full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Leticia Gasca: Una nueva manera de hablar del fracaso en los negocios

Unscramble the Blue Letters

But we soon raelzeid that we were rookies. The truth is, the crafts didn't sell — or better yet, we didn't know how to sell them — and the business plan we had made wasn't rtieisalc. We werokd for years without salary, waiting for a miracle to happen, hoping that magically, a huge buyer would appear and make the business profitable and pevernt the entire project from dying. But in the end, the miracle didn't happen. We had to close the business and that bkore my herat, because I bgaen the whole project in order to have a positive impact on the life of the artisans, and I felt that I had actually had a very negative impact. I felt so guilty about what happened that for years I hid it from my résumé and from my conversations.

Open Cloze

But we soon ________ that we were rookies. The truth is, the crafts didn't sell — or better yet, we didn't know how to sell them — and the business plan we had made wasn't _________. We ______ for years without salary, waiting for a miracle to happen, hoping that magically, a huge buyer would appear and make the business profitable and _______ the entire project from dying. But in the end, the miracle didn't happen. We had to close the business and that _____ my _____, because I _____ the whole project in order to have a positive impact on the life of the artisans, and I felt that I had actually had a very negative impact. I felt so guilty about what happened that for years I hid it from my résumé and from my conversations.

Solution

  1. prevent
  2. realistic
  3. heart
  4. realized
  5. began
  6. broke
  7. worked

Original Text

But we soon realized that we were rookies. The truth is, the crafts didn't sell — or better yet, we didn't know how to sell them — and the business plan we had made wasn't realistic. We worked for years without salary, waiting for a miracle to happen, hoping that magically, a huge buyer would appear and make the business profitable and prevent the entire project from dying. But in the end, the miracle didn't happen. We had to close the business and that broke my heart, because I began the whole project in order to have a positive impact on the life of the artisans, and I felt that I had actually had a very negative impact. I felt so guilty about what happened that for years I hid it from my résumé and from my conversations.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
negative impact 3
failing fast 3
failed businesses 2
failed business 2
failure institute 2
common behavior 2
public policy 2
life expectancy 2

Important Words

  1. artisans
  2. began
  3. broke
  4. business
  5. buyer
  6. close
  7. conversations
  8. crafts
  9. dying
  10. entire
  11. felt
  12. guilty
  13. happen
  14. happened
  15. heart
  16. hid
  17. hoping
  18. huge
  19. impact
  20. life
  21. magically
  22. miracle
  23. negative
  24. order
  25. plan
  26. positive
  27. prevent
  28. profitable
  29. project
  30. realistic
  31. realized
  32. rookies
  33. résumé
  34. salary
  35. sell
  36. truth
  37. waiting
  38. worked
  39. years