Most people that have achieved high levels of success know what it’s like to fail. In recent articles, we’ve talked about Dr. Seuss being rejected 27 times by publishers or James Dyson’s 5,000 prototypes for his vacuum cleaner. Failure is an unfortunate but necessary part of entrepreneurship.

LESSONS IN FAILURE AND HOW TO CONTINUE TO SUCCESS

At Lemonade Day, we see kids achieve various levels of success with their lemonade stands. Adults tend to look at results. But children have a remarkable ability to have fun and learn from an experience. To inspire you to do the same, here are a few lessons in failure from people that tasted sweet success.

MICHAEL JORDAN: FAILURE IS IN THE MIND

“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I cannot accept not trying.”
Michael Jordan

The story of Michael Jordan failing to make his high school basketball team is legendary. Some call it just that, legend or myth. In either case, the story goes that Jordan, as a freshman, did not make the Wilmington, North Carolina high school basketball team. According to Wikipedia, he was a sophomore. According to Time Magazine, it never happened and Jordan simply started his career as the most explosive junior varsity player in the state. There is no common consensus on what happened and that largely has to do with Jordan himself.

Known as one of professional basketball’s fiercest competitors, Jordan was demanding of himself and teammates. So much so that he perpetuated his own failure story. Why? Because in his eyes, he had failed. He was allowed to play basketball, just not on the varsity squad. To coaches and teammates, he was a success. Just not to himself. This drive and ambition served him well, leading a scholarship to UNC-Chapel Hill and a career as one of the greatest athletes of all time.

STEVE JOBS: FROM FIRED TO HIRED

“You have to trust in something. Your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path.”
Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs created a small computer company in a California garage with his friend Steve Wozniak. The Steves had a vision and the skills to see it through. Quickly, Apple Computer became an industry player in the developing personal computing market. Unfortunately, Apple’s investors were not comfortable with the young, untested Jobs leading the company to success. In 1985, Jobs was fired from his own company.

Wasting no time, he created another computer company, NeXT, which attracted funding from billionaire Ross Perot. By 1990, NeXT had developed into a niche industry darling. In fact, Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web on a NeXT workstation. The company proved so successful that Apple purchased it in 1997 for more than $400 million and hiring Jobs as CEO of Apple. Until his death in 2011, Jobs helped develop groundbreaking products and transformed Apple into one of the most lucrative companies in the world.

VERA WANG: IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED…

“In the end, it’s not about failure, it’s about how much you love what you do. If it gets you up in the morning, gives you a reason to live, a reason to be excited, that’s the greatest gift that any passion can give you.”
Vera Wang

Today, Vera Wang is known as the maker of insanely expensive celebrity wedding gowns. She also has her own line of affordable, but still incredibly popular, gowns for every woman’s special day. Before Wang made her way to wedding wealth, she went through a number of different careers.

She competed at the 1968 U.S. Figure Skating Championships but later failed to make the Olympic squad. As a result, she moved into the fashion business… as a writer and editor at Vogue Magazine. After a few years, she rose to the rank of senior fashion editor but left when she failed to make the editor-in-chief position. Wang found herself working for Ralph Lauren until she started becoming known as the go-to for high end wedding dresses. Today, versions of Wang’s designs can be found in stores around the world with prices ranging from $400 to well, a lot more.