As a business owner, you can find many sources of information on how to succeed. But not many of them tell you that you also need to be prepared to fail. When you run a business, you can often feel like you have something to prove. When you first start out, particularly if it is an unconventional business, there can be people who view your ‘business venture’ as a ‘phase’ or are negative about its potential success. So often there is pressure to always make sure business sound successful.

But there are very few business owners and entrepreneurs who have not failed at some point in the journey, in both big and small ways. Some experts will tell you that it takes several ‘falls’ (including complete business failures) to find success. And if you go into business ownership expecting success at every turn, you might want to shift your expectations!

This is not all doom and gloom! In fact, many experts will tell you that failure is quite possibly a requirement for success. We learn inherently more from ‘what not to do’ and most of us are highly motivated not to make those same mistakes again.

Risk is, of course, relative. That is, when you are 20 years old, single and have no mortgage, the failure of your business is perhaps not as dire as someone with three children and a long list of expenses. But here’s the clincher: every worthwhile thing in business (and life) has risk. The greater the reward, usually, the greater the risk.

So the key is not to dream about success, but to take some calculated risks and take steps to make it happen. And don’t expect that there will only be one risk – your business journey will require continual evaluation, and taking of, risk.

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender

Many business owners use the New Year season to take stock of their business and life in general. It is a great opportunity to set goals and plan for the coming year, and make changes where necessary.

Hopefully when you started your business, you went into it with your eyes wide open. If you didn’t, it would not have taken you long to learn that running a business means you will need to sacrifice some blood, sweat, tears, money, time and so on in order to achieve success. The tricky part is maintaining some semblance of balance. You need to ensure that your sacrifices are not outweighing your success.

The very first ‘sacrifice’ you should evaluate is family time. There is nothing wrong with short periods of time where work has to come first. But if you spend little time with family and friends and spend most of your nights and weekends working, you need to make some changes. Reflect on what is most important in life and work towards creating more, not less, time on that.

Find a leisure activity that is completely different to your ‘work’ and make it a regular (i.e. at least weekly) pastime. This gives your brain time to recharge and will ultimately provide you with more focus and energy. Ensure that you take regular holidays, where you completely ‘switch off’. This is critical now more than ever in the age of 24/7 access to technology.

Evaluate whether your ‘normal’ state is one of stress and anxiety. If it is, you need to decide if a shorter life span (which is ultimately what extreme, constant stress results in), is worth it.

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender