26A – Celebrating Failure

My failure is about my career as a restauranteur. In my past 25 years, I started 3 different locations of a blended concept of Pizzeria/Sports bar. The first 2 locations did extremely well. I was able to stay profitable and then sell the restaurant for a nice profit. The first restaurant even included the property in the sale that sweetened the pot. The last location was in my possession for almost 2 years. My mistake or failure was in bringing in a partner that was extremely unethical in many ways. We did not see eye to eye and as a result the restaurant was a total failure. I lost a lot of money to say the least. 

I think failure can be a good thing. It can be a wake up call in many different ways. For me it was a wake up call both personally and professionally. I had realized prior to my failure that I need to get into another line of work. 35 years of restaurant work in one way or another requiring many long hours and missed family time had taken its toll on me. A change was definitely in order. Although it was tough to swallow at first, in less then a week I felt a HUGE weight come off my shoulders. I actually started getting a good night sleep for the first time in years. My health also improved. 

Something Pryor said at the beginning of class stating that students should really think about becoming their own boss because of all the negatives rings 100% true with me. I've experienced it since the age of 26, Im now 50. The sacrifice is to great in my opinion. Say goodbye to weekends, and holidays and hello to many sleepless nights. Although I've thoroughly enjoyed this class my perspective was already quite clear on failure and what it takes to be an entrepreneur. It was just nice to see it from the other side, school and the beginning, pre-birth so to speak.

Comments

  1. ItaflamingoApril 18, 2020 at 10:14 AM

    Showing that you failed at something as big as starting a restaurant shows that failure can come in many sizes. The way you decided to use failure to make changes in your life and better yourself as a person is very admirable. It shows that failure can not only be a reflection of the task you failed at but of you as a person and your habits that cause you to be put in unfavorable positions.

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