Many people think when they see a successful company pop up, they had instant success. Just because we have never heard of that company before or never saw that product etc. The reality is, that company was most likely grinding and hustling for a long time before that “instant success” happened. People assume they just got lucky, or got discovered, or something like that. Well 99.9% of the time that is NOT the case. It is actually so ridiculous to even think it, being a multi business owner myself. There is so much more to that success than meets the eye. Years & years more.

I used to think that same thing. I used to think that there was some magic thing that happens when you are discovered, or when you land that big account that finally makes things just go viral. Uh, no. That is not how it works, that is a la la land reality. Though it sounds great, that is not the way any of that works. Success is a process. A journey, not a destination. It doesn’t just happen, it slowly evolves. Just like you do. You learn a lot along the way. You have EPIC failures. You learn exactly what NOT to do. And if you persevere, you may go down the long and winding road to success. Now, success doesn’t always mean the same thing to everyone. We all have different goals and dreams. Ours have actually changed a lot over the years as our priorities have changed.

If I gave you the choice to be successful in only two ways, the first being a lottery ticket. Instant riches. Quit your job, go anywhere, do anything, rich like Oprah rich, or second, being a long and winding road filled with potholes, and creaky old bridges, cliffs so steep you can barely climb them, but along the way you learn a multitude of skills. You learn everything you need to in order to hold onto your riches. Which would you choose? Most people would choose the lottery ticket. I mean it sounds fun right? Im not gonna lie, it totally sounds fun. But it doesn’t last. You want to know why? Because most people are not ready for that. Do you ever watch that show about life after winning the lottery (the curse of the lottery)? A lot of peoples lives are ruined by it. Not because of the money, it is because those people do not have the skills they need to deal with all that money. So they end up blowing it.  I know if we had hit it big early on, we would have blown it royally. I know that now, only by hindsight and experience. We have almost blown it a few times based on lack of knowledge and our big fat heads getting in our way. Thank goodness the good Lord pretty much kicked us off our pedestals and smacked us around a bit. Taught us a lot of hard lessons, but made us learn some very important skills. Some valuable knowledge about what it takes to handle success and not ruin it.

The epic failures we have had in our own companies have taught us so much. Super hard lessons to learn at the time, but invaluable in the end. I could tell you the horrors of inventing a product that people copy, (and claim as their own- with their name on it!!!) and entire shipping containers with your life savings invested that were almost ruined and un-sellable. Trusting the wrong people, listening to the wrong advisors, and almost losing everything taught us a lot. Success is not for the weak and lazy. Success comes to those who hustle, grind, stay up all night, sacrifice and do what they have to do in order to make it happen. Scientists say that learning from our mistakes is how we learn to perform better. When you persist, you gain the motivation, skills, and the discipline needed to hold onto the success you earn. It is on the long and winding road that you learn those skills you need to hang on to the success you earn, & when you do, you’re building success that lasts.

What types of skills have you learned along the road to your successes? Realizing these things early on will save you so much time and hard lessons. This is why we believe a mentor is so important. Someone who has learned things that you really don’t want to have to learn. It takes so many years of failures and learning to acquire knowledge that inexperience cannot teach you. I wish we had a mentor sooner, though to be honest, my ego probably wouldn’t have allowed it. I know now that I was wrong, and I could have saved us a lot of tears and sleepless nights. At this stage in the game, I actually value those hard times. Those are the things that brought us through to the other side. Those are the things we share with others in order to hopefully save someone else from those insane mistakes. Those are the things that brought us to this moment. So the road to success is not short or easy, but worth it if you can stay on it. Believe in yourself and never give up.

Check out our product, www.tigerlilysandals.com to see how we turned our epic failures into a successful product.

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