Mistakes Suck, Hurt and can be Embarrasing. But they are going to happen, so the trick is to learn as much as you can from it and make your business and life stronger each time it happens!
As per the partly comical heading; “Mistakes” are something that we all make plenty of in business. I was speaking to one of my fine friends Fabian Perez about this topic and although the areas were quite different – we were reflecting on mistakes we have made in business. Some are quite minor and we have both been lucky (as we are still around working away in style).
However in business, some people make massive mistakes that can cost them their business. Quite often these can be preventable (e.g. losing too many clients without new ones coming in, having a massive bill not get paid and a client goes out of business, missing the market and lacking innovation etc). I have found actually very few people to lose their businesses over something out of their control (quite often it would have been preventable if they had their mind on the job and been proactive).
In more the context of mistakes, I think making Mistakes is Awesome! This is a very strange thing for me to say in that say 2 – 3 years ago mistakes drove me insane and made me feel bad. I have made some blunders in terms of:
– People pretending to be my friends just using me and moving on.
– Doing plenty of work and going on and on without people paying me saying “It’s coming” only for them to not pay me in the end.
– Not driving suppliers hard enough.
– Letting people on teams get away with not doing their fare share.
As I write them out, they aren’t actually that bigger blunders and on a funny note – in learning from these experiences it has greatly improved my experience in business. It’s made me take note, improve my understanding, get focused and really help other people too! I used to feel bad with my mistakes and then I found others to make even bigger mistakes than myself!
My advice? In business we are going to make mistakes that cost us money. At times, big money too and that is okay as long as we learn from them. Basically, you are “Paying” for training and by taking the lesson you are learning, it gives you the means to just make more money in future. Now that is Awesome!
Thank you for taking the time to read this one, hope you enjoy my other articles and happy days and nights friends! Here is to learning from Awesome Mistakes! Edward Zia – Marketing Mentor who loves mistakes!
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