Recently we had a number of things go wrong in our business in a single week. I thought back to the early days of setting up Blue Eyed Sun and how issues like that seemed like the biggest things in the world to us at the time. The stress, anger and frustration could be all consuming. A lot has changed with how we see problems these days. Some of which you might find useful.
So, if you ever beat yourself up about making mistakes and not getting things right in your business, here’s a list of what happened to us (a company with 16 years experience) and how we dealt with things that fateful week:
1. Despite having been proofed by two separate individuals, we discovered three mistakes in our new 64 page brochure after it came back from the printers. Firstly, we wrote the wrong hall for Spring Fair. Secondly, there was a typo on one of the cards. Thirdly, we had the wrong image and a typo on another design.
In the past I might have got very angry and upset by these problems. Unnecessarily so. The past is gone, now is all there is. You have to assess the situation for what it is and then make decisions on what to do accordingly.
In hindsight, I can tell you that having the wrong hall number for our Spring Fair stand in our brochure didn’t affect our show in the slightest. We were able to correct all three problems quickly on our website. The first typo was spotted before the actual print run for the cards went to press and was fixed. The second meant that 2,000 cards had to be ditched. Fortunately the embossing plate didn’t have to be remade so we saved £80. The cards were quickly reprinted and the problem solved. The cost of the mistake was the price of the lesson to be more thorough and less rushed next time.
2. The new floor we had laid down in our new warehouse at a cost of £20k bubbled up and cracked off in one section near the middle. We have a great relationship with our builder who came back straight away with the sub contractor to see what they could do. They'll fix it up and in a month or two it will be sorted. Having good relationships with suppliers that you can trust is as important as negotiating the best deals, so make sure you treat your suppliers well. Kicking and screaming about a problem like this doesn’t always help.
3. We discovered the design code on the back of one of our new cards was incorrect. I didn’t ask anyone else to proof so the buck stopped at my door. We created a new label on our barcode machine and will sticker over the code on the first 1,000 print run. We sent corrected artwork to our printers immediately and had the incorrect files deleted. It’s important that you do this as soon as you discover mistakes so that they are not repeated.
Remember to own your mistake when you make it rather than blaming someone else. Chances are you made the decision to hire that someone else anyway so the buck still stops with you. Taking responsibility doesn’t mean beating yourself up about the mistake either.
4. One of our top agents received samples of a new range, which we love even though it is very different from our other work. Because the agent hadn't received samples of our other new ranges (we had 5 new this January) she wrote to us expressing deep concern about our new direction, fearing that all of our ranges were going to be off piste and that this would damage our brand and sales.
In the past we would have been stressed out by this and imaging the worst. We also would have felt angry about a negative response to our hard work. We stayed calm and told her to wait and see the rest of the designs. She emailed a day later after receiving them apologising for her knee jerk reaction and saying how great all of the new product is. Sometimes you need to trust yourself and wait a little.
5. The samples for most of our new ranges arrived the day before the trade show. This is tighter than we like to run things and can add to stress levels. We try so hard each year to get things happening earlier and it has always been a challenge for us. In a way we have been a victim of our own success with new opportunities often eating into our design time. We kept cool and had good communication with our suppliers to minimise stress. The samples looked great and we had what we needed for the show!
6. With our big move to new premises and the change of address I wasn’t able to get new business cards in time for Top Drawer. I feel unprofessional not having anything to hand to prospects at shows, but as long as I can get their details and send them something immediately after the event it's not the end of the world. I was able to have the business cards ready for Spring Fair.
7. With the heavy rains in January, a load of water came through beneath the loading bay doors of our new warehouse and damaged several boxes of cards. The area was a mess. We were still in the process of getting everything from the move sorted during the busiest time of year for us. It’s a nuisance, but there are people in parts of the country that were completely flooded and in far worse circumstances than us so we count ourselves fortunate. No-one was hurt and damaged stock is replaceable.
8. During the show I left my car keys with my friend whose house I was staying at in Richmond, so he could juggle vehicles in his driveway. As I was leaving on the last day I discovered that he had forgotten to lock my car. Unfortunately someone must have opened the car during the night. They had taken my old ipod from the glove compartment, £30 of loose change I keep in the car for parking meters, a brand new power drill and a set of stand lights.
On a positive note my sat nav was still there and no windows were smashed. The total cost of the items was less than I would have paid for a hotel so I wrote them off in my mind and got on with my last day at the show without worrying about it or letting the incident affect me or my customers. Complaining about things doesn’t help anyone. I also decided not to blame my friend and instead focussed on being grateful for him letting me stay at his home and for helping me to see so much of the Rugby World Cup last year. It was an easy to mistake to make.
At the risk of sounding like an incompetent fool that attracts a series of disasters to himself I’m sharing these examples to remind you not to fall into the trap of living in space of anger and frustration at mistakes and problems that occur whether self inflicted or outside of your control.
Problems are part of life, they aren’t going away anytime soon. You might think that making more money or growing your business will get rid of all your problems and that one day you might reach some problem free nirvana. You won’t. As your company gets bigger you’ll have bigger problems. You make more money, you’ll have more expensive problems. What matters is how you deal with them. You need to get good at dealing with problems.
Whatever the problem is, roll with it. Try your best to stay calm and figure out the best solution. Don't worry about making mistakes. We all do it. We're human. Don't punish yourself or anyone else. Just assess the issues for what they are. No worse and no better than they actually are. Consider your alternatives. Be grateful it's not any worse. For sure it will be for someone elsewhere on the planet. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it. Then get going with improving your situation from there.
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