H&R Block's Co-Founder Is Grateful For Their First 8 Years Of Struggle

When Henry Bloch and his brother, Richard, started their tax-preparation company H&R Block in 1955, they didn't know they were going to struggle for eight years before experiencing success.

Today, H&R Block has completed more than 625 million tax returns for its clients, writes Andrea Huspeni in Entrepreneur

"I'm glad I didn't know I would struggle - almost living hand-to-mouth - for years before finding success," says Bloch. "...[I]t was an incredibly valuable period of learning, mostly through trial and error."

Bloch tells young entrepreneurs to forego shortcuts when it comes to success because of the valuable lessons you learn along the way when you're working hard to keep from failing. Even if you fail, the lessons you learn when getting back up builds character that will eventually lead you to success. Bloch says there's no way he'd be as successful as he's become if lessons from those mistakes were never learned.

"I believe perseverance is a quality that any successful entrepreneur must have," he says. "There's an old proverb: Fall down seven times, stand up eight times. A young entrepreneur must expect to travel a bumpy and sometimes treacherous road."

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