It was Henry Ford who said, “Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” Growing up in this competitive world, the majority of us were taught from a very young age that failure is bad and that we need to succeed in everything we do. Way too many people walk around this place thinking business is all cupcakes and candy canes. You may have been blindfolded to be thinking that failure is not an essential part of success and I’m here to set the record straight. I’ve started (and successfully failed) two companies already, and I might possibly have a third on the way. Am I to believe that I should just give up and that it was all for nothing, and should probably not do it ever again? NO! Failure is not bad. In fact, in my circumstances failure is a blessing and I’m going to tell you why.

I used to absolutely hate going to networking events. Back in college, my professors would always emphasize networking being a key player in creating success. Now, I am the first to admit that there may have been just the slightest chance that I may have not been the model college student. And sure, my nonchalant attitude was probably the number one reason why I flat out didn’t understand the science of networking. But my professors insisted and of course I would give it a shot.