Dear Oana,
First of all, thank you for having the courage to share your fail story publicly! Unfortunately, many people still see failure as something to be ashamed of and they prefer not to talk about it. That’s why I am immensely grateful that you decided to openly share your experience with us here on FailuresAnonymous.
Miha: So, without further ado, let’s just jump into the interview.
Now, my first question for you is: What was life like before your big failure?
Oana: In one word, ‘too comfortable’. Well, two words (laugh). I’ve always kept myself very busy, juggling more than [what] I can handle. I work and thrive best when being ‘under pressure’. After I graduated college and had my son, the 9 to 5 routine [followed by] dinner and a movie killed my spirit.
Having no other goals for a couple of years, except for what’s for dinner tomorrow, what movie are we watching and keeping up with my 2-year-old son was not fulfilling enough for me.
It took a while for me to realize why I was so unhappy. On the surface and on paper my life looked perfect. I had the college degree that I [had] worked so hard to get, the job that I wanted, the family that I wanted… But something was missing. I was feeling that life was passing me by, that I was unhappy and tired all the time, and I was not sure why. The routine – and not using my voice in a positive and productive way – was not my best friend
M: How was your big failure and how did it make you feel?
O: My big failure – even though I do not think of it like that – was a lesson I had to learn!
I joined a girlfriend of mine in a company that focuses on direct selling. It involved doing home parties and meetings, sending out samples and doing consultations. It was okay for a while, but after a few months I realized that I was spending too much energy and too much time focusing on the wrong side of the business. I enjoyed the presentation part, I enjoyed talking to people, but I did not enjoy the manual process, the driving around and the very repetitive set-up process.
Doing things over and over again without any real potential to scale or automate was not appealing to me. It made me feel unproductive. It made me feel small. I wanted to be able to reach more people at once because the message and the products could help so many more lives, but the resources were limited. We were not allowed, at the time, to promote the business online.
[What was] even worse, I felt like I’d let my son down. I mean, he was the main reason I went into the business in the first place. I wanted to create something that would allow me to work less and spend more time with him. Little did I know that it turned to be the opposite! That was when I knew I had to change the company, to give up and basically to admit failure in my endeavor of starting my own business.
Quitting and giving up the dream of working for myself was devastating. I was depressed for days, going over and over the decision and trying to decide if I should go back. After two weeks of going back and forth, I knew I missed being around people, teaching and empowering them. ‘That’s all, I need it to start over’.
M: What was the WHY that motivated you to go ahead and battle all those demons?
O: My son was always my biggest WHY. I wanted time and freedom, so I could spend them with him and create memories. So, after my failed attempt to make my own business work, I took a step back and started looking at the industry. I started studying different people and what they were doing, what companies they were with and how they were promoting their stuff.
The reason I keep mentioning the words ‘company’ and ‘products’ is that at this point I was still so new in the online world, that I believed Affiliate Marketing & Network Marketing were the only ways to build a home business. Little did I know! (smile)
M: Could you tell us a bit more about how you bounced back and what techniques did you use to do that?
O: The thing that helped me the most to bounce back was when I put my ego aside and asked for help. I reached out to various people and asked if they would agree to coach me. I knew I needed someone to show me the way, [some] tricks and tips, so I could shorten my learning curve. Why? I did not want to waste another 3 to 4 years in mastering all those things by myself. Some mentors were free, some I had to pay for. I took courses, read a lot of books and attended a lot of webinars, but it all paid off in the end.
M: Who is Oana today after championing failure? Tell us a bit about what you do today and please share information where our readers can find you.
O: Today I believe in failure more than ever. Everyone needs to experience failure in order to grow. I still have small failures here and there. I still have days when I struggle, or when things do not go my way. But as one of my mentors says: ‘If your business and your journey does not make you feel overwhelmed, you are doing something very wrong’.
The idea is that you have to push yourself to the maximum all the time. When you are too comfortable it means you’ve lost. When you say you are done learning or improving, you’ve lost.
Today, I love helping others to find the way. The biggest struggle for me starting out was getting clarity about where I wanted to go, what I wanted to do, who I wanted to be. There is a different kind of satisfaction in knowing that I helped someone to change their life for the better.
M: Is there anything else that you would like to add? Any particular lesson you would like to share? Feel free to share any words of wisdom you find appropriate for our readers.
O: My biggest advice is that if you make up your mind that a home business is what you want, go for it 1000%. The road will be bumpy, but well worth it. Never give up, ask for help when you need it and go kick some butt!
The only way to really fail and lose is when you quit.
If you need my help you can find me on my Facebook group: http://bit.ly/Entrepreneur360TheUnSexyTruths.
Thank you for this opportunity. I am excited to share my story because people need to understand that failure does not mean something bad, only a way of moving forward.
So, this was Oana Temian openly talking about her failures, her WHY, her motivation, and some lessons learned.
Sometimes we can put faces to the stories and sometimes it is still too early and that’s why you can share your story anonymously. But if you feel like talking openly about it then do contact me and we will arrange an interview just like the one above.
You can always reach me by sending me an email to miha@fail.coach.