EP219: What To Do When Disaster Strikes: The Entrepreneur’s Real Test

The Real Measure Of An Entrepreneur is How they Lead When Things Go Wrong

In this episode of The Complete Entrepreneur, Colin C. Campbell and Michael Gilmour tackle a topic most founders avoid until it is staring them in the face: disaster.

From losing venture capital overnight to watching companies collapse during the dot-com crash, they share raw stories about business failures, external shocks, financial devastation, and the emotional toll of entrepreneurship.

More importantly, they explore what separates entrepreneurs who recover from those who don’t.

  • Why integrity matters most when everything is falling apart
  • How transparency can turn a crisis into an opportunity
  • The emotional reality of entrepreneurial disasters
  • What founders learn when they lose everything
  • Why entrepreneurship is ultimately a skill, not a single outcome
  • How to make decisions from facts instead of emotion during a crisis

Build What You Love in an AI World or You’ll Probably Quit

Building a company is hard. It takes longer than expected. It costs more than planned. Customers do not always respond. Products fail. Marketing campaigns fall...

Learning How to Learn in the AI Age

The most valuable skill in the AI age may not be coding, prompting, or automation. It may be learning how to learn. In this episode...

I Just Had a Heart Attack at 56. Here Are 6 Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know

At 8:45 Monday morning, I sat up and felt a pain in my upper back. When I stood up, the pain began radiating around...

AI is Moving From Productivity to Execution: Why the Next Wave of AI Will Connect Your Tools, Data, & Strategy

For the last two years, I’ve had some version of the same conversation with CEOs. What AI tools should we be using? What is...

How to Catch the Next AI Wave

The best time to build a company is often when the market is changing faster than established businesses can respond. In the latest episode of...

Decision Fatigue: How Entrepreneurs Stop Feeling Overwhelmed

Entrepreneurs make decisions constantly. When every expense, contract, customer problem, and team question reaches the founder, that mental load becomes decision fatigue. In this episode...