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[Tony Lauria Contribution Level: 3]

Your opinion?

[Tom Bradley Company: Herbalife International of America, Inc. Contribution Level: 3]

There seems to be an unwritten rule that you have to have had the carpet pulled out from under you (or you stepped off because you weren't paying attention) and "lost everything" in order to have a legitimate or compelling income story to share with prospects or from the podium.

There are a few crushing it leaders who came from other successful careers and translated those successful careers into success in MLM but it would be naive to think that they didn't have a few miss-steps along the way.

My biggest "failure" was not taking the many invitations I had over the years to join MLM. I had a six-figure income (commissioned direct sales) and I wasn't forward thinking. When my industry changed dramatically over the period of a couple of years, my lineal income shrank to nothing. Had I spent that time building an MLM I'd still have that income (and more).

My opinion is NO, it isn't necessary to have "failed" in some spectacular way to succeed, but YES you will have to try some new things that may not work for you and "fail forward fast", that is, get up and keep going.

In the end, the only ultimate failure is to quit.

[Lucien Bechard Company: Magnetic Sponsoring Contribution Level: 4]

The Dream, The Struggle & The Victory. You don't have the Victory without the Struggle.

[Donnie Norton Contribution Level: 3]

Good topic Tony, I initially would have said yes that failure is a requirement but I am trying to change the way I look at things. I am working with the mindset that failure is nothing more than another challenge to overcome and learn from. If I learn something positive from a so called failure is it really a failure?

[Adam Taha Contribution Level: 8]

Why not find the person who succeeded, who done it already, and put my claws on them and hang on hard, and fly.

So no, failure is not requirement. Wisdom is, humility to learn is, listening and learning from someone who has done it.

Yes, we may get it wrong because we're trying to intrepret what the mentor says or the guy who done it, kind of thing.

But I found it easier, to be humble, to go ask that man or woman who has done it, and ask questions, and even pay for them to show me, step by step. Then rest is for me to apply.

Why should I go and fail, hurt myself, and beat myself up?

I don't get it sometimes Tony. I really don't.

I'm in England you see but where I come from, I prayed every damn day, to find one person, who done what I wanted to be done, and hang around him.

Just to learn the skills I have.

One incident which got me arrested is this...

I live in a city called Sheffield. For a car to drive to london, takes hours. Maybe 4 hours. 3.5 if you go fast in car.

Anyway, I had no money back then. I was broke to the bone. I heard of this guy in London. He knew what I needed to know. I called him and he asked lots of questions, and I knew, he was trying to see how serious I was.

I didn't tell him I had no money.

He said, can you meet me next week.

"Yes."

So, I packed stuff and began walking to London. Through paths, farms, winding paths, on side of motorway, trying to hitch hike.

Raining sometimes. Sleeping in bushes. I kept going.

After two days, police found me and took me to their station. They didn't believe me. I said I got to meet this guy. He got the skills I need.

They thought I was a nutter, so they called him.

He drove all way from london and got me out and took me back home. Sat in my flat, which had a mattress on the floor, and a box was my coffee table.

He didn't say a word about my living conditions back then. He was polite, considerate and said..

"Hey, how about we go for some food at resturant."

Later, he sat me down and said, "Ask, what you want and here's my card with my number too."

He later died 5 years after I met him but he left a great impression on me, and showed me the ropes of what I needed to know.

So why fail.

I did most of stuff in past on my own, with knowledge I had. So if that knowledge, that what I had in past got me broke, then I needed something else.

Why use that knowledge which didn't get me anywhere, over and over again, when I can go and fill it with that which will do the work for me.

I look everywhere, and people making mistakes and all they got to do is ask. Chase the man or lass, who knows the knowledge, who done it.

To stuck up to their kneck on trying to be some cool pro to be humble to learn from someone who got the skills. They can't even create a website, a blog, a fan page, and they know who can, and still they bugger it acting all it.

The one thing that hurt me this year, which got me real angry was I got stopped to fly to the No Excuse Summit.

Waiting for that damn call and got..

""Mr Taha. We're still trying to sort the complications with your passport and papers. It be sorted soon but we can't yet allow you to travel until 8 months. That's how long it would take blah, blah, blah."

Paid god knows what for solicitor fees and nothing. Same story, on and on.

So no, I rather learn from someone who done it and put the work in. Pay them to show me how. Stuff failing. I failed in past and it's not heroic. It's not a great story. It's not romantic.

It's pain, it's humilation. It's people trying to control you due to your situation and telling you what you can and can't have. It's frustrating. It's blind leading blind.

It hurts and I got sick of it, so for time now, I find the people who know, and pay them to show me how it is. Do it, and show others. Sorted.

Adam Taha

[Tony Lauria Contribution Level: 3]

Great answers guys.

It seems a lot of this has to do with the definition of 'failure' that we live by.

I agree with Tom: the only real failure is to quit. The rest of it are just learning experiences. I mean just because it doesn't soar, or even fly, on our first few attempts, why should we think or say we have failed?

[Tony Lauria Contribution Level: 3]

Adam,

I have to disagree with you. 'Failure' or what I just defined as learning experiences ARE necessary in order to succeed - though I don't like to focus on struggle as rhinolou emphasizes. My strategy is to learn, execute, see what didn't work so well and fine tune & learn some more. Keep executing, learning and fine tuning.

The other critical key is the ability to ask all those questions you said you had, Adam. So a coach and mentor is necessary as well. If you keep doing the same things in isolation you'll never know what doesn't work. Thanks for your story.

[Ilka Flood Company: Isagenix Corporation Contribution Level: 4]

@Adam .... First, before I forget... I really liked your story. Attaching yourself to those who have already experienced success is a great way to cut your failure rate down.

@Tony ... I do believe that failure is a requirement for success. If you never failed you never tried. Just look at all the (very famous) people who have failed over and over again before they succeed. To name only a few ...

Michael Jordan - was cut from his high school team saying he "wasn't good enough"

Walt Disney - was fired from a newspaper because he "lacked originality and no imagination"

Harrison Ford - was fired from Columbia Pictures and told he was "never going to make it in the business"

The Beatles - were turned down by Decca Records saying, ..."we don't like your sound and guitar music is on the way out"

Thomas Edison - was told that his inventions were of "no practical use"

Abraham Lincoln - failed in business twice, had a nervous breakdown, his fiance died and he was defeated in eight elections

Yes, I absolutely believe failure is a requirement for success. Every single time I failed I learned another way how not to do something and got yet another chance to do it better the next time. To me failures are nothing more than stepping stones to success.

And yes, if you hang with successful people your failure rate is cut down considerably.

[Tony Lauria Contribution Level: 3]

Thanks Ilka.

I'd agree that many, many famous people "failed" before they succeeded. But instead of "failed" we might want to say "tried" before succeeding. Then we could say Edison tried 10,000 ways to get that light bulb to work instead of that he failed 10,000 times to get it to work.

But here's another question: was he having FUN!? while "failing"?

[Bev Bojarski Contribution Level: 2]

I agree with Ilka on this one, well put. The word "failure" is usually viewed as a negative thing. To me it's just a process, it's not really failure unless you quit! If we all stopped trying at our 1st or even 2nd "failure" this world would be a sadder place indeed!

Bev Bojarski