When your business takes a turn for the worse or you lose a key customer, what do you do? As an entrepreneur I have found it difficult to pick myself off the ground. In my discussions with my entrepreneurial comrades I been given some good advice. “You learn more from mistakes and failures than success” or “the ability to rise from the ashes of defeat are the qualities that will ultimately make you successful as an entrepreneur”.

I worked briefly for a company called PocketCard in Chicago. Because I had considerable experience in financial services marketing, I was recruited for the CMO position. I had been successful in a three year stint with start-up Netcentives and PocketCard wanted to own the market American Express calls “PASS” that is focused on a card for teen spenders funded primarily from their parents. Despite some solid marketing efforts we were not able to get enough traction to attract the 5,000 + accounts needed to get to the next round of funding. We made some mistakes including advertising to spenders when the parents were key to acquiring the account. I learned a lot about the challenges to account acquisition that helped me in my work for Visa and PayPal. I learned from my failure at PocketCard what I could do to manage the advertising agency and my marketing personnel during difficult times.

It wasn’t easy but learning something worthwhile and new rarely is. But the day after PocketCard failed I was still able to get up, go for a work-out, and see the sun rise. True, I had lost a year of my career to a failed company. I lost  $22,000 in stock that I purchased and without another career alternative, I had no immediate job prospects or income to rely on. I had invested my heart and soul into PocketCard and come up empty. I can’t say I have no regrets about that experience. I wish I never stepped into the doors of that company or invested a dime with them. But I can’t deny I learned some valuable lessons that I use today. I learned that every entrepreneur must be prepared at any time to pick up the pieces of a lost venture or dream and pick yourself up. Your only benefit might be the experience or skills you gained. You will be fortunate if you can apply those lessons the next go around.

For those of you facing these issues right now, I say pick up the pieces and move on. Your best times are ahead of you