Provided by: Compass Rose Consulting, LLC
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Humans will always make mistakes. The keys to overcoming your mistakes are to:

• Learn the mistakes.
• Know what you did incorrectly.
• Accept that you made a mistake.
• Use the mistake to better yourself and your business.

Not until you are willing to embrace those things, will you be ready to find out the hidden treasures that can be found when mistakes are made.

As a business owner, you know all about mistakes. You made little ones as you got started. For some, too many mistakes and they find that the business life is not for them. And, maybe it isn’t.

Being in business for yourself requires a thick skin. You will have customers that are impossible to please, competition that seems to outdo you at every turn and unsuccessful marketing strategies. But, you live and learn. You will only be able to continue building your business if you have the right attitude – a positive one.

Turn your mistakes into big money.

It is human nature not to want to feel isolated. That extends to the business world. A business owner, who is brave enough to point out the mistakes they have made and how they learned from them, will have a following among other entrepreneurs. You can take that on the lecture circuit and gain a wide audience.

Networking is a part of doing business.

Your connections can be helpful when sales are slow or when you are looking to put together a new business venture. Targeting budding businesses with your brand of sage advice is one way to turn a negative into a positive.

What about customers? Maybe you hired someone who wasn’t the best at customer service. Every business owner knows that poor customer service can break a business. Instead of sitting back and brooding about your misfortune, take action.

Use this opportunity to revamp your customer service policy. That employee may be better in another area of your business. This may be the time to automate your customer service with autoresponder messages, a FAQ section on your website or an answering service.

Challenges force you to take a look at your business. Is there a way to improve an existing process? Of course there is. Use a mistake such as sending the wrong product or a failed online checkout process to make changes that will increase sales in the future.

What sets you apart?

You are willing to learn from mistakes (by using suggestions like those above) to continue to move forward in your business pursuits instead of leaning on them like crutches. Excuses rarely accomplish anything good. Mistakes can sour your mood. Shake it off and find out what you can learn from them to make your business a success.