How to Fix it When You Screw Up

There's one thing I can promise you about being in biz for yourself. I'd sign a guarantee on it, in blood. I swear.

You are going to drop the ball.

At least once. Probably more than once. And that's totally normal.

I've come to realize that most of the entrepreneurs around me are just like I am: perfectionists. The idea of screwing up is terrifying and completely unacceptable.

Guess what? We aren't perfect. Screw-ups are going to happen.

The light at the end of the tunnel is that you can learn how to catch the ball. Get back on the right track. Pick up the pieces.

How do I know? Because I have to do it - a lot.

In fact, I'm doing it right now.

I could say my hard drive on my computer failed, and I lost my entire presentation for the HSCG conference the week before I left for Tucson so I really was crunching for time.

I could say I felt like death due to some unknown sickness I acquired at the conference.

I could say when I got home from the conference, I was entirely uninspired and just didn't want to do anything.

I could say being a mom to three little kidlets can get the best of me and my biz falls by the wayside.

You know what all those things are? Excuses.

(And none of them relate to my screw up either, but hey, they are things that "went wrong" in the last couple weeks!)

If you drop the ball, you have to eat your words and put your excuses down. Pity parties suck, don't they? No one wants that invite.

Suck it up, and own your mistakes. Acknowledge them honestly, and make good on your word. If you screwed up an order for customer, acknowledge your mistake and issue a genuine apology. Tell your customer how you are going to make it right, and then do it.

Be honest with yourself, and learn from it. Look at the situation from the outside, and analyze what happened. To bridge my previous example, maybe you were rushing to get the order together and need to work on your order packing procedures. (Checklist are my favorite thing in the world!)

Look to the sun, and move right along. Once you've handled the situation, and gotten a little lesson out of it, it's time to move the heck on. Dwelling on mistakes and beating yourself up will only tear you down. Screw that noise. Stay positive and keep your self esteem intact, please.

Have you dropped the ball recently? Tell me about it by leaving a comment, show me I'm not alone. Please, I'm begging you.