Starting a business is not for the weak. Nearly half don’t make it to five years, and even fewer make it to the ten-year mark. And every successful business can look back on their history and recall moments where they could have quickly put the nail in the coffin too.
Just look at some of the biggest household brands in history. Stakeholders of Walt Disney rejected the concept for Mickey hundreds of times, and despite wild success with early films like Pinocchio and Snow White, debt mounted. FedEx almost went under but was saved by $27,000 in blackjack winnings (something I wouldn’t recommend as a fallback for struggling entrepreneurs). And let’s not forget how Apple faced more than a decade of financial loss.
