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Blake Lively has a gutsy message about failure after her startup shuts down

Blake Lively
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

Actress Blake Lively launched her e-commerce lifestyle site, Preserve, in July 2014, but the 28-year-old revealed Wednesday that she will shut it down.

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In a lengthy interview with Vogue, Lively explains: "We have an incredible team of people who do beautiful work, but we launched the site before it was ready, and it never caught up to its original mission: It's not making a difference in people's lives, whether superficially or in a meaningful way."

"And that's the whole reason I started this company," continued Lively. "Not just to fluff myself, like, 'I'm a celebrity! People will care what I have to say!' It was so never meant to be that, and that kind of became the crutch because it was already up and already running, and it's hard to build a brand when you're running full-steam ahead — how do you catch up?"

While Lively says "I never thought I would have the bravery to take the site dark," she tells Vogue that the decision helped her learn a lesson about failure:

The only time I've ever done something and felt real reward is when I've done something that's incredibly risky, because without great risks it's impossible to have huge success. I don't mean financial success, I mean personal success, pride, happiness in what you've done. And the only times that I have felt that are the times that I have really put myself out on the line and done something that really scared me — and I know that sounds like something out of a Hallmark card, but this feels like something I really have to do.

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But Lively says don't count her or Preserve out just yet.

The actress-turned-entrepreneur has a plan for a relaunch of sorts, but she's keeping the details private.

"I've finally summoned the strength to take on whatever anybody says because I know I'm going to come back with something stronger," adds Lively. "I'm proud of it and I can take it, because I am a much harder critic on me than any nasty gossip rag."

Preserve was controversial from the get-go for its odd introduction from Lively, as well as products sold on the platform like pricey $495 hand-painted boyfriend jeans, a $40 salt collection, and a $90 confetti lantern.

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"I haven't created something that is as true and impactful as I know it can and will be," says Lively. "And I'm not going to continue to chase my tail and continue to put a product out there that we, as a team, are not proud of.

"I'm going to take this hit, and the only way I can prove all the negative reactions wrong is to come back with a plan that will rock people. And I have that plan," Lively says. "And I'm so excited about it, and that's what gave me the courage to do this."

Read Lively's full, revealing interview with Vogue here.

Read the original article on INSIDER. Copyright 2015.

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