Failure Comes in Two Types

Failure isn’t as bad as it seems.

Our fear of failure leads us to see decisions as taking us through a one-way door.

As in…when we walk through a one-way door, we can’t walk back.

But there are two types of doors.

Rory Sutherland, in Phil Agnew’s podcast, nicely explains the metaphor of commitments using one-way and two-way doors.

A one-way door is an irreversible commitment. Once you walk through, there’s no going back. 

A two-way door is a door that you can walk back through if you don’t like what you see on the other side.

With a two-way door, you can make a decision to test the waters, and if it doesn’t work, you can always backtrack or change direction.

Marketing decisions should always be two-way doors.

It’s normal for you, as a CEO, to treat every move like there’s no turning back, especially when it comes to spending.

But marketing, as long as it is purposeful, controlled, and experimental, is never a one-way door.

Let’s say you target an ideal client for a year, and it doesn’t work.

You invest time and money into a robust Facebook campaign.

But it’s not moving the needle.

Does that mean your business is doomed? Absolutely not.

You take what you’ve learned, and you pivot.

Maybe you switch your approach and focus on a secondary ideal client, or you adjust your strategy to tap into a different channel—perhaps LinkedIn is where your ideal clients tend to engage more.

You experiment with messaging, timing, or even the format of your posts to find what resonates.

Marketing should be approached with the mindset that failure isn’t the end; it’s a chance to pivot.

For example:

• A/B tests: Reversible within weeks.
• Google Ads campaigns: Reversible in 3-6 months.
• Email campaigns: Reversible in 4-8 months.
• SEO strategies: Reversible in 9-18 months.

Not a single marketing decision is permanent.

Instead of hesitating, take the leap. Make calculated risks. Fail fast. Learn faster. And keep moving forward.

So, next time you’re deciding whether to commit to a strategy, ask yourself: Is this a one-way door or a two-way door?

If you’re ready to treat your marketing as a two-way door, get started by documenting your Ideal Client Profile and start making marketing decisions with confidence.