Episode 74: Owning Your Mistakes: How Small Business Owners Can Bounce Back

Embracing Mistakes in Business: A Guide to Recovery and Growth

Running a small business can be challenging, especially when juggling multiple tasks and managing a small team. And, despite your best efforts, mistakes can happen. But, what sets successful businesses apart from those that struggle is the ability to take ownership of those mistakes and bounce back from them.

In this episode of the Collab with Kiva podcast, we discuss the importance of owning your mistakes as a small business owner. We share success stories of businesses that have bounced back from mistakes by being transparent and committed to finding solutions.

One of the key strategies for small business owners to take responsibility for their mistakes is to communicate transparently with clients. This means apologizing for the mistake, being honest about what happened, and providing a solution to fix it. By doing this, you can build and maintain trust with your clients, which is crucial for the success of your business.

We also highlight the importance of creating a culture of accountability within your business, where you empower your team members to take ownership of their mistakes and work together to find solutions. This helps prevent future mistakes, improves team morale, and fosters collaboration.

Staying organized and avoiding dropping balls is another critical strategy for small business owners to avoid mistakes. In addition, using project management tools and setting realistic deadlines can help you stay on track and meet your client's expectations.

But, mistakes are inevitable, and it's essential to learn from them and move forward. This is where resilience and self-care come in. By focusing on positive relationships with your clients and taking care of yourself, you can bounce back from mistakes and succeed in your business.

If you're a small business owner who wants to learn how to own your mistakes and bounce back from them, this episode of the Collab with Kiva podcast is for you. Join us as we discuss the importance of taking responsibility, strategies for staying organized, and the benefits of resilience and self-care. Don't let mistakes define your business - learn to own it and bounce back stronger than ever.

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Collab with Kiva.

See you next time!

Are you ready to take massive action in your business and harness the power of data in your decision-making? Let’s chat 👇🏽

Podcast Transcript:

Kiva Slade 0:01

Welcome to Collab with Kiva, where we let our inner nerd geek out on all the non sexy parts of your business. I'm talking data and operations, neither as flashy or glamorous, but both are foundational to your business growth. I'm your host, Kiva Slade, your strategy and analytics guide here to break down what feels complicated, so it is understandable and executional. Let's dive in. Hello, and welcome to this episode of Collab with Kiva. I'm excited to dive into today's topi. It is a bit different than some of our previous topics. But I feel it's something that definitely needs to be discussed. And as we enter into Q2, I recently posted about this on LinkedIn, in that as I reflect back on Q1, there were definitely some highs, but there were also a few lows. And sometimes we just take our highs and run with those. But I've taken some time to sit with my lows. And so today's episode is really about owning your mistakes, and how as small businesses, and small business owners, we can bounce back. And so let's just go ahead and dive in. And hopefully, I'm not alone in the things that I'm going to be sharing toda and you'll find some helpful takeaways. So, let's keep going. As I shared, there were some highs in Q1, there were also some lows. But I think it's important not only as a business owner, these are the same lessons in many instances that I taught my children, that we have to own our mistakes. There are times that we may feel overwhelmed, we might have taken on more than we could handle. We might not have been equipped, staff wise, tech wise or something else in order to deal with what we had on our plate. But what can we learn from those mistakes, those dropped balls, those missed opportunities, and take that information to move forward in a confident way.

