If you’re in business long enough, you will fail. The question isn’t if—it’s what you decide to make it mean. In this episode of QueenMode, Dr. Ana Castilla pulls back the curtain on her own near-bankruptcy story and shows you how to turn business failure into training, not a life sentence. 

Whether you’re a women entrepreneur, small business owner, or ambitious side-hustler, this episode will help you stop seeing failure as proof you’re not cut out for it—and start seeing it as the curriculum that’sbuilding you into a stronger CEO. 

Dr. Ana shares how a $65,500 “marketing mistake” almost cost her practice… and how that season became the classroom that led to an 8-figure exit. 

You’ll learn: 

• Why failure is the price of admission in entrepreneurship (especially for women founders) 
• The 3 hidden costs of staying afraid to fail: lost revenue, stagnation, and a shrinking identity 
• The QueenMode Failure Reframe Framework (FAIL → FIND → FRAME → FORWARD) to turn any setback into strategy 
• The 5 types of failure you’ll meet as a CEO—strategic, operational, relational, financial, and flexibility—and how to respond to each 
• How to rewrite common stories like “I tried once, it didn’t work, I’m not meant for this” 
• Dr. Ana’s Failure Resilience Rituals and a simple 3-step protocol you can use the very next time something blows up in your business 

If you’ve ever looked at a failed launch, a bad hire, a cash-flow crunch, or a public flop and thought, “Maybe I’m not cut out for this,” this episode is your reframe. 

You’re not failing—you’re in training. 

Take Action: 

Think of one “failure” that still stings and rename it “The Curriculum for My Next Level.” Write down three lessons it taught you and one concrete action you’ll take in the next 7 days because of it. 

If this episode helped you see business failure differently, follow/subscribe and leave a rating or review so more Queens can find this show. 

Screenshot this episode, share your biggest takeaway on Instagram, and tag @queenmodepodcast so Dr. Ana can cheer you on and celebrate your comeback. 

If you're in business long enough, you will fail.

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The question isn't if, it's what will you make it mean?

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At some point, you will have a product launch that flops, a marketing company that

actually loses you clients, or a partnership that costs you time, money, and sanity.

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Every one of these can be proof that you're not cut out for this, or they can be the exact

curriculum.

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that turns you into a CEO who's unstoppable.

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to reframe failure so deeply that the next time something fails, you actually feel more

powerful, not less.

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What's up, Queen?

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I'm Dr.

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Ana Castilla, orthodontist, author, speaker.

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unapologetic dream chaser and yes I took my business from flatlining to an eight figure

exit in just eight years.

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But spoiler alert, I didn't play safe.

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I broke rules, I made bold moves, and I became the woman my younger self was waiting for.

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Queen Mode is your weekly dose of fierce strategy, unfiltered truth, and mindset shifts

that will have you leading, growing,

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and living like the powerhouse you are without burning out or selling out.

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So if you're done playing small and ready to rise, welcome home.

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I'm going to tell you something I wish someone had told me in the early years of my

business.

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Failure is not only normal, it is the price of admission.

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And let me say this, I know for many of you failure doesn't feel philosophical.

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It feels like, how do I make payroll?

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How do I face my family?

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How do I pay my rent?

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I'm not romanticizing it.

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The stakes are real.

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which is exactly why you can't afford to let fear of failure freeze you.

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You need a way to walk through it without abandoning yourself or your business.

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As scary as it sounds, as an entrepreneur, you have to be able to stare failure in the

face and say, I'm still here.

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If you read the stories of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, Walt Disney,

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Steve Jobs, J.K.

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Rowling, you'll see stories of major setbacks and an insufferable number of rejections

before they ever achieved success.

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If you've never failed in business, you're probably not playing a big enough game.

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Navigating failure is not easy, but it is at the core of every successful entrepreneur's

mindset.

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The employee mindset?

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Avoid mistakes at all costs.

