Entrepreneurship is often about making lemonade
It’s appropriate that the common symbolism of entrepreneurship among children is the lemonade stand.
Even as adults, succeeding as an entrepreneur relies on turning lemons into lemonade — even if most of the time those lemons aren’t real.
From the person who becomes an entrepreneur of necessity after losing a job to the startup setbacks that turn into opportunities, the negative often becomes the positive for creative, successful people.
In a recent conversation for Ken Jacobs new video series on leadership, my Agency Leadership Podcast co-host Gini Dietrich talked about how she took the aftermath of what the 2008 financial crisis did to her PR agency and reinvented the business.
Gini’s story is impressive but not unique.
In fact, you may have found this post via a little service called Twitter — itself born out of the rubble of a failed podcasting company.
Not all lemonade comes in the form of a completely reimagined enterprise or product.
Entrepreneurs find lemons all the time and make something better out of them.
It’s something that I always advise my agency clients to consider when they get bad news.
Have an employee quit? Think about how you might reshape your staff given this opportunity.
Have a client leave? Use that as an opportunity to find one that’s an even better fit.
Screw something up for one of your clients? Take the opening to strengthen the relationship by fixing the problem and communicating effectively.
You can’t always turn the lemons you get into tasty, profitable lemonade, but they all give you a chance to try.
I’m not suggesting that you go looking for lemons, but when you find them, do something with them. You just might be surprised by what you create.