Business Tip - Help! I Made a Mistake. Now What? Best Ways to Handle Mistakes

You did it this time. In your haste to get your marketing campaign out and announce your next big event, you sent the wrong link or contact information. No one is going to sign up now because there is no way to get to the sign-up page or contact you. Or perhaps even worse, you have a teleseminar scheduled with dozens expected and realize at the last minute, while YOU are calling in, the number you sent out in your reminder emails is off by one number. Now what?

First, realize these things happen all the time. Don’t panic! Instead, take control and fix the situation calmly. Even though it might not feel like it at the time, no one is going to bolt and not show up over a simple mistake. However, if this becomes more of a habit than a one-time occurrence, things need to be changed pronto. Also, understand that how you handle this mistake will often determine the effect it will have on the situation. So let’s talk solutions.

Here are our best tips for handling mistakes:

Get over it already – Believe it or not, you are not the first person to make a mistake. (I know—go figure!) You need to let it go. Fix what needs to be fixed and then move on. So many, once they make a mistake, dwell on it for days or even longer and just can’t let it go. What happens then is you lose your focus on new work and more mistakes happen. You might even be so unfocused the teleseminar you’ve been preparing for months takes a negative turn. Then the mistakes just keep piling up one on top of another. Not a good thing. Realize your mistake, make plans to ensure it doesn’t happen again, and move on.

Reassess your processes – Are mistakes happening because your foundation is lacking? Oftentimes, this is the case. The reason things keep going wrong is because you aren’t properly set up in the beginning. It’s time to review your processes and make changes. Go over your procedures and steps you take and see if changes can be made to run more smoothly. If you don’t have regular procedures in place, now is the time to do it. It’s also a good practice to set up templates for the things you do on a regular basis. Say for example you host numerous teleseminars a year; you should have templates set up in advance with all the vital information so it’s a breeze to set them up and get going. However, you might see you are just too busy in your business and it could be the time to look for an online support specialist to take over these tasks.

Don’t Cover Up – Often when we make a mistake, our first instinct is to run and hide. Some even try to blame others (really bad form!). The best approach is to acknowledge what happened, admit to the mistake, and speak directly to whom it affected and let them know you will do everything you can to correct it if possible, and ensure it does not happen again. You can even outline new processes to show you are on top of things. Most will value your professionalism in the way you handled things.

Feel confident in your business and know every mistake can also be a stepping stone to more success. From most of our mistakes, we’ve learned something positive and were able to grow and make changes that made our businesses better. And if you realize you are just too busy to handle everything, contact us to see how we can help. We take the stress away so you can enjoy more and do more.