Failing is Success in disguise

Hey there! Hope you’re having a fantastic day or evening, wherever you are. Let’s jump straight in, shall we? Failure: it’s all around us, whether we like it or not. Some people avoid it at all costs; others embrace it. So, which one are you?

Recently I listened to an episode of the Design Better podcast where hosts Eric and Aaron chatted with Adam Moss. At one point, they discussed about creating even when the outcome isn’t what you expected and failures that turned into success. That got me thinking about my own journey and the ‘failures’ I’ve experienced as a creative I’ve experienced in the last 15 years. I wanted to chat about one that surprisingly paved the way for success.

The one recent failure that comes to mind happened back in 2020. I had the opportunity to rent out a studio space to use for both work and event planning, back when I was pursuing event planning (I still host a show here and there). The space eventually became the birth place of Syndicate Vision.

Without going into too much into detail, here’s the elevator pitch about the space: it was a co-working space for creatives, a venue for shows and workshops. A big goal as well is we wanted it to become a tour hot spot and create a speakeasy, but one that wasn’t hidden away behind a bookcase, but instead at the time upstairs from a Starbucks and Sushi restaurant. Other ideas included movie nights, and gaming nights. Because it was 2020; we all know what was happing, It was one of those “right place, wrong time” situations.

It was amazing for the first little bit, but as the world was trying to heal. An event space with human interaction wasn’t going to be possible at the time. After a year being there, my life starting to go in a different direction and a shift in business. The hard decision of packing everything up came to a reality. I decided that once my contract was up, I wasn’t going to renew it. It was a hard pill to swallow, because the thought of “Am I failing at being a designer with my own agency” came to mind many times leading up to making the decision of moving out.

Which was a strange thought. It’s not like moving into this space was the start of my design career, in fact I just hit my 10 year mark of designing and before this space I had already been dipping my toes into freelance for a couple of years. In the winter of 2019 leading up to the new year, one of my goals for 2020 was to finally jump into the deep end of the pool with freelancing and try to make it a full time career. Having that space felt like I was entering the next level of my design career.

Once I moved my stuff back into my bedroom. It took a couple of weeks to see that I wasn’t failing, but in fact little did I know that was my leveling up in a weird way. I’m not sure I would’ve been able to start Syndicate Vision the way I did and it’s been pretty cool saying “yah, I use to have a studio space downtown”. A couple of weeks went by that I decided to take over a empty room in my parents basement and turn it into my own design office, which then my fiancé (wife now) started calling The Design Den (Which is where this substack name comes from)

Now 4 years later looking back and reflecting that time. I smile am grateful I was able to experience that and go through that, because I wouldn’t be where I am if It wasn’t for that failure.

I think we need to start looking at failure like a staircase and each step gets us closer to the door of our dream. Whatever that may look like

After more than 12+ years in the creative industry, I’ve come to see failure not as a roadblock, but as a necessary detour on the way to success.

Another failure that I’ve experienced thats helped my journey

Back in 2-17, my car got broken into, which led to my Herschel backpack getting stolen with: 2015 Macbook Pro, Canon 60D & a external hard drive packed with design work, footage and other work I did not have backed up. Which reminds me BACK UP YOUR WORK and Don’t leave it in the back seat, put it in the trunk where no one can see it

Key Take Aways from the episode

• The concept of ‘happy accidents’ in creativity is crucial, as artists need to create conditions for these accidents to occur and recognize their value
• Successful artists share traits such as patience, persistence, and faith in their abilities, navigating numerous challenges and frustrations to reach their creative goals.
• Many successful artists have learned to navigate failure, often feeling like conduits for their work, viewing their creations as separate from themselves.
• The importance of surprise in the creative process is highlighted, with the truism that creating a lot of work is essential for producing good art.

As we sign off from this topic. What’s a failure that you’ve experienced became a unexpected success for you? Let’s chat down below — because sometimes, those ‘failures’ are worth more than we realize and could help someone else out

Here’s the podcast episode if you’re interested in listening to it