Ever pitched to a dream client and been rejected? Launched a product that flopped? Or burned out juggling too many projects? In your entrepreneurial journey, failure at some point is inevitable. It’s how you handle it that matters.
Resilience isn’t just an important mindset; it’s a skill you must develop for your creative business to succeed. When you become resilient, you can turn setbacks into opportunities or stepping stones to get you where you want to be. Read on to understand what it means to fail, how to shift to a resilient mindset, and the habits to adopt that’ll help you practice resilience and more.
Understanding failure
Failure shouldn’t be seen as a dead end but as fuel for growth and creativity. Some of the most successful creative entrepreneurs in the world have failed but then gone on to achieve incredible success. Take self-made billionaire Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx. She started her business with just $5K in savings and no background in fashion (or business). Several manufacturers rejected her idea for Spanx, and it took months before one agreed to take her seriously. Through resilience, persistence and unshakable belief in her product, Blakely created a global brand.
Your failures may not involve global brands or big investments—they might look like missed deadlines, quiet launches, or projects that didn’t land. But no matter the form, the worst thing you can do is let one failure stop you from trying again.
Shifting your mindset
The first step to developing resilience is to acknowledge your failure and recognise the feelings you’re having. Be compassionate with yourself and try to separate your personal identity from your business results. Any setback isn’t a reflection of your worth.
Try to view success as something that is developable through continuous effort and learning. Start noticing your limited beliefs, like “I just don’t have what it takes to succeed,” and turn them into something more empowering, such as “I’m not good at marketing—yet—but I can learn.”
Practice resilience
After a setback, take time to reflect. Step back emotionally and ask yourself what you set out to do, what actually happened, what worked, what didn’t, and why. Look for patterns, extract key lessons, and finish by identifying one thing you’ll do differently next time.
Here are some other habits to start developing to help you become more resilient when things don’t go to plan:
- Set micro-goals: Take small steps towards progress (and don’t worry about trying to achieve perfection). For example, if you’ve developed a digital product that’s barely sold, you could set a manageable goal to send a survey to your email list or current clients to learn what they like or dislike about it.
- Create a routine: Focus on consistency over intensity. Small, consistent actions reinforce progress and keep you moving forward even when your confidence is low.
- Revisit your why: Go back to basics—why did you start your creative business in the first place? Tapping into that deeper mission can help guide your next steps with purpose, not panic.
Build a support system
Talk to someone. Share your experience with peers, mentors, or communities who understand your world. Not only does it normalise failure, but it also opens the door to support, insights, and perspectives you might be missing.
Reframe and rebuild
When you’re ready, try again, this time armed with lessons you’ve learned from failing. Use those to adapt your approach and step back into the area with renewed clarity and confidence. And acknowledge the strength you’re showing by keeping going. Resilience is a skill worth celebrating, and each failure you overcome will be just one chapter in a much larger story of growth and creativity.
Failure isn’t the opposite of success—it’s part of it. Building a creative business takes grit, experimentation and perseverance. So, when you face your next setback, don’t see it as a signal to quit. Break it down, learn from it and use it to push forward stronger and smarter.
One of the best ways to learn how to build a thriving creative business is to absorb solid advice from people who have already walked in your shoes. The Creative Entrepreneur is your guide to success, featuring wisdom and guidance from ten creative industry titans in art, fashion, film, music, design, gaming and more. Get your copy here.