Failure Is The Backdoor To Success

Anyone who is afraid of failure and afraid to face challenges will never taste success, so said our Professor in Marketing. I did laugh it off at that time but got cold feet when it actually happened in my life.

I landed in this small tiny Arab State of Qatar in the Middle East to set up a joint Business venture. The project was to set up a world class Car Rental firm, possibly with an International tie up. Having decided on the project, I earnestly settled myself in getting into the details of registration, premises, stationery, finance, staff etc, etc. With a positive mind, I told myself nothing should stop me now. Having travelled miles away from home, I was more than keen to make this Business Venture a success. The name of the Company was chosen: SPEEDY Car Rental.

We were into Business for
about 2 months and the least expected thing happened. Iraq invaded Kuwait. I realized that we were in a tight spot now. Tension ran high in the region. Eventually the war broke out in January 1991, many people fled the country and the region leaving SPEEDY in deep trouble.

As usual, "when things
become difficult, and every
effort seems to bring
disappointment, it can be
tempting to lower your
expectations or even water down your goals and
ambitions." It was no different with me. I thought of running away, hanging up my boots and calling it quits. I remembered the words of Thomas Edison, the famous scientist who said: "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they
were to success when they
gave up." How I wished it was true in this case too!

I decided to hang in. I kept
telling myself, "I am not afraid of challenges and obstacles", after all they are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal! I stayed on through those grilling months of uncertainty and insecurity.


Finances ran low, banks were up and above to get their dues.
To add to all this, the banks even threatened to take all my vehicles that were
hypothecated to them. In all
this, I felt I made a wrong
decision to move to the Middle East. I was now ready to face FAILURE.

My Persistence and
Perseverance paid off: as soon as the war was over, people started flooding back and the car bookings picked up. The company which was started off with 10 cars now grew five times over. It so happened that all who
returned back to the country
had no cars as they had
already sold them off !

Speedy went on adding to its fleet and very soon entered the Top 5 bracket of Car Hire firms, which included the top names like Avis, Budget, Europcar & Hertz. We were invited by HONDA to visit their plant in Japan, which was a clear indication that the
company had joined the big
league.

Things were not the same and easy for Speedy. We had to work hard and improve on our sales and service. In a short span of 2 years Speedy grew
even more. There were newspaper articles both in the local & international media (Gulf times, Khaleej Times, TTG Middle East etc) about the Fastest growing Company in the region.

Success, I believe, comes to the one who dares, even after failure, to think positively and look forward confidently. If I had to give up and do like others did, run from the troubled spot, I wouldn't be writing this article.


After all, it's only the
experience that makes a man tough. I have learnt 2 lessons from the above experience and would like to share them with you.

Failure doesn't mean you'll
never make it. It means that it will take a little longer.

Failure doesn't mean that God has abandoned you. It means that He has a better plan for you.

The so-called Failure is
sometimes good; it provides us with a learning experience.

COURTESY: Truthorator101