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the entrepreneur mindset, test, learn, and iterate.

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Why?

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Because success can be as fleeting as a forest fairy.

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The goal is not just to hit it once.

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The goal is to learn.

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The goal is continuous and never-ending improvement so you can keep succeeding.

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I want to share a story about the early years of my business when I started my practice.

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I had zero experience running a business, but even I realized I needed to market my

practice.

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So what was my marketing strategy?

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Well,

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it was become the most prepared, most decorated and most awesomely impressive orthodontist

in Salem.

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Did I research this strategy?

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No.

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Did I align it with a business plan centered around a specific customer?

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Also no.

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I simply believe that if I could just become the most impressive orthodontist, the

patients would come flooding in.

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Because why wouldn't anyone want to go to the absolutely best, most qualified

orthodontist?

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The moment I signed off on my practice loan, I set out to accomplish just that.

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First, I signed up for a two-year orthodontic course that was very well known and

prestigious, at least in nerdy orthodontic circles.

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Did I need this course?

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No.

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But I wanted to make sure I had done

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everything I could to be above and beyond qualified.

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I saw myself continuing to teach at the Oregon Health and Science University Department of

Orthodontics, impressing all the referring dentists in the area with all my

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qualifications.

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That wasn't preparation.

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That was cluelessness and insecurity disguised as a marketing strategy.

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But I didn't stop there.

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no.

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I also went shopping for what I told myself was the very best orthodontic bracket system

on the market.

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And I was going to put that company's logo on my website, my pamphlets, my consultation

room, everywhere.

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I purchased enough inventory of that bracket system to accommodate about 30 new patients a

month for the next two years.

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When the practice at the time was only doing nine new patients a month.

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So let's zoom in on the math.

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The fancy CE course, $16,800.

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Two years worth of inventory for a practice three times larger than mine, $48,666.

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That means my quote unquote marketing strategy cost me about $65,500.

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dollars right up front and my working capital was only $90,000.

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By the way, I'm not telling you to be reckless.

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I'm telling you not to be paralyzed.

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There's a difference.

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Wise CEOs place calculated bets.

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They test small, learn fast, and then go bigger.

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What I did back then was not a calculated bet.

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It was an ego driven, untested move.

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Learn from that.

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Be brave.

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Yes, but be brave and data driven.

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So what happened?

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Did my I'll be the extra educated orthodontist with the fanciest bracket system strategy

payoff?

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Absolutely not.

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In fact, it almost cost me my business.

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Nobody cared about my prestigious CE.

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Nobody cared about my fancy braces.

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Nobody cared that for a while I was the only board certified orthodontist in two counties.

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And when I say nobody, I mean my customers, my patients.

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And because now I had no money left to do real marketing, I took the practice from nine

new patients a month down to five new patients a month.

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If that's not falling flat on your face, I don't know what is.

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I ran out of money so quickly, it wasn't long before I could no longer pay my team.

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Those and many other decisions took me to the verge of bankruptcy.

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And I thought to myself, maybe I'm not cut out for this.

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But unbeknownst to me, I was cut out for it.

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Not because I had some special skill.

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I was cut out for it because I had

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the ability to learn.

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I learned that it wasn't about me.

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It was about my customers.

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I learned that you can't go all in on an untested marketing idea.

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You need to test it.

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I learned that a large order discount means absolutely nothing if the inventory is just

going to sit there like your office is a warehouse.

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That first 18 months was humbling.

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But now I see it as the classroom where I became the woman who could build and sell an

eight figure business.

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I had just paid tuition to the School of Entrepreneurship.

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And just so we're clear, Queen, when I'm talking about being on the verge of bankruptcy,

I'm not talking about some cute little dip.

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I mean crying on my bathroom floor, putting groceries on credit cards, and wondering if

I'd have to walk back into an associateship with my tail between my legs.

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I'm not speaking to you from the mountaintop.

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I'm speaking as someone who has crawled through the mud.

