How to Turn Failure Into Your Biggest Online Business Success

"Every adversity carries with it the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit" according to Napoleon Hill.

Our failures are indeed the most fertile seeds of our future success. If we plant them. To understand this, we have to understand why things go wrong. We have to learn the lesson from the bad experience.

All things happen for a reason. Unfortunately, when adversity hits, we're usually so busy feeling sorry for ourselves or trying to recover that we don't stop to think about the reason behind the event. So we never learn the lesson. We never get the opportunity to plant the seed.

We also get so busy in life, so caught up in meeting the demands of today, that we often miss the "seeds" that are dropped in our path. This is especially true when times are tough.

I've been having some significant struggles lately, related to my businesses. I've tried to practice what I preach and remain positive and focused. But, as the great Jim Rohn says, "Do what I say, not what I do." It's hard at times for even the most seasoned personal growth teacher to handle situations the way she knows she should.

In the midst of my struggles I took my kids to a nature conservatory. They were having a great time running around and exploring. There was a big window you could sit by and watch the birds in the trees. I noticed a lady sitting there holding her young daughter. The little girl was beautiful. She was confined to a wheelchair that was accompanied by more medical gadgets than I could comprehend. She wasn't verbal, but had the most engaging smile.

That scene had a huge impact on the outlook I had on my current adversity from that moment on. It made me refocus on the fact that business is just business, and whatever decisions I make and directions I go in aren't as life-consuming as I was making them out to be.

My kids are super healthy and able to run around and appreciate every simple thing in life. They aren't restricted to the "handicapped trails" that this little girl was limited to. And no matter what happens in business, no matter where we are, what we do, and what we have, my kids and I have each other. And, really, that's all we need.

I'll never know the pain and heartache of this mom who deals daily with the fact that her child can't "have it all." (Although I'm sure that she is grateful for every special joy and moment she shares with her child.) Now there's true adversity, I thought to myself. My problems are nothing more than a minor distraction in comparison.

Watching this child was like a 4:00 a.m. alarm clock jolting me back into reality. The seed I planted was a renewed appreciation for my children's perfect health. The seed I planted was the recognition that "this too shall pass," and I'll probably come out better for having weathered the storm. The seed I planted was seeing how relatively easy it was to deal with my problem, which now seemed pretty insignificant compared to my original assessment of it.

Things happen when you need them to happen. But you have to be aware enough to realize they're happening and to plant the seeds for your future benefit. I was recently introduced to a person who I think will be a big help to me. But I had to seize upon the fact that maybe it wasn't random that I met her when I did. I had to realize that maybe she came into my life now because she had something that could help me now. And I had to plant that seed to reap the benefit of that relationship.

Become ultra-aware when you are facing adversity. When your new landing page isn't converting, not even your mom will sign up in your latest network marketing company, or your product launch nets one order. Take heart. Look around you and find the lesson in your failure, or struggle, or whatever is stressing you out. There are seeds there. Seed that, if planted, will be valuable lessons to getting it right next time, or to putting in perspective just how bad it really isn't.