Bounce! Ignore the Fear and Go from Failure to Success!

photo by Robert Brook

Bounce! An Interview with Barry Moltz

Have you ever failed at something? Did you ever have a failure in business or your career? How did you handle it? What about success? What is the best way to define, create, and handle success?

I recently had the great pleasure of reading an exceptional business book called Bounce! by Barry Moltz.

Bounce! is a “book about finding success as it comes to you” using the rubber band ball as a metaphor for the cycles of business. Barry Moltz walks his talk when it comes to his “10 Business Bands for True Business Confidence” by sharing his failures as well as his successes. He does this without shame or excuses. He also teaches about:

Creating Your Own Brand of Success
The Art of More Effective Risk-Taking
How Process Trumps Outcome

I loved many things about this book, but I think the reason why I loved this book so much was that he is one of very few authors who address the big elephants in the business room: Failure and it’s cousin Fear. The other reason I loved this book is that it not only applies to business, but also to life in general.

Please enjoy this interview with the author of Bounce!, Barry Moltz!

1. Who was the audience you had in mind when you wrote this book? Who do you think can benefit most from your 10 Building Bands?

I always start from a business audience place since that is my background…especially those of us who own small businesses or who are entrepreneurs. But as I wrote the book, I realized it is applicable for everyone’s life. We all have good times and bad times and we need to figure out how to navigate through them. Bouncing helps! If we can let go of what ever the last result was, success or failure, and bounce! – take another action, it will get us ready for our next success.

The people who can benefit the most from the 10 building bands are those who understand that there are not 5 linear steps to success. The building bands are guideposts that we can learn from in our journey. Like a rubber band ball, we build our lives without a lot of symmetry. We layer our experiences on top of each other like forming this ball. If we can recognize these ten bands then we can get déjà vu on our journey and move through each of the challenges more quickly.

2. Why focus on failure so much? Isn’t that negative?

I am trying to get people not to focus on failure! As The Secret’s Rhonda Byrne and Earl Nightengale say, we become what we think about. My calling out failure, by admitting that it visits all of us, we can let go of the awkwardness and shame that come with it. By stating that there isn’t always something to learn from failure, that sometimes it just sucks will free us. This allows us to let go of failure and bounce, take an action which will get us closer to another success. We need to find different words to describe failure and realize that like success, it is just part of the business cycle.

3. What is the best way to re-group when failure strikes and the pain is still fresh? How about if the failure leaves you financially strapped?

I think it is good to wallow in your failure and grief for awhile. You deserve it! Have a pity party for 24 hours but then let it go, learn what you can if anything and move on. Letting go of failure is actually difficult because we are taught that quitters never win and winners never quit. Nonsense. Winners know when to quit.

If you are left financially devastated after a failure, think about the small, patient interim goals you can set that do not require a lot of money so you can move forward to a different place then where you are. Take action! Downsize your dreams! Come up with a new brand of success that is about something in addition to money- Money plus goals. If you strive for minimal achievement, you can focus on one small thing, increase your power for action and conserve financial resources.

4. What advice do you have for someone who wants to start a small business, but they are afraid of failure? Is it possible to lower the risk of failure if they use careful planning?

It alright to be afraid. We all are. I think it is silly when people say not be afraid or that failuire is not an option. We are all afraid and in fact, failure is a likely outcome. I think that even if we are afraid and we can deal with the outcome, we should go ahead and do it anyways. Learn to make those fear butterflies in your stomach “fly in formation”. The best way out is always through.

We can lower the risk by setting patient interim goals. Forget about taking a giant step. Forget about getting a foothold toward your goal. Get a toehold. Take one small step or action forward and test the result. Based on that outcome, take another step and so on. It will be slow progress and a zigzag path, but it is a more sure footed way to get there. It will also reduce the fear since you can check your progress at each step along the way.

5. I love your saying, “Skip the logo, take a step.” What is a quick and dirty litmus test to know which things you need to do before taking action?

We spend far too much time planning in business. It is out of our own fear of failure. We need to outlaw premeditated business. The best litmus test is to ask a customer- “Will you buy my product?” The customer will tell you what they need before you complete the sale to them. This feedback is the most important test. In fact, I tell salespeople there job is to get the prospect to say no. Most prospects just say maybe and it prevents us from moving forward to find other prospects that can say yes! If you find prospects that are in pain and the money to solve that pain, they will buy from you. All other tests become irrelevant.

6. Since seeing is believing, Can you give us some examples of some well-known people that you think naturally live the 10 Business Building Bands?

I think you will find many people that you know in your lives do. No, not the celebrities because there is too much hype or artificialness in their lives. But, most importantly, we need to stop looking at anyone else. We need to look at ourselves and how can we utilize the ten bands. We should not to look at other people as our guide. Comparing ourselves to others is a loser’s game. There is always someone who is richer, smarter or better looking than you. We are our own guide and we need to only measure ourselves against the goal we have set for ourselves. Sometimes, this does not come naturally to any of us since we have been conditioned all our lives another way. We are conditioned by our environment to expect success, and fear failure. We need to let go of both of these.

7. Can you share some of what your own personal measurement system is for success?

Our goal should be how to be happily successful. My measurement system is- can I financially support my family by doing something I have passion for and enjoy? Through my speaking, writing and family business consulting, I am fortunate that I am able to achieve success. There is no better demonstration of success than after a speaking engagement, a person from the audience comes up to me and says, “What you said just changed my life. Thank you.” This is as good as it gets!

Thank you, Barry! What fantastic insights! Wishing you much continued success!

If you are thinking of starting a new business and you are afraid of failure, you should read Bounce! If you’re thinking of starting a business and you’re not afraid of failure, you should also read Bounce!

Bounce! will soon be a business classic. I highly recommend picking up a copy so you can start bouncing too!

Please Share!

What are your thoughts on business, failure, success, and fear? All comments big and small are very welcomed!

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