Originally published on ViralThinking.com, December 23rd, 2008

Nearing the end of 2008, happily self employed, considering expanding my business and plotting new ideas for the year ahead, I find myself reflecting on the journey behind me and start to see the bright side of failure.

When I started what could probably be marked as my second business some four and a half years ago, I never thought that it would lead me to where I am now. As it became clear that the business would fail and that I had sunk quite a bit of money into a product that now clutters my storage space, it seemed that the happiness of doing “something I truly enjoyed”, would once again elude me.

I took that 9 to 5 and moved forward, setting the engine on cruise control I need to regroup, but I did not let that failure keep me from focusing on my goals for the future. I knew, without a doubt in my mind that this was not the last time I would venture into the world of entrepreneurship.

Now, this four and a half years later I look back at and I am able to recognize that it was not failure at all. It was a lesson, the learnings of which are applied to each and every part of the way I do business today and the reason I feel I can succeed.

As an entrepreneur, learn to recognize that failure is not the end of the journey it is only a fork in the road, a building block for something better and you will begin to see the bright side of failure.