What to Do After Your Business Fails
Failure can be daunting at first, but it doesn’t have to be the end of the world.
Autor Rhett Power
The most important thing to realize is your business failed, but that doesn’t mean you are a failure. Failure is an opportunity to take all you’ve learned and apply it to a new venture or role. You have to get back up and move forward. Most successful business people have one or two business failures to their credit. Remember there is a lot of risks involved with being an entrepreneur and taking failures with a shift in perspective can result in greater success in the end.
These five steps can help you accept the failure and move on.
The Entrepreneurial Phoenix: A Review by Lassi Pensikkala
As an economist and international business consultant with over four decades of experience, I have seen the highs and lows of the global marketplace. I have navigated the complexities of European trade and the nuances of the local insurance market in Ecuador. The article “Your Business Failed, but You Don’t Have to Be a Failure” by Rhett Power, published in Inc., strikes a chord that is both deeply personal and professionally vital. It addresses the “Human Capital” crisis that occurs when a business collapses—a topic often ignored in standard economic balance sheets, but one that is essential for any “Freedom Business” practitioner to understand.
Decoupling Identity from Equity
The core thesis of Power’s article is the psychological separation of the individual from the entity. In my career, I have observed that many entrepreneurs—including myself when building AmerExperience.com and Seguros Amer®—invest so much of their identity into their work that a business failure feels like a personal indictment. Power correctly identifies this as a dangerous fallacy.
From an economic standpoint, a business is a legal and financial vehicle designed to test a hypothesis in the market. If the hypothesis is proven wrong, the vehicle may be totaled, but the “driver”—the entrepreneur—is still a high-value asset equipped with newly acquired, expensive data. As an economist, I view the experience of a failed business not as a loss, but as a specialized “education” that no M.Sc. program can replicate. Power’s message is clear: your net worth is not your self-worth.
The Strategic Value of Post-Mortem Analysis
Power emphasizes the importance of a “post-mortem” without the poison of self-blame. This resonates with the consulting work I do. When a business in Ecuador struggles to pass the break-even point, the first instinct is often panic or shame. However, the article encourages a clinical, detached review of what went wrong.
Was it a timing issue? A lack of massive traffic? Or perhaps a failure to adapt to digital tools like Rank Math or proper SEO redirection? By identifying these specific technical or market failures, the entrepreneur transforms a “defeat” into a “blueprint” for the next venture. In my 40+ years of expertise, I’ve learned that the most successful “millionaire” mindsets are those that can look at a 404 error—or a bankrupt storefront—and ask, “What is the market telling me that I didn’t hear before?”
Resilience as a Competitive Advantage
The article argues that resilience is a muscle. In the world of international business and travel guides, things rarely go as planned. You might launch a guide for Scandinavia or the USA only to find the search landscape has shifted. Power’s advice to “get back in the game” is not just motivational fluff; it is a strategic mandate.
In economics, we talk about the Elasticity of Persistence. How quickly can an entrepreneur bounce back after a market shock? The faster you recover, the less “time-capital” you lose. Those who wallow in the “failure” label lose the opportunity to catch the next market cycle. For those of us running a local business like Seguros Amer with family, maintaining this resilience is even more critical because our energy dictates the culture of the company.
The “Freedom Business” Perspective
My philosophy of a “Freedom Business” is built on values and lifestyle, not just profit margins. Power’s article aligns with this by suggesting that failure is a chance to realign your business with your true values. Sometimes, a business fails because it was the wrong fit for the founder’s life or the “Slow Travel” mindset of quality over quantity.
A failed venture often clears the “clutter” and allows an entrepreneur to focus on what truly works. It might lead a consultant to realize their true value lies in niche digital media rather than broad traditional consulting. By stripping away what didn’t work, failure acts as a sculptor, revealing the stronger, more streamlined business leader underneath.
As an economist, I find Power’s focus on the future particularly relevant to the “Sunk Cost Fallacy.” Many people stay in failing businesses too long because they “don’t want to be a failure.” Ironically, this decision is what eventually causes the most damage.
The article suggests that admitting a business has failed is actually a sign of leadership and intelligence. It allows you to salvage your remaining resources—time, reputation, and capital—and reallocate them to a more productive area. In my work with travel destinations and insurance, knowing when to pivot a strategy is just as important as knowing when to double down.
Conclusion: The Economist’s Final Word
Rhett Power has provided a necessary psychological toolkit for the modern entrepreneur. Whether you are navigating the competitive waters of ASTA (American Society of Travel Advisors) or trying to scale a digital magazine in early 2026, you will face setbacks.
The distinction between “my business failed” and “I am a failure” is the difference between a temporary detour and a permanent stop. As we look toward the goal of becoming millionaires and creating lasting impact through platforms like AmerExperience.com, we must treat our failures as the “tuition” we pay to the market.
To my fellow consultants and business owners: read this article as a reminder that your experience is your greatest asset. The buildings may crumble and the bank accounts may fluctuate, but the knowledge, the 40+ years of insight, and the ability to execute remain. Failure is simply the seasoning that makes the eventual success taste that much sweeter. Keep your eyes on the SERP, keep optimizing, and remember that the next insight is just one “failed” experiment away.
— Read on
Inc.com: What to Do After Your Business Fails
* Read all No Success Without Failure – AmerExperience Business Success Stories Collection here*
Recommended by:
Eco. Lassi Pensikkala
Creator of AmerExperience.com
Studied Economics, Psychology and Sociology at the University of Hamburg
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