Kiva Slade 2:17

So, the first part we're going to talk about is understanding the importance of owning your mistakes. Let's be honest, when you're in a service based position, your business is heavily reliant upon client relationships, nurturing those relationships, developing those relationships, continuously feeding those relationships is of vital importance to you, and the success of your business. However, there are times when you have to own mistakes, you have to own mistakes of stuff that has happened, whether you drop the ball, whether you didn't get back to someone when you said you would whatever it is, you need to own it. And one of those things for myself was, and it's a tricky thing, but one of the lows that I was reflecting upon is I did an engagement with someone. I fulfilled that, but there was an opportunity for more. And due to team issues, then health issues, and just life, I was so slow in responding. And so even though I fulfilled the first part, like the engagement that they paid for, they got what they paid for, totally blew their socks off. Yeah, yet, however, that follow through was definitely dropped. And they reached out to me and were like, we're gonna go with someone else. I couldn't be sad about that. I couldn't be upset about it, I couldn't be anything. I wouldn't have worked with me either. If we're totally honest. Because it took me a while to get back to them. And it was one thing that led just to another thing that led to another thing. And quite honestly, depending on your background, your values, the things that make up you, there might be different ways that you handle that. I wasn't upset. I wasn't upset because there's a few things. Again, I wouldn't have worked with me if that had happened. But also, as a person of faith, I'm just really honest. I only want to work with people who I'm supposed to work with. And if I was only supposed to do that first engagement with them and not do the second part, I'm okay with that.

Kiva Slade 4:41

But even in that it did not mean that I could abdicate where I dropped the ball. And I didn't. Totally owned up to that. Totally let them know that hey, this has happened, and this has happened. Totally apologize for that. You know, you got what you paid for. I'm grateful for that. I hope that we have mutual friends, they can all let you know, this is not my normal mode of operation. So hopefully we'll cross paths. Again, I enjoyed our conversation, once again, hope that the report that I did give you is a great spring board for your new partner that you're working with for these next steps that I outlined. Okay, so I'm totally okay, that that wasn't for me. However, I feel that owning it and explaining, not over explaining, but explaining really does go a long way in terms of building trust with clients, and also, when necessary, maybe even improving your team morale. But let's focus on the building trust part. It's important to clearly communicate with clients. So so much. Whether that's owning the mistakes, whether that's why the mistakes have happened, whatever the situation might be. I know of this marketing agency, they missed the deadline for a client. There was a miscommunication, though, amongst themselves, the team. And so the owner immediately reached out to the client, apologized, worked with the team, though, to have a plan in which to deliver the project. Let's be honest, don't just apologize without having a plan. And the client appreciated that honesty and the dedication to fixing the mistake. And they continued working with them. And that's great. That's wonderful. I had another lady who I was just offering to give her some free advice, gave her some things to think about, some things to look at. And then we didn't connect, but then I did connect, and they had solved the problem. And I was like, sorry, it took me so long to get back to you. She was like, Oh, my gosh, no, no, no, my client because I was helping her help figure out something for her client. And she was like, No, my client was like, keep her number, or we need to talk to her again, maybe. And so I say all that to say, Own your mistakes, I would tell my kids the same thing. Just own it. Own it, there's no reason to sweep it under the rug, pretend it didn't happen. Make up all elaborate kinds of excuses. Dude, I dropped the ball. This is what happened. This is what I can propose to move forward. They have an option, then they can accept that. They could not accept it. Either way, though, you've done your part, which was own the mistake.

Kiva Slade 7:37

So that's part one, really understanding the importance of owning the mistake. Part two. Let's talk through some strategies for owning our mistakes, because they're gonna look different, again, for every single one of us. So for me, I like to take responsibility for my mistake, apologize for it, communicate transparently, but also find a solution. Because there's one thing to say like, oh, my gosh, I totally dropped the ball, I'm sorry, you're just on your own. Now, that's different than I dropped the ball. Here's how we can get this ship back on track. And I'm bringing in this person, or here's a colleague of mine who I know can handle blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever it is, making sure that you have a solution to the problem that in many instances you created is of ultimate importance. Another way though, is, if sometimes things happen that are not necessarily you alone, okay? They could be you, but because of your team. And as a good owner, you're going to own that, because you're going to protect that team. And in many cases, you're that interface between the client and the team. They're really trying to do business with you. So even though your team screwed up, you still own that, because that's what you do as a good owner. And so you want to highlight basically that importance of creating a culture of accountability within your business. So, you owning your stuff allows your team to own their stuff.And when everybody's owning their stuff, it's so much better, then when people are shirking responsibility, and then we got problems. So, we want to make sure that we, as business owners, we create a culture of accountability within our businesses. And that starts with us by us owning our own stuff, own our mistakes, own our mess ups, own our screw ups, own all the dropped balls. They are just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, bouncing all over the place. Okay? You definitely want to do that. And I think it's important to take the time to sit with this part that's uncomfortable.

