Sometimes what feels like a failure is actually just the first step toward success. Motivated Millennial Leader Hannah Becker knows that for a fact. Her career path has been a bit unorthodox but her self-diagnosed “hardheadedness” has allowed her to turn set backs into lessons that serve her well in the long run. Hannah knows, “What feels like a failure at the time is often just a high priced education that will allow for success later.”

Hannah BeckerHannah Becker is a serial entrepreneur. But she admits she hasn’t just stumbled into success with a midas touch. She has worked hard and persevered through set backs to end up where she is today. Her earliest memory of entrepreneurship was the result of a minor disappointment. She explains, “When I was six or seven years old I stood in line to pay $20 for the Princess Di Beanie Baby.” She thought she was making an investment. But so did a lot of other people. She continues, “It was a rude awakening. I learned a quick lesson in investment to value.”

But even at such a young age, she turned the experience into a positive. In the midst of a saturated market, Hannah and her friend pivoted. The young ladies decided instead to make accessories for Beanie Babies. “We loaded up the wagon & went around town selling our jewelry,” she explains. “We earned a couple hundred dollars on one Saturday and I realized that was a lot more than I could make feeding my neighbor’s dog.” An early set back turned success enabled Becker to get a taste for the entrepreneurial life. She has been hungry for the autonomy and lifestyle it provides ever since.

After college she entered a doctoral program and worked her way to the top quarter of her class. But halfway through the process she realized that when she got out she wasn’t going to be any closer to her long-term goals than she was before she started. So, she dropped out of the program and went into business for herself. She admits, “It dawned on me that only way to achieve the goals I had was through self-employment.” Although leaving the program felt like failure at the time she is able to look back now convinced it was the right decision for her. “I wanted autonomy. I wanted to create opportunities for other people. I wanted to have the resources to make a difference,” she explains. “None of that was going to come by working seventy hours a week using my doctorate.”

The Key to Success as an Entrepreneur

Millennial Leaders

This experience was another example of a perceived failure being the first step toward success. Hannah has developed a resolve as she’s gotten older to continue to move forward. She argues, “A closed door is a closed door. It doesn’t mean your dreams are damned.” When faced with a roadblock, entrepreneurs must find a way around it and keep moving forward. Rejection is just part of the process. She believes learning to fail is the key to entrepreneurial success. Savvy entrepreneurs know that failures don’t define you. And even more importantly, failures can’t be taken personally. She adds, “Those experiences are what teach us what to do and what not to do.”

Hannah admits moving past failure isn’t easy when you’re in the thick of it, but you must. Her advice is to not allow yourself to believe every feeling you have. Instead it is important to focus on what you know to be true. For Hannah, what she knows to be true is that she can turn perceived failures into opportunities. She is able to pivot when needed and create profitable businesses out of difficult situations. She explains, “On this side I can look back and think, ‘I learned so much from that but man was it painful.’”

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3 Ideas from Hannah Becker to Give You Momentum

  1. Don’t Believe Every Feeling You Have
  2. Nobody But You Will Pay You What You are Truly Worth
  3. Learning to Fail is the Key to Entrepreneurial Success

[/inset]Perseverance is part of what earned Becker success in the past and it continues to do so in the present. When her husband’s unexpected deployment forced the couple to close their lucrative landscaping business, Becker knew she needed a business that would accommodate their transient lifestyle. She became curious about the possibility of launching her own e commerce store. After a few failures and a few successes she learned enough about the industry to know she wanted to learn more. She pursued an MBA as a result.

“When there are not jobs available, you still have an option – you can CREATE one!” Hannah Becker from The Motivated Millennial: An Entrepreneurial Guidebook for Generation Y.”

She’s currently a partner in a tech startup called Patriot Move. Patriot Move is an online resource that provides relocation services, networking opportunities and referrals to local businesses at no cost to the military community. She is combining her entrepreneurial expertise and her real-life military spouse experience and starting a business that makes an impact on people’s lives. “There is a big need for these type of services,” she explains. “So many spouses are alone and it’s very common to be taken advantage of if you don’t know where to go.” Patriot Move has wisely positioned itself to become a combination of Angie’s List, Groupon & Facebook for the military community.

So, if you’re keeping track, her career path has included door-to-door sales, a lucrative landscaping business, a series of e commerce stores and now a tech start up. (And I never even mentioned that she wrote a book!) Hannah Becker is one motivated Millennial who isn’t afraid to take chances and make unexpected choices to achieve the goals she set for herself years ago. Sure, failures have been a part of her story but she has managed to turn those failures into valuable lessons in true entrepreneurial style.