Fertilizer

I just finished listening to a podcast by Entrepreneur On Fire. A core premise of their work is the importance of learning from failure.

That got me thinking about... well... failure... and success...

Being an entrepreneur is, by definition, a path into failure. 
Each idea, when tried, will either lead to something better or something worse.
Thus each step we take is a risk. 

A direction that doesn't move us forward or backward is not on the entrepreneurial compass.

So... just going with the odds...
All paths will eventually lead to dead ends. 
These are called failures.

Failure requires stepping backwards a bit, sometimes quite a bit, and trying something else.
Those who do try something else are called entrepreneurs.

Some positive paths grow long enough for people to notice them. 
These are called successes.

People like to hear about success.
It sounds a lot like hope.
That's why it gets more attention than failure... at least by people who embrace hope.

Success, when broadcast, becomes essential fodder for the next generation of entrepreneurs...
Who will then persistently produce failures... 
Until they get noticed...

So here I am... with some vital conclusions... 

Failures are events, requiring a change in direction.
Successes are simply snapshots along a path toward failure.
Entrepreneurs are those whose professional goal is to fail long enough to succeed sometimes.

And...
That success is basically... just fertilizer.
That success always leads to failure. 
That failure is always required for success.

Oh... and...
That this path sucks about half of the time... 
And is positively thrilling the other half.
Which, of course, is the only way to prove that the path is indeed still an entrepreneurial one.

There... 
Now let's go make more fertilizer.