As an entrepreneur, your journey is not always profitable. There will be days where you have to face product failure, employee issues, financial struggles and more. Whether the mishap is big or small, it can seriously cause anyone to begin doubting themselves.

If you’re one such struggling entrepreneur, you should know that you’re not alone. Even the biggest business giants like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs had their kind of setbacks before reaching their goals. Just like how one has to hope for a bright day after a bad one, you have to push through such struggles and come out to the other side alright.

And what’s the best way to bounce back? By starting from within.

We’ve got great strategies you can use to recover from a mistake like a pro:

Own Your Mistake

The defeats that are the hardest to deal with are those that are caused by your own mistake. But the first step in overcoming any failure is by taking accountability for the parts you played. Whether you made a wrong assumption, released a product without testing, or invested your money in the wrong things, you need to accept them as your missteps. Understand the role you played, and promise yourself to be more insightful in the future. Although this feels counterintuitive, the reality is that showing accountability helps clear your mind of all “ifs” and “buts”. Furthermore, your team will appreciate your honesty and will give you a chance to make things right.

Analyze It

Once you’ve accepted your mistake, it’s time you understand where you went wrong. Reach out to your managers and employees, and discuss the cause and effects of your mishap. Don’t take the misstep as a personal attack; instead, sit down and go through all the steps and decisions that built up to the moment of failure. When you go into the nitty-gritty details of the situation, you better understand your weak spots, and moments of vulnerability in your business. Upon discussing with your team members, you can learn how to strengthen your company, so that you don’t repeat the same mistake.

Shift & Redefine

It’s always good to analyze your mistakes, but you don’t have to ponder on it for too long. Otherwise, your mind will keep on sticking to the negative side of every situation. Instead, make any immediate decisions necessary to right any wrongs, and shift your focus entirely. It’s a great practice to implement new strategies in times of trouble so that you don’t repeat the same mistake. For example, you could start a different marketing campaign, or do more in-depth research about your audience. There are many more new things you can try – just make sure its an approach that is well thought-out and achievable.

Sometimes, even if you shift your focus, the impending fear of failure never leaves. It is natural to feel that way – but it shouldn’t be a lifelong problem. So how do you bounce back from that?

The answer is to redefine the meaning of “failure”. If failure used to mean a lack of success, then change it’s meaning: now, failure is the chance to transform yourself. Instead of focusing on the setback itself, focus on the result of that setback – what did you learn from it? How has it strengthened your business for the better? Focusing on the positive side of the bad times will help you be more hopeful for the future.


In the end, that is what entrepreneurship is about: enjoying the successful times and being headstrong against the difficulties. All that matters is to make sure your business survives against all odds.