I’m going to do something incredibly original here, and open with a Winston Churchill quote. The late Nobel Laureate once said: “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” This assertion resonates with the deepest part of my being, especially my business being. I’ve been working in the business world for the past seven years since I finished college, and I’ve had my fair share of successes and failures. Up until last year, I would say there was a little more weight on the side of success. However, over the last year, failure has tipped the scales. Can going from failure to failure really be defined as success?

My Meltwater career started off with a bang. I started as a Sales Consultant in our newly formed Meltwater Chicago office and came to work in that first month really pumped up. I worked hard and made more calls than anyone in the office. However, in my first month, as I watched my colleagues close deals and ring that legendary Meltwater bell, I sold nothing. I closed zero deals and added no clients to the portfolio.

Failure?

One thing that’s not a failure is Chicago cuisine. Chicagoans know how to eat: deep-dish pizza, Italian beef and the Chicago style hot dog. But I digress.

In my second month I learned from my failure. I learned to ask clients the tough questions and to hold them and myself to a rigid schedule. And you know what? It worked. I was one of the top sales people in the U.S. that month. The lessons I learned from my previous failure made me successful, so I began to live by that mantra: dissect my failures and apply the lessons learned. From that point on I was a top salesperson in the company and within one year I was asked to be the Managing Director of Meltwater’s Chicago office.

Success?

I just wish this mantra worked as well for me in other areas of my life. Like on the ping-pong table or in my marriage. The marriage reference was a joke. Really. Did you hear me? Sweetheart? Babe?

About a year ago, I was asked to join a new division, Meltwater Drive. I believe in Meltwater’s vision of entering growth SaaS markets by leveraging our sales expertise, so I willingly accepted the challenge. In fact, I saw this as a chance to relive the adventure of my early days selling Meltwater News. It was an adventure and more, but my results were not what I had envisioned. I moved to London for four months to work with the team there. I love London! So much history. The pub culture promotes real conversations and the food is nowhere near as bad as people say it is. It’s more like a gastronomic delight.

The team I worked with was delightful. All business all the time! I like that. We worked day and night. Literally. At one point when we started working with a new business partner and because we wanted to ensure the success of the relationship we worked from 8am until after midnight for more than a week! Some of the best moments of my working life were made in those sessions. However, although enjoyable, the time spent selling Meltwater Drive didn’t always translate into successful results for the U.S. team or me.

After four months in London, and marginal success for the U.S. team, I took the operations to Fog City. No, I’m not making some analogy about success peaking its head through the fog of failure; I’m talking about San Francisco. By the way, I can see mountains, a bay and Victorian mansions from my apartment window! My view is amazing, but my results were sub-par, so I thought back to what Churchill said and I began to dissect my failures more than ever. I analyzed every meeting, every phone call and every aspect of our business process. Though I’ve experienced more failure and stared in the face of more challenges than ever before, I’ve learned more in the last six months than I learned in four years of business school and seven years in the business world.

Although my last venture was somewhat of a failure it brought me to another success. In January, I was asked to work with Meltwater’s New Ventures team and to be part of the founding team for a new product division.

I’ve never been more enthusiastic and never more certain about future success. For that, I have my failures to thank.