Successes, failures and everything in between.

This week I stepped out of my comfort zone. I stood in front of a very distinguished but sympathetic audience and presented nothing less than a resounding failure. The kind that leaves scars and is really not photogenic. It made me stop and ask myself: what is the role of failure in our entrepreneurial journey? Or in our professional journey in general?

And then I remembered the story of Steve Jobs…

Everyone knows Steve Jobs, the genius who brought us the iPhone, but what not everyone knows is that he failed big after leaving Apple. He founded a company called “NeXT”, which raised money by the bucketload and was supposed to be the “next big thing”. The catch? It was a serious flop. A resounding one.

The technology was amazing, the team was talented, but the product just didn't catch on. The market wasn't ready, and NeXT became another story of a big idea that never took off.

Jobs? True to form. He didn't give up. He learned from that failure, understood the weak points and used that when he returned to Apple and created everything that turned the company into the sensation it is today.

So what's the lesson here? Real entrepreneurship is not a story of quick wins. It's about failing, getting back up, understanding what didn't work – and blowing up next time.

So before you get excited about promises of “a million dollars in a year”, or about an event that leaves scars, remember: real success is not only knowing how to win, but knowing how to get back up after failure. Sometimes again. And again.

Here's to failures, successes and stepping out of the comfort zone