How Failure Can Lead To Success | Blue Ridge Wealth Planners

“Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” – Samuel Beckett

“You always pass failure on your way to success.” – Mickey Rooney

“Mistakes are the portals of discovery.” – James Joyce¹

“Failure is success in progress.” – Albert Einstein²

“Success consists of going from failure to failure with enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill³

Research shows that 90% of startup companies fail, as do 75% of venture-backed startups — so not having adequate capital isn’t always the reason. Problems can range from a poor marketing strategy to a bad partnership to not adequately understanding regulatory hurdles to some miscalculation with the product itself.⁴

Many successful entrepreneurs — arguably the backbone of American ingenuity — will tell you that success was a long-term goal achieved after a series of short-term failures. Indeed, failures offer new opportunities to pivot to a new direction and often serve as a reminder to trust your own instincts about why or how you initially began pursuing the goal.

When it comes to financial security, it’s important to have a plan — even when it fails, it’s better than having no plan at all. One of the best backstops for financial security is insurance. We buy it for our homes, our vehicles and our health to offset large financial losses. It is just as important to purchase insurance to help ensure adequate retirement income and to help stabilize the financial future of surviving loved ones. After all, these scenarios are just as important as a house or automobile and failing to plan for these outcomes could prove disastrous. Please contact us for an insurance review to help ensure that your plan for financial security succeeds.

Up to one-third of America’s small businesses have closed — temporarily if not permanently — during this pandemic.⁵Many of those firms may have been thriving businesses that simply could not survive going months without minimum revenues. Some may have even purchased business interruption insurance for just this type of unforeseen scenario. Unfortunately, most of these types of policies require some form of direct physical loss or damage to the business property — which means they don’t pay claims for business loss due to government mandates to restrict or close nonessential business operations.⁶ This is an example of a plan failing through no fault of the business owner. Even the insurance industry has not adequately established products to address this type of crisis. As we move forward, this is likely to change.

Writers, athletes, scientists and politicians generally recognize that we learn from our mistakes and our inability to foretell the future. We are often driven off course by not enough advice or too much information. Whatever the reason, it is our failures that frequently provide the path to success. Once the pain of failure subsides, we can objectively reflect on what happened, what we can do differently on the next try and how we might change our approach or mindset.

Content prepared by Kara Stefan Communications.

¹ Success. July 17, 2019. “13 Inspiring Quotes About Failure.” https://www.success.com/13-inspiring-quotes-about-failure/. Accessed Dec. 3, 2021.

² Steve Murphy. Entrepreneur. Feb. 3, 2021. “Why Failure is Necessary in Order to Succeed as an Entrepreneur.” https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/362205. Accessed Dec. 3, 2021.

³ Nilgin Yusuf. Harper’s Bazaar. July 13, 2021. “Why losing can be good for us.” https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/a37009171/why-losing-can-be-good-for-us/. Accessed Dec. 3, 2021.

⁴ Saemoon Yoon. World Economic Forum. Nov. 30, 2021. “Why failing can help build business – Lessons from 9 entrepreneurs.” https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/11/why-failure-is-important-for-entrepreneurs-lessons-from-9-founders/. Accessed Dec. 3, 2021.

⁵ Chris Nichols. Austin-American Statesman. June 8, 2021. “Fact-check: Have one-third of US small businesses closed during pandemic?” https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/politifact/2021/06/08/kamala-harris-small-business-closures-covid-fact-check/7602531002/. Accessed Dec. 4, 2021.

⁶ The National Law Review. Oct. 15, 2021. “The Pandemic vs. the Policyholder: COVID-19 and Business Interruption Coverage Claims.” https://www.natlawreview.com/article/pandemic-vs-policyholder-covid-19-and-business-interruption-coverage-claims. Accessed Dec. 4, 2021.

We are an independent firm helping individuals create retirement strategies using a variety of insurance products to custom suit their needs and objectives. This material is intended to provide general information to help you understand basic retirement income strategies and should not be construed as financial advice.

The information contained in this material is believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed; it is not intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions.