The Benefit to Failing
Hard Lessons
Life is a series of learning moments to bring you to the person you are today. The path of the business owner follows those same lines. The first few months of being a business owner is literally a litany of those very learning instances.
It has been said that failure is the best teacher. A quote attributed to Thomas Edison states, “I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” I find that this mentality is almost a necessity while owning and operating your own business. If you cannot accept your defeats and grow from them, there’s a good possibility that you’ll repeat them. A business can only handle so many repeated mistakes and failures before succumbing.
A Personal Example
A few years ago our business (previously Mammoth Handcrafted Signs), had the opportunity to create a custom eye-catching sign for a local Dentist’s Office. Through a series of meetings and conversations, we set course on a design we were both excited for. It consisted of a few different handmade items and that really drove our passion on that project.
We created a 3D “toothbrush” design. The design would be created out of 18-lb. sandblasted HDU sign foam, sandwiched around a skeleton of ¾-in. square steel tubing. The first iteration of the “toothbrush” was designed to hold the sign containing the dental practice’s name. Towards the end of the design phase, the client requested additional signs featuring the dentists’ names. These additional signs were subsequently created and attached. We failed to take into account the additional weight of these later signs and during the first fit up we realized the steel frame structure was no longer strong enough to hold the signs level. We immediately disassembled the signs and began working on additional supports for the frame to bring us back to square.
The following week we went to the site and installed the sign. Shortly after the installation, a violent storm started to brew. Within half an hour, extremely strong gusts of wind started blowing through the hills. The sign was slammed with an exceptionally fierce blast of wind and while the frame held strong, the stress on the linkage proved too great. The sign was ripped away and smashed into pieces on the ground.
This was a serious setback. We knew we had some serious redesigning to do. Learning from this mistake was a crucial step in creating a structurally stronger sign. We immediately contacted the client to inform him of the setback and headed back to the shop to research and brainstorm solutions. We decided to do a twist on the original design and changed the style of signage to a double-post panel system. The second “toothbrush” added increased stability and reduced the need for the signs to be free hanging.
Knowledge is Power
The redesign of our “toothbrush” sign proved successful and stands proudly to this day. These setbacks forced us to look into previously untapped sources of information. While we had always looked at durability specs and weight on the materials we used, it had become very clear there was information that we lacked. We realized we might know the specifications of materials, but not how those materials might behave differently given the locale of instillation. We had to research local weather extremes and cross-reference those with the structural specifications of various materials. This failure created a new pivotal step in our design processes. Our adaptability has increased greatly since the implementation of these new fabrication steps.
When clients hear of failures, they might become wary, but I believe that when a company says they’ve never had mistakes, it means they refuse to acknowledge them, learn from them, and puts them on a path to repeat mistakes. Failure can be hard and embarrassing, but it can also humble, inspire, and improve not only yourself but your business as a whole.
We have been candid in the past about our failures. In fact, we had this very story published in the national sign magazine, Signs of the Times.
Embrace your shortcomings. Learn from your mistakes. Grow as a Person and as a Business. Failure is a part of life, and we can all be better for it.