Well it happened. You made a mistake in your business. Don’t panic. As former GE CEO Jack Welch said, “I’ve learned that mistakes can often be as good a teacher as success.”
Mistakes are to be expected. Running your own business is partially trial and error. Some things will work and some won’t. The problem is now when things don’t work out, it’s up to you to get back on track. But how? Remember that you will recover from your mistakes. Here are some tips for doing so:
First, acknowledge you made a mistake. This might seem self explanatory, but it’s easy to go into denial when things start to get a little messy. When you are running your own business, you need to take charge right away. You can’t afford to allow yourself to believe that everything will just work out. You have to figure out a way to make it work – and that means first acknowledging what didn’t work.
Acknowledge your faults. When you are running your own business, you are in charge. So if a mistake is made, the culprit is pretty easy to find. Be willing to examine yourself, your work ethic and your leadership style when mistakes happen. You may learn something valuable that will help you to avoid future mistakes.
Look for the opportunity. When one door closes, you have to look for a window. It’s the same thing when you make a business mistake. One avenue might be closed to you, but perhaps there is detour you can make that might lead to something new. Not every mistake has to be total loss, so look for ways that you can benefit from a poor choice.
Don’t make the same mistake twice. There is a very simple way to avoid this: Record your mistakes. Keep a journal of past business mistakes. Then you can track what went wrong, how you fixed it and what you learned from it. As you move forward in your business, you will be writing your own help manual for when things do go wrong!
Mistakes are a part of running your own business. But if you have the right attitude and follow these tips, you can learn from your mistakes and make your business that much better.
Much Success!
Have an outstanding day!!
Sara