Serenity Prayer for Floundering Businesses

• tamelarich
• December 23rd, 2009

The Kauffman Foundation just published a study of 549 company founders of successful businesses in high-growth industries.  My favorite finding: "40 percent cited lessons learned from failures as extremely important – the second-highest “extremely important” rating."

I didn't believe it, either

In my experience, the key to learning from failure is to first accept it. When my business was caving in, my largest investor assured me that I was young enough to recover. He advised me to be careful not to spend so much of myself on a failed business that I wouldn't have the physical or emotional reserves to do something different -- and better. I wasn't ready to hear his advice (or anyone's) that was predicated on accepting that my business was a doomed enterprise. My mantra: "I'm not a quitter."

This medieval picture shows that  the Roman goddess Fortuna turns the wheel of life and we're all subject to its movements.  None of us is immune from the turn of the wheel; Fortuna's the driver. Our job is simply to play the hand we're dealt to the best of our ability.

The Roman emperors knew all about Fortuna Augusti, who governed their souls. Emperors kept a golden statue of the goddess before them -- even in their sleep. On each emperor's death the statue passed to his successor.

We may have a more sophisticated understanding of economics and theology than the ancients did, but the principles from Fortuna's Wheel are the same. Marina Gorbis, Executive Director of the Institute for the Future  explained it in modern terms when she recently wrote: "(the)organizations we have built are not pre-ordained, inevitable, or immutable creations—they are products of particular times, outgrowths of existing technological, social, and demographic forces."

I simply prolonged my agony by refusing to see that I wasn't immune to the wheel of fortune. In the future I'll be much more level headed and clear eyed about throwing good time and money after bad -- lesson learned.

Wisdom the know the difference

Those in the recovery movement are familiar with the so-called Serenity Prayer, but it applies to all endeavors, including a business meltdown:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

Tamela's here for small business owners who are watching their dreams and livelihoods go up in flames. With the credibility of someone who's been there, too, she writes about dealing with creditors, the IRS, family members and your own inner demons. She now earns her keep as a business ghostwriter. http://TamelaRich.com

Tickers: business life cycle, making an informed financial decision, small business

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