I had the pleasure of being involved with New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW) this year as a panelist for “FAILURE FEST”. Initially I have to say the title was not particularly inviting and I thought to myself “Do I really want to be a part of this?” I said yes – and I am glad I did. Failure is a part of every business. I, 
myself, learned from the other panelists (Kirk Coco – NOLA Brewing, Celton Hayden – CC’s Coffee House and Will Scott – Search Influence) and hopefully was able to provide a few good tips to the audience of entrepreneurs about my own experiences with failure. The biggest of those lessons is not to be afraid to fail – it is inevitable. Whether or not you learn from past failures — improve, change process and get better is the largest part and opportunity you have. In the smart words of William Edward Hickson: “If at first you don’t succeed, Try, try, try again.”
Failure applies to FSC every day in our practices – social media, search and marketing all are ways to test messaging, try to connect with the right people and optimize the messaging and tactics if they don’t work. We can measure everything we do online – a HUGE benefit to our business and our clients. We know what works and what doesn’t and we fix those “failures” and get smarter and better one Facebook post, one Tweet and one blog at a time.
So don’t be afraid of failure – it can make you better, faster, smarter and stronger.
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If you have missed me at the many speaking engagements I participate in across the city, there is another one coming up soon! I’ll be speaking at the Digital Marketing Forum presented by Cox Media Louisiana and LSBDC. The forum will take place in three different cities – New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette from May 6 – 8. We will be discussing the topic of How to Reach and Engage Your Multi-screen Customers. You’ll have the opportunity to ask the experts all about branding, advertising, online marketing and how to reach your audience.