In the world of business, a mistake is
usually a risk that didn't turn out so well. On the other end, if you take a
risk and it pays off you'll be considered a bold visionary. A compelling
argument can be made that you'll learn more from your mistakes than your
successes. In entrepreneurship, making mistakes is a better way to grow than just doing things safely all the time. Here's why making mistakes can benefit your business:
Getting
over the fear factor.
Starting up a new business is filled with a
long list of "known unknowns." Will you turn a profit? Will you be
able to expand? Will your employees embrace your leadership style? Those types
of questions are important to ask from a planning perspective but they should
become fear based. You're going to make mistakes. Hopefully, they won't be
debilitating from your business but worrying about what could go wrong might
just stop you from effectively moving forward. Let go of the fear and embrace the
mistake when it happens.
We
learn more from failure.
You might not remember when you took your
first steps but it's a safe bet you took plenty of falls as well. Did you give
up? Of course not! You figured out how to balance yourself and what coordination
means. Same thing when it came to learning how to ride a bike. A mistake
shouldn't be looked upon as a failure but as a lesson. What went wrong and how
can you avoid that in the future? Understanding the answer to that question is
going to improve your business by leaps and bounds.
Mistakes
make us smarter.
You're simply going to have to learn by
doing. When a mistake happens you'll be learning more about your business and
probably from a different perspective. This would apply to everything from
filing your tax forms to shipping orders around the world. Always think of
mistakes as your "learning curve" and you can't go wrong.
Big
mistakes can lead to big business.
This comes back to the issue of risk
taking. If you're truly striving for a huge success in your business then
you're going to have to take a huge risk. As it happens, you might also be
making a huge mistake. You can't let a mistake cause you to crumble. Look at
the biography of any successful entrepreneur and you're sure to find a history
of "striking out" before they hit it out of the ballpark.
Mistakes
make for a better manager.
We've all had those moments when we've been
smarter than our bosses. When you become the boss you want to get out in front
of the occasional mistakes that will be made. Don't make finding someone to
blame the primary focus. You really have to figure out "why"
something went wrong. Was it a breakdown in communication? Was it not having
the right information? Ultimately, a business' mistake will be your own. Accept
responsibility and move on. Your staff will respect you for your strong
leadership.
