We are all handed different cards in life. Don’t ask by whom. All the same, you got to agree that each of us has room to maneuver in creating better luck for ourselves. But nobody is lucky all the time. You’re going to mess up more than twice. Question is, how are you going to react to negative outcomes?
I’m no shrink. But I know fairly a lot on small businesses. So, trust me. There will be episodes where every business decision you make seems the wrong one. More successful entrepreneurs say the struggle never ends. Your task is to ensure a quick rebound, from the problems, so that you remain focused on the main mission. How will you ensure this?
We have a clue of 4 steps. Who knows? These steps of recovering from a bas business decision may work in other areas of your life.
Step One: Accept responsibility
Have you noticed that this is such a difficult thing for most people to do? Nobody ever wants to say, “it’s my fault, I’m sorry.” Even though it will involve way less energy. Think about it next time you’re hating on your ex (move on, actually).
It is necessary for you to be aware of what you do influence around you. And as an entrepreneur, your job description will entail a lot. You shoulder the burden on finances, marketing, strategy, personnel and production. This means that you must accept that plenty of what will go wrong around you will be your fault. With this comes peace of mind. You won’t be held back by blame-game, resentment or passive aggression (seriously, why?).
Step Two: What went wrong?
We’ll keep repeating, good entrepreneurs work by procedures or systems. Ones that they can repeat elsewhere or teach others. Do you do this? The benefit is not just that your business will still function as you would like in your absence. There’s the small matter of coming back from a bad business decision.
You would be able to follow the arrows back and quickly figure out where it went wrong. The key word being ‘quickly’ because you want to rectify as soon and just save your energy! If you don’t have a systemic mechanism in place, I promise, you’ll be trapped wasting resources solving the wrong kinds of problems. For example, do you deal with employee theft by constantly changing employees or improving your oversight techniques? Your answer will say a lot about you.
Step Three: Pick one of two options
If you follow steps 1 and 2, your life will be easier. Your real challenge will be picking the type of solution you see fit. What fits? The answer, of course, depends on nature of the problem and your style of working. It’s really more about you than what we have to say. You’re the boss after all.
Generally, though, you’ll have to pick one of two options to recover from a bad business decision. There will be strategic or tactical solutions.
ANSWER: SHOULD A SMALL BUSINESS GROW FAST OR SLOWLY?
Excuse us for speaking like corporate heads (they don’t know what they are talking about). The latter is more like a patch on a torn clothe. Quick, cheap but not good enough for Instagram. The former is basically ditching the torn clothe for a new one.
Step Four: Fool me twice
You know the saying. So, you’re not really falling for the wrong kind of men. I think you do like them 😉 you.
I will not judge you though. But in business this is what separates pretenders from the real deal. Are you the real deal? You have to strive hard to go as long as possible without the old problems, you solved in step 3, cropping up again and again. It’s not that things will be perfect after. It means that you would have picked the most suitable solution for your level of resources and capabilities. Plus, you would have remained disciplined enough to stay on top of things constantly.
Tell us in the comments below: What bad business decision have you struggled to come back from?