Project: Failing Forward

Whenever we interview one of the Risk-Takers on The Green Couch and their story unfolds, their definition of success slowly comes to the surface. Many of which have boldly stated, there is no such thing as an overnight success.

If anyone would tell you otherwise, they either have not found success or they have encountered one long, treacherous night. A night more extensive than the average 8 hours; perhaps one of 8 years?

From the concept to the creation, to the failed experiments and finally the product or service, more than a blink of an eye has passed. Moreover, while some of your experimental components may have fallen into place unintentionally to your benefit, none of your hard work was an accident.

The further you pursue your vision, the further chances you have of meeting it face-to-face.

But what happens when those failed experiments turn your trajectory off course? How can we keep the momentum going, so even though we won’t achieve overnight success we can fail forward?

It won’t be easy, but ask any of our Risk-Takers, and they’ll tell you the ongoing rewards are worth the ongoing time they “serve.”

• Find a mentor: It doesn’t have to be someone in your industry; just someone wiser, someone more experienced who is willing to sit down with you over lunch every few weeks to talk shop and life.

• Ease up on yourself: Remember, it’s okay to be wrong. If you’re always right, you’re not doing the right thing in life. Never settle for something that doesn’t challenge you.

• Set up a schedule: Whether it’s every day or every week, set an alert/alarm/reminder for you, dedicated to specific projects that need your time that are lacking and need more focus.

• Embrace change: In the absence of change is the absence of innovation. Use every roadblock, technical upgrade or trend as an opportunity to stretch your imagination. 

• Get street smart: If you can’t afford to travel or time away, invest in a good book to broaden your mind and refresh your senses. A new perspective from an unknown source always helps see life from outside the city limits. 

• Understand what failure is: Failure isn’t the absence of success. It isn’t meeting your expectations, deadlines or the status quo. Failure is not trying.

• Understand what failing forward is: Failing forward is using every “No” as, No way am I going to let this stop me from succeeding and reaching my goal. This failure showed me how not to do it – not that I shouldn’t do it.”

Fail forward, fail onward!

The Green Couch

Project: Be Unpredictable

Sometimes you have to use multiple platforms and methods. Sometimes you have to hire to fill every C-Level position. Sometimes you have to be mainstream. Sometimes you end up losing a bit of spark from your original plan.

Worse case scenario, there are moments when people know what you are going to do before you do. That’s because sometimes being an entrepreneur turns into being cost effective. It turns more profitable than you could have imagined. 

But as risk-takers there comes a time you have to be unpredictable. You have to take several steps back to the drawing board rather than turn to the Board.

Yeah, you’re thinking, everybody has already done it before; you just have to figure out a way to do it differently, even if that differently means to speak it in your voice.

No one thinks the way you do; use it to your advantage.

So how can you be unpredictable? (Isn’t reading about that and planning for that predictable?)

Be Open to Timeframes – A company that is set in stone and has a rigid five-year plan will miss too many opportunities. Time, technology and we as humans are changing so rapidly we can’t plan too far in advance. Leave room for adaptability and you’ll leave room for unpredictability.

Be Open to Advice – Whether it’s good, bad, left field, right field, from the old or really young, it doesn’t mean you have to take it, but any advice will help guide you to who you really are and who you want to be. And once you intake advice you act – unpredictably – on which you feel is wisest.

Be Open to Failure – Although it looks right in your mind and on the drawing board, success doesn’t always transfer to real life or happen overnight. Out of failure comes resilience, the need to be innovative and the room to be unpredictable.

-The Green Couch

Project: What Would Barbara Corcoran Say?

They all want her money – at least the little fish swimming in the tank with big Sharks do. Even if they would like to have their pick of Sharks, they need an any investor because their big idea turned into a budding business. However, it took off before they could keep up. So the aspiring entrepreneurs who have caught the eyes and bank accounts of the Sharks have a lot for which to be thankful. But it’s not just wealth that they need to bank. Because it’s not just what you do with money, it’s how you do it. Behind every Shark’s dollar, are days of hard work and mental acuity that built their empire.

Wouldn’t you like to bank a little of that wealth too?