Kiva Slade 9:59

It's not always fun and easy to sit with your your stuff your messed up screwed up stuff. And this is probably why some of us have therapists. But it's really important to sit with that, to take away the lessons in order for you to have that accountability. It's important to take away in a time of reflection, not in the midst of when the balls are dropping and stuff going to hell in a handbasket. No, it's the time when after that, when you can sit and say, Hmm, this happened, then this happened. And as a result of this, this happen. Wherewas I in this? Where was the dropped ball? Where was the thing or things that need to be tweaked, so this doesn't happen in the future? In one instance, even in the one I previously shared with, I did the first part for them, I really was short, a team member. I had onboarded another retainer client. This was a project. I had another project I was finishing up and another retainer client. And I really was maxed out between myself and my team member. I needed someone else. And what often happens is we hire too late. We hire after we need someone, not before we need them. And I really did need someone, but I waited too late. I have to own that. I have to be more forward thinking in my business to understand my capacity, my team members capacity in order to say, Oh, if we take on this, this is going to mean that we need to have this. So, brainstorm about what and how do we prevent these similar mistakes in the future. So what are the mistakes? How do we prevent them? And it always helps obviously, to be organized, using your project management tools, setting realistic deadlines. And one of the things that I talked with a friend of mine over Voxer about is the setting of realistic deadlines. Just because someone comes to you with work that you can do and you're interested in doing and they've accepted the proposal, does not mean it has to start right away. Maybe you have a three week buffer. They can decide to wait three weeks, or they can decide not to. I think though sometimes as small business owners, we're like, opportunity, it's right there. Let me grab it. Oh, wait, oh, my plates overflowing right now. So this could get a little precarious. As I try to juggle all of these things and keep this plate from having some spill. When what we could have done is say, after a three week wait period, we'll go ahead and execute things now. And we'll follow up with you because you were going to schedule your bla bla bla on starting on this particular timeframe. So, really understanding realistic deadlines. How much time does it really take to get done? And do we have the capacity to get it done in that timeframe?

Kiva Slade 13:38

So project management tools, obviously are super helpful, as well as the importance of setting realistic deadlines. And let's be honest, sometimes we don't do that. And we need to do that and need to do a better job of that. And sometimes we just don't know. You might be taking on a project that you haven't done before. I was just talking with a member of my team. And I was like, how many revisions have they done? Because it seems like there's been a few and I'm going back to the scope of work. Do we account for these? What happens now? Really starting to try to figure out, is this something that we need to fix in the future? Was it not clearly spelled out in this scope of work? So it's important to again, evaluate, sit in the messy. Sit right there in it, and figure out what the issues were, how to fix them moving forward, and then actually do those things. Don't just think about doing them. So again, part two of this is really just strategies for owning our stuff. Own your mistakes.

