David Seruya on Overcoming Failure as a Business Owner!
Failures are a part of running a business. This is true for all business owners — no matter how skilled. However, just because mistakes can’t be avoided forever, doesn’t mean that nothing can be done. What we’re talking about is the “after”.
After you’ve suffered losses, what do you do?
We interviewed the CEO of ServicePlus Home Warranty, David Seruya, to get his hard-earned insight on the matter! Below is the full transcript of the interview:
Hello! Thank you for agreeing to talk to us about this subject! To start us off, please tell our readers a little bit about yourself!
David Seruya: No problem, no problem! As for the introduction, my name is David Seruya. I work as the CEO of ServicePlus, which is a home warranty company based in the United States.
David Seruya: Of course. I entered the home warranty industry when I was twenty-five years old. Before then, I was working as a mortgage broker. But I quit that job after being introduced to the home warranty industry by a friend who insisted on its potential.
What was your entrance to the home warranty industry like? Did you face any difficulties?
David Seruya: Despite my partner and I’s enthusiasm when it came to starting up our first home warranty business, there’s no denying that we were completely inexperienced when compared to our competitors at the time. And, despite us eventually accumulating that much needed experience over time, we still fell prey to a couple of potholes that caused us to break down.
What do you mean by that? Did anything significant occur during that period of time?
David Seruya: Yes, and it was pretty serious. It was in 2009. I was twenty-nine years old. So, this is four years into my being a first-time business owner. To keep a long story short, during that year, my first home warranty business had been sued by the New York Attorney General’s office. This, as you can probably guess, was a pretty impossible issue for me to deal with at the time.
David Seruya: The biggest lesson I learned at the time was delegation. To be completely frank, that period of time exposed a lot of holes in our business model. And, based on those holes, my business partners and I quickly figured out that there was an issue with the way we delegated tasks.
To put it simply, we were too controlling. We wore too many hats. And, in the process, caused harm to our development. Because of this, I learned the importance of finding the right people for a given job. No one can be good at everything, after all. And as a business owner, it’s even more important that I understood how to delegate so that everyone is doing what they do best.
How did you end up dealing with the loss after the fact?
David Seruya: I’ve always considered myself a risk-taker. I don’t bow down to challenges because I believe that the people who aren’t constantly trying to push forward and improve are those that will truly lose in the end.
And so, even though my first home warranty business eventually closed, I immediately picked myself back up so that I could rebrand and properly right past wrongs. This is a tried and true method for me. As of now, I continue to persevere in the home warranty industry with ServicePlus.
What exactly did you do to pick yourself back up after failure?
David Seruya: My mental state is naturally pretty positive. As mentioned, I don’t believe in not moving forward and that played a big role in me getting back on my feet after suffering from major losses. I just took the failure as a lesson learned — and a crucial lesson at that! And then put my all into starting over with a clean slate.
Thank you very much for accepting our interview request! For our last question: Do you have any advice to give to someone who might be suffering from the same kind of experience?
David Seruya: Different people have different methods of overcoming failures. My advice for those that have experienced a major catastrophe is pretty basic as a result: look both inwardly and outwardly.
I believe that you can overcome any failure after seeing where you’ve gone wrong. Accepting said wrongs is also an important part of the process, of course, and must not be forgotten. Simply put, take this lesson seriously so that you can have greater momentum for your next venture.