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And here's what I've learned.

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Failure is not definitive.

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It is an integral part of the entrepreneurial process.

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Failure is a learning opportunity.

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Each setback provides valuable lessons and new insights that are difficult to gain

otherwise.

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Failure is necessary for innovation.

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Experimentation is vital for innovation, and not every experiment will work as planned.

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Failure builds resilience.

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Overcoming failure builds adaptability, and that is essential for long-term success.

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If everything you gain from failing is not enough to keep you from being afraid of

failure, know this.

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Staying afraid to fail in business carries significant hidden costs.

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These costs hit your revenue, your mindset, and your future.

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And often, you don't see them until a major opportunity is missed or you look back on

years of unrealized potential.

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Cost number one, lost revenue and opportunity costs.

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The most direct cost is the money you don't make from not jumping on opportunities.

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That looks like not launching new products, not expanding into new markets, not raising

your prices.

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All of that translates into substantial unrealized revenue.

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Cost number two, stagnation and lack of growth.

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Fear of failure often leads to playing it safe, which leads to stagnation.

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And queen, trust me when I tell you, in business, you either grow or you die.

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If you play it too safe, your business stagnates while more risk tolerant competitors

innovate and capture market share.

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And cost number three, shrinking your identity.

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Every time you avoid risk, you reinforce a smaller identity and you say to yourself, I'm

someone who doesn't trust herself.

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You start designing a business you can control, not a business that can grow.

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Bottom line, protecting yourself from failure often means protecting yourself from your

next level.

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For all these reasons, it is crucial that you reframe failure.

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Reframing failure in business means shifting from seeing setbacks as final judgments to

seeing them as valuable learning opportunities and essential steps toward innovation.

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It requires acknowledging your emotions, conducting an objective analysis, and building a

growth-oriented culture in your business.

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So,

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Let me introduce you to a simple way to reframe how you think about failure in your

business.

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Let's call it the Queen Mode Failure Reframe Framework.

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to strategic risk taker.

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Step number one, fail.

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Feel it without self-destruction.

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If you fail, feel it.

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Let it be real.

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But feel it without tearing yourself apart.

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Acknowledge the sting.

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You can say, sucks, this hurts, this scares me.

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You're allowed to feel it and you're allowed to not like it.

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Separate the event from your identity, however.

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Don't label yourself a failure just because your launch didn't hit the goal numbers.

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there will be other launches and they will succeed.

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If you grab the lessons from the one that didn't go as planned, ask yourself what actually

happened?

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Just the facts, no drama.

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Step number two, find.

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Extract the lesson, not the label.

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Ask yourself high quality questions.

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What did I learn about my audience?

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What did I learn about my offer?

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What did I learn about my systems?

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What did I learn about myself as a leader?

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And don't just answer them out loud.

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Queens don't just feel their failures, they document their lessons.

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Write the answers down so you can refer to them later when it's time to put together your

comeback.

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Step number three, frame.

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Decide the meaning on purpose.

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Most entrepreneurs default to disempowering meanings, but I just gave you so many reasons

why failure is temporary and often necessary.

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So decide what this setback means on purpose.

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Make it powerful.

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Don't turn this didn't work into I'm not cut out for high ticket or no one bought into

nobody wants what I offer.

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If your launch or offer tanked, it is data, not a death sentence.

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Remind yourself, this result is feedback, not a final judgment.

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And ask yourself, if this were happening for me, why would it be teaching me right now?

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And step number four, forward.

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Turn your setback into a concrete upgrade.

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Convert each lesson into one specific change.

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If it was an operations failure, develop a new process, a new system, or a clearer SOP.

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If it was a marketing snafu, refine your message, your audience, or your channel.

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If your offer got zero attention, adjust your promise, your delivery, or your pricing.

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And sometimes the most powerful upgrade is ending something.

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Retiring an offer, walking away from a partnership, even closing a business that is no

longer aligned.