Kiva Slade 14:49

So next thing I want to talk about though, is really about encouragement to bounce back. Resilience. We need it in life. We totally need this in business. And it's important for us to practice resilience. In order to practice resilience, in many cases, you have to go through some things that help you build resilience. And it's important though, in that building of resilience that you have to bounce back after these mistakes. It's a learning experience and you move forward. Do not sit there in let it define you. Or, totally mess up your psyche, where you're like, oh, my gosh, I totally failed. Now I'm just gonna be a failure. No, you made some mistakes, you dropped some balls, you're going to correct it, and you're going to move forward. In Taylor Swift's words, you got to shake it off. You have to shake it off. Because that's a part of building up resilience, is learning how to shake it off, not shake it off, again, so we're shirking the responsibility. Shake it off so we are like, Okay, this is what I did. This is how I own it. This is how I'm going to change this moving forward. And then you shake off the guilt, the frustration, the disappointment, all of those things that want to keep showing themselves for you in your life, to just keep you in a place of not being resilient. We have come out of a global pandemic. We have a global financial crisis going on, we have a war that people won't say is a war, we have testing of nuclear weapons. There's just a lot going on in this country, all across the world, there's just a lot. And whether it's going to be a rolling recession, not really a rolling recession, Google's gonna start limiting laptop computers and saving on staples to save money, and they have how much money? So whatever it is, there's a lot going on. And in that lot going on, you have to do what you need to do as a small business owner, to have resilience to make your way through a recession, possible recession. How do you configure your business in such a way? How do you take advantage of the smallness that you have? Because small means you can adapt and you can adapt quicker. You're like Mugsy Bogues out there on the basketball court. And you can go in places that other people who are tall can go.

Kiva Slade 17:38

So, how do you embrace that, that's all a part of building up that resilience that you need. And in addition to that, let's just talk about self care. It's important as a business owner, to practice self care. You do need to take breaks, maybe it's seeking support from a mentor, a business coach, a therapist, whatever it is, if you're having feelings of overwhelm, after making that mistake, again, you're feeling disappointed, you're feeling frustrated, all of those things, you need to recharge, you need to refocus. And when doing those things, you can have your CEO day. And I've talked about this before, whatever it is that you need to recharge, refocus, remember your why, remember who you are, how talented you are, all that special sauce that you have more than Burger King, and get yourself back up on the horse, back in the saddle, call it whatever you like, get back on the bike, do what you need to do to keep moving forward. You might need a mentor or a business coach is some level of support or advice, someone that you can bounce ideas off of, and help you bounce back from that mistake. Whatever it is, that is your form of self care. I'm not just talking self care in the sense of go book yourself a pedicure, or go book yourself a massage, which don't get me wrong, they all have their place. But sometimes our self care as business owners might look a little different. It might look like a therapist or a coach, or someone else like our advisory board, where we can talk about these things openly, and actually get sound feedback. So, it's important to really stay focused and stay encouraged after mistakes happen, because you're going to bounce back.

Kiva Slade 19:51

The level of resilience you're also deepening in yourself will help you with the bounce back because ultimately you've got to make mistakes. Seriously, no one's perfect. Mistakes are going to happen. They're going to happen. Your email provider might go out and you're not even getting the emails that someone is sending you. They don't know. You don't even know. Whatever the situation is, mistakes are going to happen. How we do with those mistakes, that is what becomes key for how we move forward. So, in conclusion, again, own the mistakes, develop strategies for taking responsibility, and do not neglect the importance of resilience and self care. Stuff is going to happen people. You got to stay positive. That's right. I said, You got to stay positive, and keep moving yourself forward, even when mistakes happen. So thank you for listening. I hope that my self share encourages you that you are not in this alone. You are not the only one making mistakes. And hey, if I'm the only one who's making mistakes, then the rest of you are doing amazing, because that means I'm just being the one take up all the slack. So thanks for tuning in, and I will check you out next time. Bye. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Collab with Kiva. I'm wildly cheering you on as you go forth and execute data and operational efficiencies in your business. If you need additional support, connect with me via my website, the516collaborative.com. Your reviews on Apple are appreciated. See you next week.

Meet Kiva Slade - the Founder and CEO of The 516 Collaborative. With a unique background in high-power politics on Capitol Hill and sixteen years as a homeschooling mama, Kiva found her calling in the online business world as a trusted guide for entrepreneurs looking to build the business of their dreams.

Kiva's work began behind the scenes, orchestrating the back end of businesses and managing teams. But her inner data diva couldn't help but notice that small businesses needed help harnessing the power of data for growth. So she and her team set out to uncover and tidy up the data required to enable clients to grow their businesses confidently and easily.