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Overcoming The 3 D's Of Failure

November 22, 2025

What causes failure? Can it be narrowed down to one cause? Usually not. I’ll present three causes here today. And in case you’re wondering, these are three causes of failure that I have had to deal with in my past and present adventures in business.

1. Dabbling- This is when you’re not fully committed to the business idea that you are pursuing. It sounds like something you would like to do or try. It’s fun and you think it will be a successful pursuit. I see this a lot with real estate agents. I feel comfortable talking about this example because I’ve been a commercial real estate broker for 15 years and I’ve worked with a lot of dabblers.

One example is the residential real estate agent who decides they want to do commercial deals. I have no problem with that and in fact I work with several residential agents who are very skilled at doing commercial deals. However, commercial real estate is a different animal. It attracts the dabblers because of the potential for high income and more time freedom. But some agents who dabble in commercial don’t take the time to properly educate themselves in commercial real estate so they never see any real success.

Those who put in the time and effort do well with it and are in many instances as good as any full time commercial agent. That goes for whatever business you are in.

The Part Timer

Another kind of dabbler I see in real estate is the part time agent. They have a full time job or they are a stay at home mom and they have a real estate license. They dabble on a part time basis and maybe sell one property a year. This contributes to the fact that 80% of the deals are done by 20% of the agents. Dabbling leads to failure. I have been a dabbler in previous businesses. Those businesses no longer exist. And dabbling exists across all business types.

2. Drifting- Distractions have been my biggest business expense. I’ve written two previous articles on that topic. Distractions lead you off in directions other than where you should be heading. They cause you to drift. What kind of distractions? Ideas for another business. New equipment to improve your business (only to be discarded when something better comes along). A new side hustle (more dabbling), and many more. And there’s my nemesis; the Content Consumption Vortex. Constantly consuming content from other entrepreneurs in an effort to find the big secret to success when all the while that big secret was right in front of you. It's addicting! We have to stop consuming other people’s content and start creating our own. I still do it. Every few months I have to dial back the consumption and increase the production. Drifting is easy to slip into and very often it’s not even noticeable, at least not to you. Others around you notice but they are probably hesitant to say anything to you.

3. Doubt/Disbelief- This is the big one. I believe that success is 80% to 90% mindset. A big part of that mindset is your belief in yourself. You have to believe that you can achieve what you set out to do or it just won’t happen. When doubt creeps in your commitment starts to erode. This is when people give up and quit. Don’t give up too soon. Everyone experiences doubt and disbelief. We have to constantly work on our mindset.

Stickwithitness

Persistence is the key. We have to develop the habit of being persistent, pushing on and not giving up. I call it "stickwithitness". If you don't have stickwithitness you will likely fail. Persistence can beat the 3 D’s Of Failure.

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That's it for this time. See you next week!

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