Starting your own business is like a dream come true for many people; it is the chance to work on your own terms, be responsible for your own earnings and to have the flexibility to enjoy a good work and life balance. There are as many as 28 million small businesses in the US, however, it does not come easily for most and many businesses fail within the first five years.
Research from Statistic Brain suggests that by year 4 of operations over 50% of small businesses will have failed. have shown that the rate of failure within start-up businesses is 8 out of 10, which is a high proportion, by all accounts. If your start-up has failed and you’re sure you don’t want to give it another try, you are by no means on your own, but this doesn’t mean that you need to give up hope of finding a job. There are many reasons why you can use your failed start up as inspiration to grab your next job.
1. Resilience
Whether or not you decide to let an interviewer know that your business has failed or that you just decided to move on, is ultimately your own decision. However, from a personal perspective, it can show that you have the resilience to not let it get you down. If your business has failed and you brush yourself off and get back into the world of work, you can use your resilience to help motivate you to find your next job. Resilience is a commendable quality and it is one which you should be proud of.
2. Transferable Skills
Starting your own business is a difficult thing to do and whether or not you think it, you will have learned a number of skills which will be transferable in the workplace. For instance, you will have been responsible for motivating yourself to get up and work, and this takes a lot of determination. In addition, you will have developed time management skills and you would be responsible for taking care of your own accounts. If you had other employees and business development to find new clients then other transferable skills may be managing and leading . These are all admirable skills and some of which will be really impressive to prospective employers.
3. Experience
You will also have had a number of new experiences which you would maybe never have had without running your own business. It’s easy to forget all your responsibilities at your start-up so use a resume builder to help you remember they usually include pre-written bullet points. You may also have dealt with a wide range of different clients, and most likely, some awkward clients and you will have had to learn to deal with these in an appropriate manner. It is important to take these experiences and make them clear to an employer, as no matter how difficult it is to deal with the failure of your business, you will have learned a lot which you might never have had the opportunity to learn without doing it.
4. Confidence
It takes confidence to run your own business. You are responsible for all aspects of the business and to market yourself to potential clients. Although your confidence may have taken a bit of a knock if your business has failed, it is important to remember all the experiences you have had and to ensure you use these to your benefit. As long as you portray yourself in the best possible light, you can show an employer that your confidence has grown through running your business. In fact, according to Forbes, confidence is the third top trait employers desire. There are many examples of this you can use during an interview, for instance, you have had to build relationships and trust with clients and to network with business owners.
5. Connections
There is no doubt that you will have built up a long list of connections while running your own business and these can be utilized to your benefit when looking for a job. For example, you may wish to contact your connections and let them know that you are looking for permanent employment or if they know anyone who might be hiring. You will probably find that many of your connections have been in a similar situation to yourself and will be willing to help you, especially if you have built good relationships with them. It can also be looked on favorably by an employer. You can explain that you have business relationships, which may be useful to them if you were to gain employment with them.
No matter what the outcome of your journey, there are all sorts of positives to take from running a business. You can carry these experiences with you to any job interview with a unique perspective to business operations that should impress your future employer.
