The CEO and Founder of Heartbeat, Brian Freeman, talks about overcoming failure
Brian Freeman, the CEO and founder of Heartbeat, is one of the most iconic social media marketing entrepreneurs. His company, Heartbeat, is an industry-leading market place where brands can connect with social media influencers for influencer-style campaigns. Influencer-style campaigns have become very popular in recent years with brands thanks to their effectiveness as a marketing tool.
Under Freeman’s shrewd leadership, Heartbeat has grown from a start-up to having more than 250,000 brand influencers on its platform. Besides business, this CEO is also passionate about helping budding entrepreneurs succeed. As a result, he likes offering helpful advice and insights through interviews and social media posts. In a recent interview, Brian Freeman broadly talked about overcoming failure as an entrepreneur. Here is a summary of what he shared.
Understanding the origin of failure – Are you too busy to notice it brewing?
According to this prosperous entrepreneur, most of the business failures can be avoided in one way or another. Sadly, this is easier said than done because most business leaders do not take time to understand the origin of failure before it happens. Brian pointed out that in his early days as an entrepreneur, he too suffered a major blow when some of his core team members left. He revealed that the origin of the failure at this time was failing to be a good leader. He remembers that there were numerous times then, where he could have prevented this failure from happening, but he was too busy to notice. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
This Heartbeat founder went on to say that most entrepreneurs fail because they fail to notice the origin of their failure. Moreover, they are too busy to do anything before it’s too late. Most entrepreneurs try to save their businesses when it’s too late and resort to desperate measures, which sometimes makes the situation worse. Additionally, without identifying the origin of your failure, you are likely to find yourself in the same tight spot.
Learning from failure
This iconic social media marketing entrepreneur mentioned that part of his success has been brought about by learning from his failures. He revealed that after losing his core team member due to his poor leadership, he took the initiative to make himself a better leader. Firstly, he joined a CEO advisory peer group, where he could learn from other CEOs about becoming a better leader. In addition to this, he hired a leadership coach and mentor.
Brian Freeman went on to advise other budding entrepreneurs to always learn from their previous failures. Moreover, they should come up with ways to make themselves better leaders so as not to create room for similar situations in the future. The Heartbeat CEO added that getting a mentor can help any entrepreneur navigate harsh tides on their way to success, thus avoiding failure. He urged budding businesspersons to start by joining online mentorship programs before they can move on to hire personal coaches.
Be open to feedback and criticism
Great business leaders are ready and willing to listen to feedback and criticism not only from their clients but also from their employees. It’s not just listening to criticism and feedback but also being ready to listen to new ideas from both ends. Listening to your clients helps build their trust in you. Customers like brands that take time to listen and also act on their suggestions.
On the other hand, listening to feedback and new ideas from your employees will encourage them by making them feel part of the company. Brian Freeman said that this would show the employees that they are valued and motivate them to do even better. He pointed out that from his experience, its companies that embrace this openness that succeed.
Freeman asked budding entrepreneurs chasing success to also learn about topics outside their sectors. This will help them be more creative in coming up with solutions when faced with challenges. Do not just learn from your mistakes but also from that of others and their success.