WIN SOME, LEARN SOME!
How making mistakes has made our contest finalists better entrepreneurs and stronger girls.
While most people say, “Win some, lose some,” entrepreneurs like to say, “Win some, learn some.” Entrepreneurs are comfortable with risk and see mistakes as part of the journey. They know that even if they fail, they’ll learn something that will give them a greater chance for success the next time. This kind of entrepreneurial mindset is not just reserved for seasoned startup owners. Even young entrepreneurs, especially our contest finalists, are known to embrace blunders like champs and appreciate opportunities for greater success after each try.
Here’s how The Startup Squad finalists came out on top after experiencing failure as young business owners:
Zollipops
For Alina Morse, teamwork is the name of the game when it comes to dealing with failure: “My favorite failure is probably the pops melting because it made us a better company and it made us stronger as a whole. We had to work hard to get the product fixed as a team and after that, all the problems seem very small and easy to fix because we had so much cohesiveness on the team. Now we can fix the small problems with no problem.” The teamwork behind Zollipops reminds us of the girlpreneurs in our the first book in The Startup Squad series!
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Rose & Co. Candlemakers
12-year-old Rose Powell learned early on that young entrepreneurs shouldn’t rely too much on others. She shared with us that she became too comfortable with her dad’s contributions to her business. “That’s a lesson that all girls (even ones that aren’t entrepreneurs) should learn, is to not always rely on others. To be self-sufficient, because if you’re not, your business (or your life) will crumble.” It’s about self-confidence too. Young entrepreneurs do well when they believe in themselves and do things independently.
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Ooh La Lemon
13-year-old besties and business partners Katie Vonder Haar and Hailey Hertzman discovered that some business decisions can be costly. “One of the first products we bought were cell phone cases in 10 different fruit designs. Because there are so many different models of iPhones, we had to buy each design in 6 different sizes and this took a lot of our money and was difficult to track. We have now learned to be more cautious in ordering our inventory.” Any error in judgment, even expensive ones, can motivate young entrepreneurs to go back to the drawing board and figure out what works best.
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Goddess Food Factory
13-year-old Simone Bridges faced the pitfalls of an out-of-balance work-school situation as a young entrepreneur. “The biggest mistake I made thus far is not prioritizing my responsibilities and failure to balance business and school work. One time, I had a huge expo in which I baked over 600 cupcakes. I also had an important (school) project due that was due. I didn’t complete the project on time and received a low grade. I was upset with myself the whole week. The lesson that I learned was to prioritize and ask for help because school is important too.” Having grit and developing a growth mindset can also help young entrepreneurs bounce back from slip-ups.
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Earrings by Emma
11-year-old Emma learned from experience what works and what doesn’t and uses that knowledge to make better business decisions. “The biggest mistake I made was selling my earrings at an outdoor event. It was so windy that my earrings blew all over an Oklahoma farm! I learned that not all venues are appropriate for selling my products.”
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Coder Bunnyz
Samaira Mehta learned how important product testing is to success. It important to see how other people react to your product before you try to start to sell it. “Not play testing the game at the very beginning. Play testing is a very important step to making board game.” It’s great to know that Samaira learned to fail and got back up to start again, which is one of the most crucial life skills any girlpreneur can learn.
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These girls learned that the sometimes the most important learnings come from failures. “Win Some, Learn Some” indeed. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite! Head over here. Voting ends on October 30. Your fave could be the girlpreneur we profile in our second book, which comes out on May 5, 2020 and is available for pre-order today!.
What’s something you failed at and what did you learn from it?
