3 Business ideas I’ve failed at and what I learned from the experience

black girl handling business from the comfort of her laptop

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Not every business will succeed. Harsh reality, right?

According to Entrepreneur.com as reported by Fundera, approximately 20 percent of small businesses fail within the first year. By the end of the second year, 30 percent of businesses will have failed. By the end of the fifth year, about half will have failed. And by the end of the decade, only 30 percent of businesses will remain — a 70 percent failure rate. Hence, there are probably more failed businesses than successful ones.

Below are 3 creative businesses I’ve tried, failed and lesson learnt:

Photography

When i started blogging, there weren’t a lot of photographers that were specifically shooting content creators or bloggers and i felt like there were specific shots that were important to content creators. For example - if you were a fashion blogger, close-up shots of the accessories you wore were definitely important. Poses to show the flow of the material is important, right? I went to photography school, practiced for some time and then I launched a brand called ‘the blographer’ - coined from the words ‘blogger and photographer’.

I enjoyed it while it lasted - shot a few bloggers and then started shooting small business in fashion, food, makeup, etc.

I stopped the business because it was too physically tasking for me. I feel like being a photographer requires too much physical energy that I frankly do not have. The kind of exhaustion i would have after each shoot was just ridicuous.  I learnt quickly that any business that requires too much physical energy consistently is not for me.

Makeup artistry 

After my 1st year in uni, i had 4 months holiday so my father paid for me to learn makeup artistry for some time. I enjoyed it a lot but I realized i only liked doing makeup on my own face so welp! Lol. the love for makeup didn’t die though so it developed into being a beauty content creator and i’m still invested in the beauty industry, launches, uses, products etc.

I think i’m now more interested in the product business and marketing side of the beauty industry as opposed to the artistry itself.

Video Editing

I am quite good at editing to an extent so I thought maybe i could start editing for people for money. I learnt quickly that this was not for me because I hated the back and forth that came with client reviews.

What I didn’t know then was the importance of having a clear editing script that the client aligns with from the beginning. I learnt it later when i went to film school. So this is a service that just might come back in the near future.

Have you ever failed at a business? What did you learn from it? And if you’ve never had a business, do you think it’s something you would like to dabble into. Let me know below