Lurking in the back of the mind of every entrepreneur is also a fear that you will fail. Watching your business go through tough times and wondering if you made a mistake conjures up a myriad of emotions, including fear, shame, guilt, self-doubt and discouragement. For some, in order to prevent incurring further loss, it is in the best interest of the owner and the business to close down; the decision to regroup, restructure and reemerge is one of the hardest to make. Bouncing back after a loss is challenging at best.

Remember the two benefits of failure, according to Roger von Oech: First, if you do fail, you learn what doesn't work; and second, the failure gives you the opportunity to try a new approach.

As women in business, and this applies to men as well, we have many competing forces: our mates, our children, our families, our friends, our businesses themselves, and any other interests we may have outside of the businesses. As we, in superhero fashion, try to juggle it all, we may drop a ball or two. Sometimes it is the business that causes the most strain on all of those factors and we ask ourselves: ‘Was this really the right move?’ ‘Is this truly my dream or a nightmare?’ ‘Perhaps living a normal life with a regular job would be easier.’ In some ways it is, but the pain, frustration, and feelings of dissatisfaction are greater than the struggle of keeping the business dream alive.

Napoleon Hill said persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel.

So what do you do if your business is struggling and you’re challenged to keep your passion burning bright?

1. Go back to the mission and vision statement. Read it and reread it for inspiration and to ensure that you are still in alignment with its principles. Sometimes we stray away from the original purpose and hence, the struggle.

2. Analyze what is happening and make necessary adjustments. We have to have the courage and flexibility to change our methods and sometimes members of the team if they are not yielding desired results. We can’t get stuck in an idea if the idea is not working. And we certainly can’t be surrounded by people who are not advancing the dream for whatever reason whether it is buy-in, commitment or competence.

3. Discuss your feelings openly and honestly with trusted loved ones, a mentor, coach or all of these options. Having a sounding board and different objective perspectives can really help to keep you from getting swallowed up in emotion and making skewed decisions.

4. Revisit your customer comments and testimonials to remind yourself how you have helped others. Often when I feel like giving up, I have divine encounters when I run into someone who is glowing about how much they enjoyed a presentation, class, workshop, an episode of my TV show, or even my Facebook page. It helps me to keep the true beneficiaries of what I do in my gaze and not my feelings.

5. Find time to get away, regroup, meditate, pray, and maintain focus. This is important. We all need the time away, especially as women who try to do all and be all and hold it all together by ourselves. It is critical that you deal with your ‘stuff’, or your inner life, as sometimes our destructive patterns hinder our own success leading to self-sabotage, telling ourselves that the self-fulfilling prophecy was bound to happen when it does. You will come away refreshed, enlightened, renewed, strengthened, and more authentic.

6. And if you have to close your doors, don’t think of it as a failure but as a courageous risk taken to go after your dreams. Look at it as a chance to try a new strategy. Sometimes it’s about timing, location, people or planning. Sometimes it is a test of will, character, integrity and readiness to live and protect the dream. Examine your business idea and, most of all, yourself. Read the stories of those who tried, lost and reemerged better than before to encourage you to keep pressing on.

Confucius said, “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

The greatest lesson to be learned from trials is that they come to make us better, firstly as a person, then as a business owner and leader. Just like in school, challenges will come, but the only way to graduate to the next dimension of growth and celebration is to pass the tests. In the famous words of Langston Hughes, “hold fast to dreams”, because life without them is limited, barren and bleak; life in pursuit of dreams is limitless, productive and meaningful.

• Simmone L. Bowe, MSc. is a human resource and organization development specialist, speaker, trainer, author, and mentor who focuses on helping business leaders and professionals diagnose performance problems and navigate the turning points of their organizations and careers to develop high performing, purpose-driven people, teams and organizations. For comments and queries, email sbowe94@gmail.com.