The smash Broadway play The Producers is hilarious for its preposterous premise. To bilk investors, the producers intend to stage a flop. The irony is their planned failure becomes a hit.

In real life, no one intends to fail. Yet they do.

When you started your business, you intended to succeed. But one in seven new businesses close within five years. Virtually every business fails in some aspect of operation. But setbacks and shortfalls are often the basis for subsequent success.

Entrepreneurial types, obstinate and hardheaded to begin with, can be reluctant to take advice. Consequently, they learn the hard way. But the entrepreneurial traits—enterprise, initiative, creativity—enable them almost uniquely to learn valuable lessons from failures.

How one responds to setbacks, shortcomings and failures is ultimately personal. Some may learn what to avoid. Others may learn how to overcome. What’s nearly universal, however, is the irrepressible entrepreneurial drive to push on, to make something out of what we have—or what we have left.

An entire book could be written on the theme, “What would you do differently if you knew then what you know now?”

Indeed, one has been. As a matter of full disclosure, I’ll reveal that the author is my wife, Jan Norman. Her book, What No One Ever Tells You About Starting Your Own Business, is drawn from “surprises” encountered by 101 entrepreneurs after beginning business. In many cases, “surprise” is a euphemism for failure.

As Jan writes, “When surprises surface, be ready to adjust and move forward.”

“Adjust” is a euphemism for “learn the hard way.” And entrepreneurs do. And in doing so, they succeed.