of them have had to pivot to survive. Very few successful businesses end up doing exactly what they started with. YouTube, for example, began as a video-based dating site before becoming a global content platform. Twitter started as a podcasting project called Odeo before evolving into social media. Successful entrepreneurs and business owners learn from their mistakes and realize that being adaptable and learning to quickly repurpose is vital.
Every entrepreneur will face a dirty unicorn, what I call the mistake that feels too big to recover from. However, if you’re willing to study it, speak about it, and shape strategy from it, that mistake might be the most valuable investor you’ll ever have.
On The Big Idea, I ask every guest about the biggest mistake they’ve made. Not because I want the story, but because I want to share their response strategy with America’s aspiring entrepreneurs and small-business owners.
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Elizabeth Gore
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