Everyone, at some point or another, has encountered obstacles and failures in life. (If you haven’t, please reach out to Linda.) But the failure isn’t the part you should be worried about; it’s whether or not you pick yourself up. Today on IntHERrupt, Linda is joined by Kendra Perry to discuss how she overcame failure in her professional life, and how she regained the confidence to move forward.

Her business began thanks to a skiing accident.

• Initially pursuing a career in skiing (while working as a forester), a terrible crash in 2011 forced Kendra to put down the skis permanently.
• The crash also prevented her from continuing her foresting career, meaning Kendra had to rediscover a professional passion.
• She realized (after listening to a podcast) that she could offer coaching services online, so for the next five years, she grew a business helping women find their energy.
• Kendra started business consulting on the side and soon realized she loved it.

Kendra experienced failure in her business.

• Wanting to launch an online course, Kendra invested thousands of dollars into research, marketing, and creating her online course.
• While she had 200 people join in the first webinar, she felt deflated and upset when it resulted in zero sales.
• She relaunched three more times yet still did not find a way to make sales.
• Kendra later learned there were components in her marketing and messaging that contributed to her failure. However, it still resulted in her losing confidence in herself and her business.

The critical question: How did she bounce back?

• After a short pity party, Kendra hired a business coach. The coach helped her realize what was wrong with her approach (like too broad of a niche.)
• Kendra realized her audience wanted support and accountability - two things her course didn’t offer.
• She restructured her platform into a group membership program, and she immediately received $8,000 in sales.

Kendra’s tips for someone experiencing failure:

• Give yourself the time and space to process your emotion and then move forward.
• Remember, there’s no successful person who hasn’t had multiple failures. Those failures are an opportunity to analyze the bigger picture.
• Develop a practice that helps move stuff throughout your body. Whether that’s journaling, meditating, or something else, find a solution to energize yourself.

To contact Kendra, connect with her on LinkedIn and visit her website. Do you have stories to tell? Connect with Linda to share them. This podcast is produced by TSE Studios. Check out other podcasts by TSE Studios, including this episode’s sponsor, The Sales Evangelist, helping new and struggling sellers close more deals and achieve their sales goals. Subscribe to the IntHERrupt Podcast so you won’t miss a single show. Find us on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, and Stitcher. Audio created by Ryan Rasmussen Productions.