You're never a loser until you quit trying

 Even when you’re unstoppable, you can still burn out.

When you feel you’re being crushed under the pressure of

debts and taxes, and you still come out from under it all alive

and kicking, you’ll know that you are unstoppable. You’ll understand

what being unstoppable truly means to you.

I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was 17 years old. At first

 everything was pleasant, fun and exciting. Later in 2002, I was

23 years old and had just finished my obligatory army service

 in Finland. The IT bubble had just burst.

Thanks to my army service, I was in good physical condition.

My company employed 17 people. When the IT bubble burst,

my company’s volume of orders fell and we had a serious cashflow

crisis. Things became much less pleasant, fun and exciting.

 I couldn’t sleep because I was worrying about how I could pay

salaries to my employees. I was mentally burned out. I crashed.

In fact, I almost went crazy. I had to make a choice between

two bad choices: should I file my company for bankruptcy, or

 should I try to continue the business? I honestly didn’t want

bankruptcy, so I thought about the latter option.

I didn’t want to give up. So I started thinking – what is the

worst thing that can happen to me if I fail trying to save this

company? Well, I realised the answer was option one, bankruptcy.

Regardless if I failed at saving the company, or didn’t

even try saving it, the worst-case scenario was that my company

would go bankrupt. Luckily, my own house was not collateral

on my company debts, so my own private property was

protected. I calculated that I could save the company by downsizing

the amount of employees and by handling all the sold,

but still open, cases well.

I called the tax officer and made a deal about the payment

terms. One of the debtors took some of our office furniture

 as payment for their bills. With a heavy heart, I had to lay off

12 people, including some very good friends and my son’s god father.

I saved wherever possible. I couldn’t even pay my own

salary for many months.

This challenging downsizing period finally ended 14 months

 later, when I paid the last unpaid tax payment. The pen dropped

from my hand to the floor. I was exhausted. But I didn’t

give up. I survived my first big business challenge. It was diffi cult

– a real-life course in “Business and Economy University”.

In high school we didn’t have courses called “How to lay

people off ” or “How to survive and manage a cash crisis”.

Still, my business survived without these kinds of courses. And

I continued on as an entrepreneur despite this challenge. I gave

entrepreneurship a second chance. To this day, my business survival

experience gives me the courage to take on new challenges.

Everything will always be all right in the end, and if it’s

not all right, it doesn’t mean it’s the end.

Those that risk nothing and do nothing get nothing.

Being unstoppable requires a never-give-up attitude.

It also requires conscious actions: regular self-reflection, self management,

development and leading others.

You are unstoppable when you face challenges and perceive

them as opportunities to learn something new.

Protect yourself financially and don’t take risks too big to

 handle.

While reading this blog, remind yourself why you do the job

you do. What is your mission and what is your company’s mission?

Think about how you lead yourself and how you lead

others.

You only have one life, so live it!

Have a successful life!

Ilkka O. Lavas

serial entrepreneur and CEO at Improve Media and 61st fastest growing media Group City Digital.
Twitter: @lavas 

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ilkkaolavas

Author Profile at Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/ilkkalavas

Unstoppable Entrepreneurship book: http://www.amazon.com/Unstoppable-Entrepreneurship-unstoppable-entrepreneur-become-ebook/dp/B00ON3Z7L2/