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Question of the Week: What's One of the Biggest Mistakes You've Made In Business, and What Did You Learn From It?
Hi Indies!
I hope you had a fantastic weekend and are off to a great start this week.
"No one ever learned anything by being perfect."
I can't remember who said that -- probably everyone who has ever tried to start a business! But seriously, this is a chance to pay it forward.
We've all screwed up. Like, this morning, I launched a new blog. This afternoon during my training session with my new blog designer, I pushed the wrong button and the entire blog disappeared. I mean "poof!" It was gone, a pretty white page of nothing.
I learned to be more patient. I was so sure I knew what direction he was going with his instructions that I pushed the button before I allowed him to be specific about exactly what I was supposed to do. As soon as it happened, do you know who I heard in the back of my head? Of course, my mother. Saying, "Donna, you are so impatient. You just need to wait and listen and not be so 'fast.'"
Of course that's just a little thing. I've made far more and much bigger mistakes than that! I'll share some of them, and what I learned here throughout the week.
Meanwhile, what's one of the biggest mistakes you've made in business, and what did you learn from it?
I hope you had a fantastic weekend and are off to a great start this week.
"No one ever learned anything by being perfect."
I can't remember who said that -- probably everyone who has ever tried to start a business! But seriously, this is a chance to pay it forward.
We've all screwed up. Like, this morning, I launched a new blog. This afternoon during my training session with my new blog designer, I pushed the wrong button and the entire blog disappeared. I mean "poof!" It was gone, a pretty white page of nothing.
I learned to be more patient. I was so sure I knew what direction he was going with his instructions that I pushed the button before I allowed him to be specific about exactly what I was supposed to do. As soon as it happened, do you know who I heard in the back of my head? Of course, my mother. Saying, "Donna, you are so impatient. You just need to wait and listen and not be so 'fast.'"
Of course that's just a little thing. I've made far more and much bigger mistakes than that! I'll share some of them, and what I learned here throughout the week.
Meanwhile, what's one of the biggest mistakes you've made in business, and what did you learn from it?
Views: 13
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by IBN Member Jim DeBetta on -
Hey Donna...
It is hard to limit my answer to just one "big mistake" but one that might help others is not backing up all of my work on my computer on a regular basis. A few years ago, I lost everything on my computer and what a frustrating and expensive lesson that was! I then went out and purchased an external hard drive that once set up (just took a few minutes and I am not tech savvy like others) backs ups everything on my computer each night. I write daily, have hundreds of client files, and so many photos of my family that losing them would really hurt. No more...I protect my work and hope everyone else will too!!
Jim
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Permalink Reply by dM, CEO on -
Jim,
What piece of mind you have now. I'm waiting to hear back from JoAnn's referral on Carbonite.
External hard drive ... priceless!
Thanks for sharing your experience and paying it forward! Incidentally, how much did the hard drive cost -- if you recall?
dM
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Permalink Reply by IBN Member Jim DeBetta on
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Like 169.00....the best money I have spent to date!!
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Permalink Reply by Sylvie Dan on -
My Biggest mistake is to buy and buy and buy again and again some stuff i don't even need for my start up business.
What i learn is to think twice and ask myself if i really need it. Because of this i lost more money. Just go with the essentials stuff for the beginnig.
Sylvie
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Permalink Reply by dM, CEO on
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Sylvie,
Thanks for sharing -- good lesson for all of us. I hope you can maybe sell some of the stuff you don't need. There are always crafters and hobbyists who can use stuff that's been stored away for a bit, if it's still in good condition. If so, you can post things you want to get rid of here.
dM
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Permalink Reply by Sylvie Dan on
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Thanks you for the advice
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Permalink Reply by Altovise Ware on -
Although we are still a relatively new company. I can say thus far, our biggest mistake has been not putting more funding into advertising our business. While we are expanding our customer base, we still are not quite where we would like to be. Just recently have we made a real effort to network and invest in paid advertising.
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Permalink Reply by dM, CEO on
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Hi!
Glad you combined networking with paid advertising. Doing a lot of the former can be great alone, but doing the latter without networking is totally last decade!
Keep me posted on how things are going!
dM
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Permalink Reply by Christine White - Scandle LLC on
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Hi Donna, yikes! I think that we all are guilty of making mistakes and the longer you are in business...the better the chances you'll make one. I really don't think of them as mistakes at all, but rather, learning experiences. I've done what you did with your blog, but mine was with my website! Expensive and painstaking I know!
Christine
www.abodycandle.com
twitter - @scandlecandle
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Permalink Reply by dM, CEO on
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Of course you are right! We always learn something, but OUCH! Ya know??!
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Permalink Reply by dM, CEO on
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You are such a great lady for stepping up to the plate and living to tell about it. Thanks for sharing that, and including that, sometimes, a clean break is the hardest and most necessary thing to do.
I'm so glad you found a trusted business ally and companion in your husband! I work with mine too and it's a great thing to be connected on a commercial level. (I've made mistakes on that front too, but that is so another post!)
Thanks again for sharing,
dM
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Permalink Reply by Grace Antares on -
I've made more than a few mistakes. First, purchasing way too much inventory without a defined product selection or direction. Lots of wasted money on the "experiment" phase: however...much of what I learned, I learned by actually working with different ingredients. So I think what I learned is to make sure that you build this "experiementing" phase into your financial or business plan. It's the cost of starting a business.
Secondly...not understanding how to price properly. I had a tendency to price low....without recognizing that I had no room left to expand, create a distribution plan or wholesale. Huge mistake. I've increased prices gradually to begin to integrate these items...but in this economy, pricing is a tricky issue...as in all things, figuring out what the market will bear and based on comparable products, marketing plan ect.
I've just thought of a bunch more mistakes but will leave 'er at that!
Bramble Berry
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