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ending is not failure.

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It's a strategic choice.

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The question isn't did it last forever?

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The question is did I extract the lessons and use them to build what's next?

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positive.

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You recover by building differently.

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Now I want to move on to the types of failures you'll meet as a Queen CEO.

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And it will require you to have pattern recognition.

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Pattern recognition is one of the most critical skills you can have in business.

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Failure is not chaotic.

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If you look closely, you'll see that failures tend to happen in certain patterns, often

closely associated with the psychology of the entrepreneur.

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Once you recognize your particular pattern of failure, you can take action instead of

panic.

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To get you started, here are five common types of failure in business.

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Now, not every failure is because you messed up.

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Sometimes the market shifts.

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Sometimes the algorithm changes.

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Sometimes you run into bias or gatekeeping.

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We don't control all of that, but we do control what we learn, how we adapt, and how we

build next.

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of failure aren't about blame.

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They're about giving you language and levers you can pull.

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Number one, strategic failure.

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This is when you target the wrong audience.

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provide the wrong offer or build a product that doesn't match what your ideal customer

actually needs.

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Basically, you build something people simply don't want or aren't ready for.

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Your response?

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Go back to the data.

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Did you overlook something?

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Do more research.

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Run more tests.

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Remember what I said earlier, the entrepreneur tests, learns and iterates.

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Number two, operational failure.

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This refers to systems breaking down.

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Your team drops the ball, tasks fall through the cracks, or your customer experience

suffers.

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But know this, if you're having operational failures, I want to congratulate you because

it probably means your business grew.

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Growth is the great destroyer of systems.

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The systems required for a $500,000 a year business

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are not the same systems required for a $1 million a year business.

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This is one of the most common failure patterns I see entrepreneurs beating themselves up

over.

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Your response?

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Treat it like a growth pain.

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Evaluate your business's current size, revenue, and pace of growth.

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Then ask yourself, do my current systems make sense for where we are now?

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If you're having operational failures, they probably don't.

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Design and implement the systems that match the size of the business you're actually

running.

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Number three, relational failure.

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This is the bad hire, the failed partnership, the misaligned client.

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This can happen because there was misalignment from the beginning or because you grew and

outgrew the relationship.

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You can try to save the relationship by clarifying expectations, values, and boundaries.

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Communicate openly and clearly.

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If the other party responds, well, great, you move forward.

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If not, it's time to move on.

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And I want to emphasize something really important here.

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Alignment is everything.

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Getting any client at all costs.

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is not the goal.

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The goal is serving your ideal client.

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Upgrade your filters and decide who gets access to you and your brand.

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Trying to be everything to everyone is a recipe for failure.

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Number four, financial management failure.

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Inadequate cash flow management and lack of proper budgeting can quickly lead to a

business's demise.

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Remember my 65,000 marketing purchase in year one?

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Your response?

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Identify the root cause of the problem.

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Create a realistic budget.

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Manage debt intentionally.

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Communicate transparently with any stakeholders.

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seek professional guidance from financial advisors or consultants.

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And number five, lack of flexibility failure.

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Sometimes failure happens because you are unwilling to adapt to changing market conditions

or pivot your business model.

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You failed because you refused to innovate.

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Your response?

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Acknowledge and assess the situation honestly.

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Formulate a new vision and strategy.

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work on building a culture of innovation in your business, and finally, monitor your

progress and be willing to adjust again.

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Bottom line, when you know which type of failure you're facing, you stop making it mean

I'm broken, and you start asking, which lever do I pull as a CEO?

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oh

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As women entrepreneurs, we are often underestimated, but let's not underestimate

ourselves.

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Be very careful about the stories you tell yourself about your failures or even your

successes.

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Instead of, I tried once and it didn't work, so I'm not meant for this.

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Say, I ran one experiment without the full context.

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Now I know exactly what to change.

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Instead of,

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If I fail, people will lose respect for me.

