this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023
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Are YOU a failed entrepreneur, or did your business fail?
Be thoughtful about how you answer this question because one describes a circumstance (that's common to all successful entrepreneurs I know, by the way) and the other describes a personal identity.
Now let's talk about how you handle "humiliation?"
First, recognize that YOU get to decide if you're humiliated, not them. To me (and pretty much every entrepreneur I've ever met), a failed business is no more humiliating in the entrepreneurship game than a strikeout is in baseball. It sucks, but it's a part of the game and pros understand that.
If you identify as a "failed entrepreneur," then yes, I suppose this is humiliating.
If, however, you identify as an entrepreneur whose business failed, then this is merely a right of passage on your journey. It's a stumble, not a loss of life.
But, again, this starts with YOU deciding who YOU are.
Once you have decided how YOU are going to define yourself, you can move on to your family.
First, I'm sorry they aren't supporting you. That sucks. Entrepreneurship is hard enough on its own and trying to build a business without the support of the people closest to you is playing the entrepreneurial game on "Expert Mode. I'm not saying you should blame them and I'm definitely not suggesting they caused the failure, but try not to take too much stock in the opinions of those who weren't in the arena with you.
Second, I'm sure your family loves you and I'm sure they think they're helping when they discourage you from the entrepreneurial path. After all, it is painful at times and the failure rate is high. But just because they love you and just because they want to protect you, that doesn't mean their opinion is credible and it certainly doesn't mean they're right.
So take their feedback as them showing love in their own, ill-informed way. Thank them for it, and appreciate the place it's coming from, but don't blindly accept it as truth, and definitely don't allow it to humiliate you.
If you do, then maybe they're right. Maybe you're not cut out for this entrepreneurship game after all.
But I don't believe that's the case and I don't believe anyone else who's actually in the arena does, either. :)