Sharp, witty, wise and an established entrepreneur, Barbara isn’t just worth $80 million. She has much to say about life. As a mom, businesswoman, investor, television personality, speaker, investor, consultant, syndicated columnist and author she has learned the art of when to talk and when to listen. But most of all, she knows business and she means business.

And she wants to pass that wealth of knowledge on to us:

• In business, you're the Chief Salesman. Create a sense of demand, rather than waiting to have demand.

• Taking chances almost always makes for happy endings.

• There’s no better motivation in the world than someone that insults you.

• Don’t you dare underestimate the power of your own instinct.

• Finding opportunity is a matter of believing it’s there

• My best successes came on the heels of failures.

• The difference between successful people and others is how long they feel sorry for themselves.

• You can’t fake passion.

Have you found your passion? How are you pursuing it? When you need a little pep in your step, think: What would Barbara Corcoran Say?

-The Green Couch

Project: Nominate The Next Green Couch Risk-Taker

http://www.thegreencouchproject.com/contact.php

January 28^th, 2014 The Green Couch Project™  began the initiative to see what it was like to walk an hour or two into another risk-taker’s shoes. And so we invited several, five entrepreneurs to be specific, to individually sit on The Couch. It changed our lives. It changed theirs.

Since then a total of twenty-four people have sat on The Couch, shared their risk-taking gutsy and taken the Pinky Promise challenge. Nothing is ever rehearsed or auto-tuned. When it comes to the questions, everything is left to the unknown but everything is from the heart.

The Green Couch is where they get to fall back in love with who they are, what they do and why it matters - because it does. The Green Couch Project™ is where they have a chance to inspire others to speak, follow and inspire others to fulfill their dreams.

To do what they get to do every day – live their love.

We’ve caught it on paper, video and pictures. We have shared it on our website, in newsletters, in podcasts, on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube… because their risk-taking is what inspires us, their story is our gift to you.

And now it’s time we hear back from you.

This fall, The Green Couch Project is doing something different. We want you to submit an inspirational entrepreneurial story of someone who motivates change in your life. Whether you know them directly or indirectly or they never heard of your name, give us a glimpse of their courage so they can spill their gutsy on The Green Couch on September 15^th, 2015.

Whether they’re on their own, or manage a team of 100, we’re looking for people with outstanding company culture, integrity, community impact and irresistible risk-taking gutsy.

We’re looking for someone who inspires people to speak, follow and fulfill their dreams. It doesn’t matter if they’re ages 8-108, are a college dropout, new to the game or have years of experience; this is your chance to nominate someone you’d like to see on The Couch who lives their love and has a voice that needs to be heard.

-The Green Couch

Accepting nominations July 9th – August 15th, 2015 

Project: The Bee’s Knees - RIP Burt Shavitz

He knows a thing or two on what it is to risk it all and lose it all. He’s had his highs and lows. Whether on his own or surrounded by one hundred fans, he knows who he is and what he wants out of life. This is the Burt Shavitz story.

What’s it like to wake up with no hot water but an endless sight of nature…and be okay with it? What’s it like to have a rendering of your grizzly face on beauty and toiletry items across the world? And yet feel inclined to hide from the world?

What’s it like to take risks, win some, lose a lot and come out knowing no matter what, you still like what you’ve done and made of yourself?

Although Burt is no longer with us, (May 15, 1935- July 5, 2015), he left a legacy that is worth emulating: “No one owns me, no one’s ever gonna own me.”

In other words, what I do? It’s none of your beeswax!

What are some practices in your life in which you practice a similar mentality? In which you stick to your dreams even when it is inconvenient.

• How do obtain your goal when the going gets tough?

• When there are more naysayers than cheerleaders, do you give up or give it all you got?

• If you realize you do not have the finances to see your project through, how do you pursue finding the appropriate resources?

• How do you cultivate your own beeswax?

Burt was a man that was dealt some hard blows. But he found a place on this earth that he loved more than the inside of a Burt’s Bees industrial warehouse. He didn’t need many luxuries; he didn’t need validation; he didn’t need money; he needed a chance to pursue his number one passion.

What’s your passion, and what are you willing to risk to find and cultivate it?

Burt will go down in history as the bee’s knees of a beekeeper. What kind of legacy do you want to leave?

-The Green Couch