Overcoming failure

A novelist I know says all stories worth telling have a failure to overcome. And so, when I talk to small-business owners and hear about their great successes, I often ask about their failures, too. I want to hear about a low point in their business-how they handled the experience, and what they learned from it. Almost every time I ask, I hear an inspiring tale told from the heart. As a small-business owner myself, I learn more from the conversations about failing than from hearing about the chain of fortuitous events that led to someone's success. For the April-May issue of MyBusiness Magazine, we talked with small-business owners around the country who have journeyed through failing without letting the experience label them a failure. Their stories will sound familiar. We hope it will help you realize such experiences can make your small- business story much more interesting to tell.