Fail To Succeed

Today I held my first official Team Beachbody Home Party. I had a plan. I set the date. I invited guests via facebook. I made flyers and handed them out. I made a presentation, bought gifts and giveaways, and sampled nutritionals. I made a nice display of my collection of home fitness systems. Then, I waited. My mom and dad came, which are part of my team and are doing well in improving my health. My other coach, Brittney, did not come. My special guest did not come. None of my confirmed guests showed up. However, a teacher my mom works with and her husband came. Awesome. So I had a handful of people, and I conducted my presentation.

It was O.K. Honestly, if I had come as a guest, I wouldn't have been blown away. I felt it was lengthy and there was too much information. The food was great, and my sampling of Shakeology and the P90X bars was good. I gave away some cool stuff, and that was good. But overall, the design of my presentation and my execution needs work. I didn't make any sales, either. I failed. I'm reading "The Slight Edge" by Jeff Olson, and there is a passage he quotes and includes and I want to share that here:

"Would you like me to give you the formula for success? It's quite simple really. Double your rate of failure ... You're thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all ... You can be discouraged by failure--or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember that's where you'll find success. On the other side of failure.
-Thomas J. Watson, Sr.

The important thing is that I learned what worked well, and I will sharpen those and duplicate the successes. More important and valuable was learning what didn't work and knowing why it didn't work by the activity of doing it. If I never created or conducted the first presentation, then I wouldn't be at this point. I guarantee you my next party will be more fun, more effective, and more valuable, and the third will be better, and so on. I promise you I don't only think I might fail again; I plan on it. And after more failures, more success. Thanks for reading everyone!