Failure Isn't Failure!

Credit: Bill Gillespie

Failure isn't the end...it's a beginning. It's a course correction, a detour. Nothing more.

Early in my career I worked for a door manufacturer. I managed an in-house print shop and purchased anything we couldn't do ourselves. It was 1975.

I shared an office with a graphic designer. Together we created the collateral our company needed and made sure things looked good. If I needed art for a company form or label, he was the source.

About three years in we suggested creating an in house marketing group. The two of us and a guy from engineering met, cooked up a concept and pitched it upstairs. It was approved instantly.

Then the surprises started. The space set aside for it wasn't what we expected. It needed a leader, and the designer dude was selected. I would hold my title as a manager, but it no longer held the status I had enjoyed. Little by little it took shape and looked very different from the vision I had of our future.

There were compromises on salary too. I was earning a whopping $13,000 per year. The other guys earned raises but I did not. It was finally more than I could tolerate. I demanded a raise and made it clear I was leaving if I didn't get it.

Well, the raise didn't happen. I started looking for work. I decided I needed to leave the in-house world and work for a printing company.

The only thing offered to me was sales. This was not my goal, but I reasoned that if I could just get hired my employer would discover my talents and transfer me to estimating or purchasing. If I failed, I could always find another job paying $13,000 per year.

Starting as a sales trainee was brutal. I sold a job my first day on the way to work. My new boss said, "that isn't what we do. Give it back." My mentor (a rep from one of my old suppliers) volunteered in public, "Bill might sell some stuff but he'll never be a high dollar guy." The path wasn't exactly gift-wrapped.

There were weeks where it felt like I had thrown an expensive tantrum. Demanding a raise and making good on my promise had plunged my wife and I into uncertain circumstances. Bad seemed to have become worse.

But, I liked the people part of sales. Coming from the buying side, I had a sensitivity to the client's plight. I saw projects for the business problem they solved, not their specs.

I don't have to tell you the rest. If you follow me, you know that I wrote more than $100 million in sales. I found my career. Sales was exactly what I was supposed to be doing.

The door company confrontation wasn't a failure. It was a course correction. It wasn't my last one either. If you're at a crossroads of some sort, make room for this idea. Your path to success lies in a different direction.

Any path you elect to leave was simply an audition. They were trying you out, but you were trying them out too. It's like a "test drive."

If you can see the world as a sea of opportunity it will change your perspective. FAILURE ISN'T THE END. IT'S A BEGINNING!