Coming back from failure.

Most people think confidence is something you’re born with.

It’s not.

Confidence is built slowly through stacking evidence.

 
The problem is, most people rarely look back to see the huge progress they’ve made and unlock the full benefit of those stacked wins. It’s why I value retrospectives so highly. 

 
But there’s another side that people don’t talk about much.

It’s when you lose the confidence you once had. 
 

Normally after a single negative event or a few stacked failures. 

When I look at other entrepreneurs who have failed and been ejected from the game, I often wish I could give them a confidence pill to swallow so that they could overcome that feeling of failure and try again. 

Think about all of that lost wisdom. The knowledge that’s now sidelined in the world because good people lost confidence in themselves and their ability to build cool shit the world needs. What a waste! 

The reason it’s on my mind is that last week I was asked to share my own story about losing and regaining confidence in myself and my business. 
 

I can’t remember when I gained the confidence. But I can remember losing it. 
 

It was a few years back. 

 
Although we survived COVID and were referred to as a ‘successful business’, the truth is, we were struggling. Internal challenges, scarce profitability and an uncertain growth pathway.

All the positive feedback/perceptions made it worse (not better).

I felt like a fraud. 

And it didn’t matter who tried to encourage me that it was normal to have some operational debts at our age or that growth pathways weren’t always clear, I was really hard on myself. 
 

I felt like I should have been in a better place. That I should have known more. And I should have acted faster to fix it.

All of that led to losing confidence in myself and my ability to lead a business. 
 

I even thought about hiring someone else to be the CEO.

But a simple decision changed everything. 

Instead of trying to chase growth or find a silver bullet to fix everything in one step. 

 
We started looking for teeny-tiny invisible wins that would stack up into a giant pile of ‘good’. 

Fast forward 18 months, and I’m sitting here writing this email to you with hundreds of tiny stacked wins that added up, helping to solve some of our greatest challenges.

Most of them weren’t obvious at a glance. But combined?

We’re a completely different business. 

 
Leaner. More focused. More profitable. More prepared for growth than we’ve ever been. 

And all of that is like getting an intravenous injection of pure confidence as an entrepreneur.
 

For those of you who’ve had your confidence shattered these past years, here’s a simple roadmap back that uses three simple steps. 

 
Progress → Evidence → Confidence.

Here’s where I focused for the biggest wins:

1. Review: People, Product, Process
 

Last week I emailed you about people, product and process. 

Putting these under the microscope was a big part of finding profit wins for us. 

Products - Profit, quality, efficiency, suppliers, brand alignment

Processes - Workflows, packaging, automation, responsibilities

People - Roles and responsibilities, training, onboarding

Then back at the start of June I shared what we looked at to start increasing profitability (in case you missed that email). 

 
2. Goal. Plans. Retros
 

Setting a goal to fix part of your business (or life), breaking it into chunks over a defined timeline so you have a plan, action it, and reviewing the progress using a quick retrospective was a game-changer. 

For us, it was quarterly. 

 
We spent two weeks planning, 6-8 weeks actioning, and then two weeks reviewing results.

 
It helped us build momentum, celebrate tiny wins and build confidence. 

3. Don’t Fly Solo. 
 

I also sent a newsletter in June about not flying solo. It was one of the most opened emails I’ve ever sent. 

But the hidden power within our transformation (and my restored confidence) is that I didn’t act alone. 
 

I sought out help. 

At first, internally, with a core group of kick arse people. 
 

Then secondly, from external advisors and fellow entrepreneurs. 

They get it. They’ve lived in similar shoes. And they’ll be the ones who prop you up and help you through the tough times. 

All you have to do is ask. Find people on a similar journey to you and meet them for a coffee. 

It’ll be the best catch-up you organise all year. 

And this journey to fix your business, your life and restore your confidence is exactly what you might need right now. 

 
One thing I can say is that the world certainly needs more people like you building solutions to problems. 

 
I hope this helps you.