It finally happened.
You made THE mistake that ruins everything and now your business is doomed.
A bit dramatic?
For sure.
But you’re not alone.
Failing doesn’t feel good. But if you’re a business owner, it pretty much comes with the territory.
So, how can you grow through what you go through and make the most of that “failure feeling”?
To answer that question, we reached out to one of our favorite Babes: Caitlin Quirk. Caitlin is the owner of Bowfish Kids and Bowfish Studios. She’s also working on her most recent venture, DriftSpaces, which will be a co-working & community space in Ocean City, NJ!
She took us behind the scenes of some very real challenges she faced and shares how she shifted her mindset to see those “failures” as stepping stones to her success.
And because we know you can do the same thing with your business challenges, we'll be here for you in the Babes Membership Community.
In the meantime, let's dive in!
#1: Failure Makes You More Creative
Whether you’re just getting started or are growing your business and scaling up, failure can help you navigate new challenges and that will definitely require some creativity:
“I opened my first business, Bowfish Kids, straight out of college and have been failing my way to success ever since. No seriously, when I opened my business on the Boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ back in 2013, I had no clue what I was doing.”
“Learning to avoid failure takes some serious effort but I feel super creative when trying to figure my way out of sh*t! The more opportunities you have to problem solve, the better.”
“ Due to my location, I was forced to operate a seasonal business so EVERY winter for 6 years, I’d close my business for 3 months, rip apart my store and rebuild based on what I learned the previous year.”
“I obviously couldn’t afford to hire someone to build my fixtures to then only rip them apart, so I built them myself. I was able to do this, and build my second business Bowfish Studios, by transforming into a part-time carpenter. I’m telling you people thought I was crazy because I’d rip apart what I had just built but it was how I learned.”
#2: Failure Makes You Stronger & Braver
“It sharpens your skills, duh! The more you practice, the more opportunities you have to fail, which means you have more opportunities to learn from those mistakes. “
“After all that practice, at taking chances you’ll be more conditioned to handle these situations.”
#3: Failure Make You Smarter
“Failure makes you smarter because you’re not going to make the same mistakes twice, right?”
“I’ve had some pretty big fails that I’ve had to swallow and move on from but none sting worse than my blue floor. I’ve always wanted a blue floor in my business since I started and it took 3 years to save up to get it. However, I made the mistake of hiring someone who wasn’t qualified to do it, because they were the cheapest bid on the job. (Rule of thumb, when you’re having work done in your home or business, ALWAYS get multiple quotes from different contractors and NEVER go with the cheapest bid.) Long story short, the floor completely chipped off within a year and I had to re-do it.” “ I cried for weeks, but I knew that tears wouldn’t fix my floor so I decided to sacrifice my salary to fix it (15 months of it to be exact.) People told me I was crazy but I wanted that blue floor so I did what I had to do to get it. I learned to never go with the lowest bid ever again.”
#4: Failure Enriches Your Story
“Does anyone like little miss perfect? No, because she’s annoying and not relatable.
Opening up about your struggles not only helps others relate to you and your business, but it also shows that you’re experienced and highlights how far you’ve come.”
#5: Failure Helps You Grow
“Failure IS growth put into perspective. I’m a firm believer that failure is an asset.”
“It’s something that we should all strive to do. I know that sounds crazy but think of it this way, if you’re going to fail at something, it’s usually at things that you’re not used to doing, right?
Well, if you’re doing the same old familiar things that you’re comfortable with, then you are not growing and you are not pushing yourself which means you’ll never go anywhere different and you can never change into the brave girl boss that you're meant to be.”
“ If you want to try new things & better yourself then you have to look forward to the failures because they are a sign of your growth.”
“Move on to the next. You can’t rewind and fix the past so focus on exerting your energy on what you can fix, your future.”
#6: Failure Helps You Focus on Your Success
“I have an easier time talking about my failures because they are usually a single incident that is seared into my brain compared to my successes, which are 1000 little things done right.”
“ It’s actually something I’ve been trying to work on personally because I’m very hard on myself in regards to where I feel that I should be in my life.”
“Too often we don’t give ourselves enough credit for what we’ve accomplished. My point is that I guess you are succeeding even when you don’t realize it because you're still going. Taking the risk to follow your dreams is an accomplishment every day that you keep working on. We just need to work on acknowledging that the journey is success in real-time.”
#7: Failure Makes You Appreciate Your Support Group
“Failure gives you the opportunity to look at your support groups and see who’s really in-it-to-win-it and who’s just around for show.”
“You can get a pretty eye-opening view of your life based on who stands by your side when sh*t is hitting the fan.”
Thanks to Caitlin Quirk for sharing her perspective with us!
You can find all of Caitlin's contact info below, so feel free to reach out to her there!
When you do, you’ll have access to an ever-growing library of resources that will keep you on-point.
You’ll also be a part of an amazing tribe of powerhouse women who will support your dreams and hold you accountable as you chase them.
We can't wait to see you there!
Owner of Bowfish Kids and Bowfish Studios a children’s boutique + imagination studio.
She's Currently Working On: DriftSpaces, a co-working & community space in Ocean City, NJ
Connect With Her on Instagram:
Check Out Her Websites: Bowfish Kids
Find Her Co-working Space (Coming Soon!)
And See Who She Follows On Instagram: