Making mistakes is human nature and all our lives, no matter how careful we are, we end up committing a series of mistakes. Some of them are small and unimportant, others can have lasting effects. Some of them affect our personal lives, others affect our professional lives. Today we will talk about the latter category. More precisely, we will try to show you that there is a way out of a mistake you made in running your home-based business.
Before we move on to another topic, there is one thing for certain: you will never learn to become a savvy businessperson without making a few mistakes. The founders of some of the most iconic companies in the world went through a series of mistakes; Henry Ford had to declare bankruptcy, Steve Jobs was fired from the company he founded, and Walt Disney was fired from a cartoonist position on the grounds of not being talented at drawing and not having creative ideas.
This is why you should not live your life and run your home-based business in complete fear of making mistakes – because this fear will also paralyze your creativity and innovative spirit. Rather, prepare mentally for the moment when you have to deal with a mistake and make sure that you do not forget that you are strong enough to overcome it.
That being said, here are a few ways in which you can get back on track after committing a business mistake which costs you money and lost customers:
1. Take a Moment to Vent Out Your Feelings
It is alright to feel upset, sad and disappointed when you realize that you’ve made a big mistake, either in dealing with a client or in launching a new product. Talk to your closest family members and try to find a way to burn out your negative emotions and clear your mind. Every mistake in business can have a serious potential effect on your family’s future, so do not shut them out. Let them be your support system and help you get over the first bitter moments.
2. Analyze and Understand Why It Happened
Were you overconfident in your decisions? Did you fail to take into consideration an important aspect? Were you fair to your customers? Did you make an honest mistake by omission? Whatever it was, get to the root of things. If you understand why that mistake happened, then you also discover a way of preventing that kind of mistake from ever happening again.
3. Limit the Spreading of Damage
The first actions you must take are those meant to limit the effects of your mistake. If you put up a social media ad campaign which delivers no results, stop it before you lose more money. If a client threatens with a lawsuit, talk to them and try to stay calm and understand their point of view. If your new product has only negative reviews, pull it out of your online store and marketing campaigns. The sooner you act, the higher your chances are to prevent this mistake from having serious negative effects on your business.
4. Find a Fix and Share It Openly with Everyone Affected
In business, it is very important to own up to your mistakes publicly. People have an innate distrust of anyone trying to hush up an issue of any kind. If there was a complaint, if there was a discrepancy from what your customer expected from a product and what they got instead, then you should address these issues upfront on your social media pages and your website. If you decided to give everyone a refund, share the information using all the communication channels you have: email, website, and social media. If there was an error in presenting a product’s features and benefits, state it and issue a correction.
5. Rebuild Reputation Carefully, One Step at a Time
It is easy to fear that you will never be able to make another sale and that your former clients will never trust you again after witnessing (or being a victim of) your mistake. But do not give in to this fear. Trust your business ethic and demonstrate it in the way you continue to conduct your business. Rebuild confidence by being helpful and dedicated to serving your customers to the best of your abilities. People are willing to forgive if they see an honest effort to correct a mistake.
Finally, remember that if you give up it will be interpreted as an admission of guilt. It will also be something weighing down on you for the rest of your life, making you wonder what would have happened, how different your life could have been if you had had the courage to get over your mistake and continue running your home-based business.