Sometimes, being wrong is the first step towards success. Learn how entrepreneurs Jeff Doyle (Smiledog Reception Services), Greg Hemmings (Hemmings House Pictures), Michelle Simms (Genesis), and Mark Kennedy (Celtx) realize when getting it wrong is something to celebrate.

 

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Halifax entrepreneur Jeff Doyle has always loved reading, so much so that the owner of Smiledog reception services has a program in place to reward his staff for reading. In literature, he sees solutions.

“It always gives me hope when I’m having a problem,” he said. “It’s a way to bring in new information so that your brain will suddenly go, ‘Oh, I see a solution that I didn’t see before.’ Everything you’re trying to do in business has been done by people a lot sharper and smarter than me, and they write books about it. I know the information is out there. I just have to be ready to learn it at the right time.’”

That’s why when he reads profiles about businesses and business owners, he prefers the ones that talk about the struggles they’ve gone through, not the glowing success stories. “You don’t really learn anything unless you struggle,” said Doyle.

 

 

In his 35 years of running businesses, he’s seen his share of ups and downs. It’s been in the downs where he’s learned the most. “They make you humble, and you have to sit back and reflect and then from that, you kind of go, ‘OK, I have a perspective in terms of how to move forward,’” said Doyle.

For entrepreneurs, going through rough patches or outright failure is a critical part of the path toward success.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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