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Say, most people respect courage and honesty more than perfection.

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My vulnerability can deepen trust.

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And instead of, I have too much to lose, my family, reputation, stability.

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Tell yourself, I also have too much to lose by staying stuck and never seeing what I'm

capable of.

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Okay, since we've already established that failure is not if, but when, I want to offer

you my Queen Mode Failure Resilience Rituals for handling failure like a queen.

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Ritual one, the 24 hour rule.

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Give yourself 24 hours to feel everything.

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No quitting, no burning business plans, no dramatic, I'm done, speeches in that window of

time.

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Ritual two, post-mortem CEO style.

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Ask yourself these three questions.

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What worked?

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What didn't work?

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And what will I do differently next time?

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Ritual number three.

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Create your evidence list.

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Open your favorite note-taking app and write down the following.

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The risks you've taken, the things that did work, because we tend to forget those, and the

skills you built because something didn't go as planned.

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This is your gold.

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This is the proof that you can handle hard things.

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Ritual four, your failure flex.

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If you failed,

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That means you've lived and you have an experience to share.

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Rehearse saying, here's something that didn't work and what it taught me.

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Share it in masterminds, team meetings, LinkedIn groups, Facebook groups, any safe space

where you exchange ideas and get support.

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Normalize talking about failure without the shame.

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And let me say this, the first time you share a failure publicly, you're going to feel

naked.

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Your brain will tell you, they're going to think I'm incompetent.

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In reality, the right people will think, wow, she's honest, she's human, and she's a real

leader.

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You don't have to spell every detail.

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You can simply say, here's something we tried that didn't work.

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And here's how we're making it better.

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That's leadership.

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and if you're listening to this and thinking, Ana, this is amazing, but I need a quick go

to for the next time something fails.

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Here's your simple Queen mode protocol.

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Number one for the first 24 hours.

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Feel it, no decisions.

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Number two, after that, do a 10 minute post-mortem.

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What worked, what didn't, and what you'll do differently next time.

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And number three, pick one lever.

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Strategy, operations, relationships, finances, or flexibility, and decide one concrete

change you will make.

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That's it.

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You don't need a 37 step plan.

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If you need a simple, get to the point ritual, follow these three steps next time your

emotions are loud.

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So let's recap this.

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Failure is inevitable, but the meaning and the use of it are a hundred percent up to you.

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When you fail, you either win outright or you win later because you used the lesson.

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Let's do a little identity reframe.

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You are not a woman who never fails.

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You are a woman who cannot be stopped.

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by failure.

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Wear that lesson proudly and say with me, I don't chase perfection.

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I collect data, I collect lessons, and I collect wins.

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Queen, I want you to think of one failure that still stings.

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Today, I want you to rename it, the curriculum for my next level.

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Write down three lessons that taught you and then choose one concrete action you will take

in the next seven days because of those lessons.

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You are not behind.

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You are not disqualified.

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You are in training.

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Every flop, every misstep, every I can't believe I did that moment is shaping you into a

wiser, sharper, more powerful CEO.

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You never really lose.

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You either learn

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or you leverage what you learned.

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Thanks for tuning in Queen.

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I hope today's episode gave you the clarity, courage, or confidence boost you needed

because building a powerful business starts with believing in you.

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If you know a Queen who needs to hear this, share this episode with her.

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Don't let her sit alone with a story that she's a failure.

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and if this episode is helping you see your failures differently, screenshot this episode

and share one lesson you're taking from a past failure.

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me at Queen Mode Podcast so I can cheer you on and celebrate your comeback.

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If you haven't yet, hit follow or subscribe so you don't miss future episodes.

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We're just getting started and I promise you are going to want to be here for your next

level.

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If you want more tools, resources, or just want to connect, head to dr.

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Ana Castilla.com or find me on Instagram at Queen Mode Podcast.

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Keep showing up, keep leading boldly and remember you were born to rain.