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Sometimes it’s scary to be an entrepreneur.
It’s hard to find the sweet spot to engage with people and build a successful business around that, and sometimes there comes a point when throwing in the towel on a venture is the best foot forward; but when is that the right move?
The nature of the beast is that 80% of business ventures fail. 80 percent! That doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t even try; it just means that it’s hard to find long-lasting success, but so worth it because of the strength it took to see it through. In 1986 Aaron thought he was successful and clever enough to weather the storm with a cell phone business (yes, during the 80s) yet remembers vividly having to turn over the keys to some beautiful things in his life after closing.
Sometimes it’s not until we’ve hit rock bottom that the only thing to do is go up, using whatever means necessary to crawl out of the hole. Through a lot of humility, Aaron became the “Tie Guy” and sold discount cards door to door to barely make ends meet, not because it was what he wanted to do, but because it was a solution. He had the courage to stop being an entrepreneur in order to provide for his family. It was the bravest move he ever made to take a few steps back and know when to stop, which in turn helped him get his feet back on the ground and pursue the entrepreneurial success he now has.
“Keep looking up, and I’ll keep looking out.” –Aaron Young
Welcome to The Lookout Society Podcast, where Aaron shares a story from his life, then connects it with a business principle to pass on. This is his way of helping others that are also going down an entrepreneurship path as contributing members to society. As an added bonus, Aaron sometimes shares wonderful gems of Oregonian knowledge from his home state and weaves the passion he has for the community he lives in as an invitation for others to visit the Pacific Northwest.
If you’re enjoying these podcasts, become a part of The Lookout Society and opt in as a subscriber or write a review on ITunes.
Feel free to send an email to AaronYoung@laughlinusa.com or contact us!
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LESSON FOR THE DAY
Failing forward is having enough courage and brains to know when to stop and take a few steps back until you can get back on your feet enough to pursue your life purpose. Make sure that you have the confidence to fail forward because you never know what opportunities will come to you. Stay curious!
LINKS MENTIONED ON THE SHOW
- 80% of businesses fail
- The Lookout podcast about Thoreau’s guide to recycling
- Cell phones from the 80s
#thelookoutsociety
OTHER INTERESTING LINKS & REFERENCES
Check out five reasons why 8 out of 10 businesses fail to see what NOT to do!
In the article 23 Successful People Who Failed at First shows us what happens when a person stops staying “can’t,” or have been told that they aren’t capable of following their dreams and didn’t listen. Sometimes all we see is the grand mansion of success that we don’t see the basement beginnings holding it all up.
A sucker for origin stories, I also enjoyed reading The Biggest Failures of Successful People (and How They Got Back Up) mostly because of the title then was pleasantly surprised with some of the people, whom I’ve always thought were successful.
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ABOUT THE SHOW NOTES
Each of The Lookout Society show notes are written by Natalie C. Martin
LEARN A LITTLE ABOUT NATALIE:
A life-long learner and unashamed history nerd, Natalie is a certified teacher in secondary education history and English turned stay at home mom. She is the mother of four energetic children all two years apart from 8 to 2 and recently celebrated her 11th wedding anniversary with the only boyfriend she ever had. After the kiddies are put to bed, she writes show notes as she continues to ignite her passion for writing and editing, fact checking and learning to make the world wide web a more educated place. When we learn that more gets accomplished when we replace “can’t” with “can” so many possibilities are opened to us. In the words of Rosie the Riveter, “We can do it!”
