Milestone this week

“A period of introspection after each professional experience, whether it be good or bad, is valuable, if you have a bad experience, you need to learn from it” –Stan Lapidus

“Well you got your first failed business under you belt” –My brother

Sigh!!!!! Yes, yesterday after a year and a half of work and thousands of dollars invested, I finally pulled the plug on my startup in Brazil.  Similar to a bad romantic relationship, I stayed in it much longer than I should have for a number of reasons; knowing full well the economic principle of ignoring sunk costs, I should have cut my losses months ago.  And looking back, I probably should not have gotten into it in the first place!  My primary motivation was to help my family in Brazil, specifically my mother’s brother and sister; they had always been in a financial mess as long I could remember.  So instead of investing in an opportunity that I felt would give me the greatest return, I invested in something I felt best catered to their skill set.

Lesson # 1 -- Profitability should be the driving force behind investing.

I also over evaluated my aunt’s and uncle’s skill, I took them for their word, that they had exceptional talent in confection, and that this in turn would give us a superior product. Not the case.  In addition I assumed that since both of them were old enough to be my parents, that they would conduct themselves in a professional manner, didn’t happen!

Lesson # 2 – Talents and Skills must be evaluated using recordable metrics.

I assumed that my aunt and uncle were hard working people that were going to give it everything they got to the opportunity I was giving them, not the case!

Lesson # 3 – Build a team only with people who want to win.

Eventually I realized that we were in a highly competitive field with established major players, and that being based thousands of miles away made it impossible for me to make my employee accountable.  I simply did not have the proper talent needed to succeed, but I was too proud to amit my mistake, I kept pumping money into the business and praying that people who had been failures all their lives would suddenly change their ways solely by my weekly peptalks!

Lesson # 4 – Be honest with yourself and about the people around you.

Had I been more humble, I could have saved myself thousands of dollars and months of aggravation and disillusionment. Alas.

But I’ve caught the entrepreneur bug, I’m going to pay off my debts, regroup, and go at it again, this time humble and hungrier!

Also http://www.triz40.com I found it interesting, especially considering that when a problem really stumps you, the human mind tends to focus on it so much that its hard to think out of the box.  This tool will at least give some suggestions that one might have completely ignored.