A WorkLife Lesson: Kieran’s Story: How Failure Set Him Up for Later Success
During his final semester at college, Kieran, together with Paul and Thomas - his classmates and flatmates, set up a website designed to connect students with landlords directly - without the need for estate agents. They figured cutting out the middle person was a win/win for both sides. They put a lot of work into designing the website and marketing the service, but weeks after the launch, no one was visiting the website, and they hadn’t connected anyone. It seemed it was dead on the ground before it ever got off the ground.
Kieran believed there was viability in the idea, but Paul and Thomas didn’t. By now, they had graduated, and they both wanted to focus on establishing their WorkLife, which would require time and attention. They felt they didn’t have the time to focus their attention on anything else.
The thing was, their WorkLives were going somewhere. Kieran’s wasn’t. They’d studied International Music Management, and on graduating, Paul and Thomas had landed jobs in the industry, Kieran hadn’t. They knew the direction they wanted to go in at the end of their studies. For Paul, that was artist management. For Thomas, that was record company marketing. Kieran didn’t know the direction he wanted to go in.
To top all this off, Paul and Thomas’s work was about to take them overseas, and so they couldn’t commit to renewing the lease on their flatshare. Kieran couldn’t afford to pay the rent on his own, but he really didn’t want to give up the flat. He loved the space - it was a converted warehouse, which, although located close to the city, had a sense of detachment, which gave it privacy.
He also didn’t want to give up the website, and Paul and Thomas were OK with him taking it over and doing whatever he wanted to do with it. But what would that be? That was the BIG question.
In this lesson, you will learn how dealing with the urgency of his immediate needs led Kieran to do what he could with what he had and how this led him to new and different opportunities for his venture.
You will learn how his initial failure set him up for later success.
In this lesson’s WorkLife Learning Assignment, you will learn to do what you can with what you’ve got.
In this lesson’s Continuous WorkLife Learning Assignment, you will learn from your failures to help set you up for later success.