Strategy, at its heart, is about choices. In this episode, Roman Beylin explains trying and failing is the quickest way to gain traction in your business. Rather than overanalyzing your ideas, put them out into the world, allow yourself the space for continuous iteration, and learn on the go!
Roman Beylin is the founder of DueDilio, an M&A digital marketplace, and the publisher of The Business Inquirer newsletter. The idea for DueDilio arose out of a desire to solve the pain points he experienced when buying and selling companies, and the newsletter is his creative outlet.
Learning through business mistakes
Making mistakes in business can be an effective method to learn and grow. Instead of being caught down by overanalysis and perfectionism, the goal is to take action, bring your ideas to life, actively seek feedback, and iterate as many times as necessary.
Entrepreneurs can gain useful insights and improve their business by adopting a mindset that values experimentation and learning from failure. Every mistake is an opportunity to learn lessons, change course, and improve upon previous efforts. Therefore, businesses can eventually uncover the winning formula for success through iterations and modifications.
Also, overanalyzing ideas and being hesitant to put an idea into action can lead to missed opportunities and stagnation. The entrepreneurial path is marked by constant learning and adaptation, and the sooner you can put your ideas into reality, the sooner you can get feedback and make required adjustments. This process enables you to determine what works, what doesn’t, and what can be tweaked to help reach your objectives.
Furthermore, seeking feedback from customers, peers, and mentors can help you understand the market and improve your products or services. Constructive criticism and diverse viewpoints give entrepreneurs with fresh perspectives and allow them to make informed decisions.
By embracing the iterative process, entrepreneurs can improve their ideas, adapt to market dynamics, gain traction, and ultimately achieve success.
Episode highlights:
- Just go for it! Making mistakes is the quickest way to learn. Rather than overanalyzing your ideas, bring them to life, get feedback, and iterate as many times as you need to. (15:18)
- Get comfortable sharing your ideas through newsletters and platforms like Twitter. This will help you to form valuable connections and get feedback on your ideas. It may be uncomfortable at first, but the more you do it the easier it gets. (21:42)
- Creating a product without engaging with customers is a common first-time entrepreneur mistake. In the early stages of your business, focus on market-fit and customer sales first, and building and refinement of the product later. (22:17)
- For Roman, success is all about lifestyle: being able to wake up and feel excited about what he’s going to be doing that day, and helping other people through that. (26:08)
Roman’s best advice for entrepreneurs:
“I think you have to fail a little bit in order to push forward.” (02:53) We learn our biggest lessons through the mistakes that we make.
