I've had multiple businesses with no success. What am I doing wrong?

For as long as I can remember, I've been a business owner in a limited capacity (in other words, I've always had a side hustle).

In 2013, I was the cofounder of a niche card game that was researched, developed, and printed for sale.

After printing, my business partners and I quickly realized that none of us had the capacity to market our game the way we needed to.

Everyone got busy and life happened.

Eventually, after years of holding on to hundreds of physical boxes of the game, we sadly threw them all out in a dumpster.

Boy, did that hurt. The hours spent on research, the countless phone calls to validate responses and discuss game play, all went to waste.

The positive spin? Lessons were learned, and it was a unique experience not everyone can say they have. A few years later, I came up with a brilliant idea (don't we always think our ideas are) for an online retail clothing store. By no means was the clothing unique, but the concept behind it was relatable to my niche audience.

I got some sales, had some repeat customers. My model wasn't the greatest - while others were drop shipping, I wanted to make sure I knew the quality of the clothing before I sold it to anyone. That put me at a disadvantage and was more costly as it meant the clothing had to be shipped to me first for quality control. In the end, it wasn't sustainable. Fast forward to today.

I am now the co-owner of ENT Social Events LLC, an event management and commercial development company.

The difference this time?

Well, I put more into it up front - more thought, more planning. It's interesting what a good plan can accomplish if you develop it, read it, adjust it and implement it.

Sure, things change, but if they do, revisit and readjust as necessary.

Note that, I don't say this to mean I have a multi million dollar company - or million dollar, or..well..you get what I mean. Not yet at least, but it's certainly my most successful undertaking to date. The way I measure success for now is in terms of experience, knowledge and results. The money will follow.

The Adrenaline Rush Many times we get caught up in the excitement of the idea - we rush to do things that are way ahead of where we need to be. I am guilty of wild running thoughts and lacking the focus I need sometimes. As someone who loves visual marketing and its effects on consumers, I can get side tracked.

This is where having a good balance helps. A come back to reality check. This is where my business partner comes in (don't tell him I said that) and where I am learning more and more. So what elements do you need to push the needle? 1) Passion - I do think you need to like what you decide to do or you won't be in it for the long haul. You need to enjoy doing it, learning more about it and perfecting it. It shouldn't feel like "work" even though it is.

If it's for a particular cause that you are passionate about, or, there's a sentimental reason behind it, even better. It just helps motivate you even more and keeps you going. If you're still trying to figure out what your passion is, that's okay, it's never too late to explore.

Don't jump into something if you don't love it. Money is a great motivator but for most, it takes time to get there. 2) Detailed Planning - I worked at the Small Business Development Center in grad school as a consultant for small businesses in the area, so doing a business plan and projected financials should have been second nature for me - especially with my first two businesses.

It wasn't, and that adrenaline rush did it every time.

Pushing forward with an idea - no written direction except what was floating around in my head. Just seeing where I land.

No - this did not work for me and I truly believe things are working now because there was and continues to be a level of detail and planning involved.

It helps you examine the risks and opporunities, evaluating a path forward.

3) Execution - Man oh man, this is where I shine! This is my comfort zone. I have always been a very hard worker when it comes to things I'm passionate about. I usually work on projects early and put things in place ahead of time, so I'm not rushing at the last minute.

Some people are good at having the vision and planning but they never follow through on its execution. Perhaps they have a fear of failure or they're wanting perfection before they move forward.

Regardless, without the execution stage, the idea is just that, an idea.

All business ideas require some level of resources (time and money are two big ones) in order to execute.

If passion is there, combined with a detailed plan, the time and money should figure themselves out.

In my experience, you need all THREE of these elements - passion, detailed planning and flawless execution to work really well together, in order to move forward and see success. I often think I'm doing everything, because I am, at times (remember me? The executer).

I also acknowledge that being meticulous about the small details matter now more than ever. It takes the small things to differentiate. People notice these things.

Don't get me wrong, the details certainly matter to me, but for my business partner, they need to be precise and make complete sense, before we even move on.

To date, using a good balance of these elements, we have executed a very successful event, achieved feedback that can be used to build trust and promote our future events and have begun to create a name for ourselves in Atlanta.

We are excited to start planning the next one, perfect it and then decide what expansion and scalability looks like.