How I Crashed, Burned, and Came Back Stronger

What’s a risk I’m glad I took?

Honestly, this answer might sound strange while I’m writing it… but I’m glad I took the risk of starting a business — even though it failed. Most people celebrate success. I celebrate the failure that nearly broke me.

There’s nothing like the firsthand experience of building something from scratch and watching it crash. It’s not a classroom. It’s not a YouTube video. It’s on-the-job training with no safety net. You get thrown into the fire, and you either learn or get burned. I learned. I got bruised. And I grew.

That was my reality—how I crashed, burned, and came back stronger.

Not because I had some master plan, but because I refused to stay down.

The knowledge I picked up along the way? Priceless. The lessons? Tools I now carry with me every day — tools I’m using to build Routz and everything I’ll build after this.

How I Crashed, Burned, and Came Back Stronger

You don’t forget what the pain of failure teaches you.

You remember how it feels when no one shows up.

You remember making a product you believe in — and watching it collect dust.

You remember sleepless nights, second-guessing everything.

But you also learn how to move.

You learn to listen better.

You learn what not to do — which sometimes matters more than knowing what to do.

You learn that your identity isn’t tied to any one idea, brand, or outcome.

Failure humbles you.

But it sharpens you too.

Those businesses that didn’t work?

They weren’t a waste.

They were reps.

Training rounds.

Character-building workouts disguised as heartbreak.

And now? I’m stronger. Sharper. Wiser. Hungrier.

I went through a hell of a lot: heartache, tears, pain.

But I wouldn’t trade those lows for anything. They made me stronger. They still make me stronger.

Failure isn’t something to fear. It’s part of the process — the ugly, unfiltered part that nobody wants to talk about. But the truth is, everyone fails at some point. What separates winners from everyone else is what you do with that failure.

The hardest battles? They’re in your own head.

Every action, every word, every emotion — it all starts in the mind. If your mindset is weak, everything else that follows will be weak too.

You have to sharpen it.

You have to train it.

You have to learn how to compartmentalize the negativity, box that shit in, and lock it down. Because yeah, it’ll come out. It always does. But when it does, you control it. You don’t let it hijack your emotions, your words, or your mission.

That kind of mental control?

That’s the difference maker.

That’s what leaders are made of.

That’s what I’m becoming.

And that all started with a risk I’m damn proud I took.