I Hate Losing
Nov 1st, 2007 by jared
I absolutely, 100%, without a shadow of a doubt, hate to lose! I don‘t hate many things in life, it’s such a strong word, but losing is something I truly hate. Hate I tell you! Did I just lose a deal? The answer is yes - why else would I write this post?
Hating to lose is a classic entrepreneur trait. If you don’t mind it, put the blackberry down and go find a desk job. What’s worse than losing is losing to a competitor. This pisses me off even more. I start asking myself, “Why were we not good enough?” Maybe we don’t have the skills, experience or features that they needed? How is this possible, we are freakin rockstars! But, the simple fact is that there is always someone out there than better than you. Someone that has more money, more employees, more features, more support, more more more more more. (Note to Gates and Brin: If you guys are reading this, please stop and check out my article on the iPhone, it’s the only relevant thing for you on my blog.)
There are two things you can do when you lose to a competitor:
- 1. Feel sorry for yourself, mope, and lose confidence in your ability.
- 2. Yell out loud, compose yourself and then use your anger to fuel your plan of attack.
Some of the best applications I designed stemmed from losing to a competitor. You are not always going to please everyone, but you can certainly do your best. When I first set out to build Stun! I figured there were 150 different features we needed to stay competitive. I shot for about 250 features for our launch. However, even with going overboard in our development, we still lost deals. Losing should be a continuously driving force in improving your products and services. Without losing, we would never better ourselves, never innovate and never progress.
Even though it sucks, and even though it eats you alive, from now on, think about how much deadlier you just became. Remember Bruce Banner only kicked ass when he got mad.
I am going through the difficult time in my life right now, and your article was an inspiration, Jared! I will just be strong and move on! I’ll just be better. I deserve better! Everything will be fine. No, better than fine - it’s going to be great! Thanks for this supportive article.
Survivor,
There are always other fish in the sea. Keep ya head up!
Jared,
I remember once you said to me (six years ago when mobileSTorm was still in its infancy) , “I can never fail.” I was taken back, until you continued on saying, “Let’s say mobileStorm goes belly up, and fails . How can anyone see that as failure, I have learned so much.” I liked that response. It is the response of someone who has drive and purpose and goals in life. You can’t let the lost sale or customer get you down. You need to say, “I will learn from this, and go on.” It is truly what separates the successful in life from the status quo.
Good for you Jared.
Hey Jared,
I got two thoughts for ya:
1) Learn from your ‘mistakes’ (ie whatever you perceive lost you the business)
2) Turn this ‘liability’ into an ‘asset’ (take the time and energy you spent and apply it to winning the business of your prospects’ direct competitor).
You’ll feel MUCH, MUCH better.
-RL
Liability into an asset, I like that!
I think losing is a double-edged sword for the driven entrepreneur. You guys thrive on the stress as well as on the thrill of the “hunt” for customers. Losing only makes you better. But it sure is an awfu thing to experience. Kinda like yucky vegetables.
Eydie, losing all of the time can definitely get you down. It’s the entrepreneurs who get back up right after they get knocked down who go on to be succesful.
haha… i think ill take option 2! great article!
Haha Thanks Thomas. You might even want to throw some shit around or fire the next person that steps in your office.