Key Learnings From Your Worst Mistakes
my bad!
who among us hasn’t had a day when we wish we could hit rewind? but one thing is for sure: it’s easier to learn from failure; what went wrong is obvious & leaves a resounding impression you can’t ignore.
we asked members of the predrev community, what’s been your worst mistake and more importantly, what did you learn? thanks to all the members for sharing these. 😀
Damian Thompson
Mistake: Grew first startup too recklessly.
Learning: It’s a marathon.
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Mistake: In my first month of work at a new job I was created some Google Adwords Campaigns. At that time, Social login, was a high value product for the company; I started to fill in the keyword section with terms that looked like Social Login. In a few weeks we grown 3000%+ – but when I did a more analysis, I was attracting people who wanted to Sign Up for Facebook, or Twitter, or Linkedin. None were interested in our products. I spent about R$300,00 with worthless clicks.
Learning: Do a better terms research before start to buy words on google.
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Mistake: Used “are you able to be my partner” in the subject line.
Learning: I got 1 response… from my boss. Didn’t work!
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Mistake: I sent out an email with “are you alive” as subject.
Learning: Your email list will always have someone who just had surgery or a person who is checking an inbox after someone died. Not a good strategy.
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Mistake: Not taking action. I let my own fears and uncertainty prevent me from moving forward on a project. Taking the first step is often the hardest, especially when building an SDR process/team.
Learning: Pull the trigger. Even if you miss the target you will still have gained data/knowledge to help you aim better on the next pull. Without action, there can be no reaction.
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Mistake: I hired some people who didn’t get the company culture.
Learning: Try to see not only the technical abilities, but whether the person is motivated and will do what is necessary for your company’s success.
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Mistake: My co-founder and I drove 3 hours to pitch a healthcare company. Meeting went great, but we failed to follow up on why the contract (biggest deal in our history to that point) wasn’t getting signed. The deal fell through and slowed our growth.
Learning: Follow-up is critical.
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Mistake: I walked into a tech meeting with a terrible looking, difficult to decipher handwritten proposal.
Learning: My proposal may not be the winner now, but it’s going to be one of the most professional looking and easiest to understand.
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Nitin Gupta
Mistake: Entrusted with Sales & Marketing for the organisation, I got so blown off on the fact that it needed to be perfect from the start and began gorging on the tons of articles/blogs/books available online looking for the best way to start. Ultimately ended up with too much of information and fewer results.
Learning: Start somewhere…quick and sure. Improvise as you run and stumble. Take few tasks at a time and measure them for improvisation.
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Mistake: Stuck to the plan, I built a strategy and when things didn’t work, and actually got worse, I stuck to the plan and did not want to deviate from it. I stayed on that path for far too long until someone said, “Listen to what everything, figures, people and customers are telling you”. I made some small adjustments and bang: positive results.
Learning: LISTEN and don’t blindly stick to a plan, things are meant to be a little fluid and it’s ok to make adjustments.
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Mistake: A VAR called me after work telling me his mgr wanted him to follow some leads. I couldn’t reach his mgr., so I went ahead and gave him the lead. Next day, the mgr told me the VAR lied; a last desperate attempt at not getting terminated.
Learning: I felt horrible for making the mistake of sharing leads that the VAR was not entitled to. Luckily, the mgr understood. Bottom line is, this is one of those judgement issues that we learn through experience and the school of hard knocks.
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Jitesh Kapadia
Mistake: Selling cheaper to keep the client, thinking someday will increase the rates.
Learning: That never happens. There are different category of clients, if you sell cheap you will attract clients looking for cheaper solution. Clients will never move to higher cost, you have to move to the clients who are in higher price zone.
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Mistake: When running my first business I sold a expensive equipment to a client without a contract… just on the word of mouth. Worst move ever. I never got paid and hadn’t anything to prove the sale and go after him legally.
Learning: Even if you love selling and want to make a hard sale, do never trust nobody without signing a contract at first.
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Mistake: Trusting well credentialed people for no reason other than their degrees etc. We just had to fire and may still lose an investment due to poor legal representation.
Learning: Trust. But, trust AND verify no matter what. Not verifying could cost you OODLES of dough.
n
Mistake: Tried to fix a broken process through throwing more and more working hours in it.
Learning: Always keep your life balance, you’ll reach better results while having a better lifer 🙂
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Mistake: Putting all the revenue eggs in one basket.
Learning: In two different businesses, I let the company become too reliant on a Big Fish. It’s so easy to be seduced by the tall dollars, but when those fat paychecks stop (end of a contract, business disruption), it’s total pain. So the lesson is to always make sure you have diverse revenue streams.
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Mistake: When a lot of downsizing and restructuring was happening I mentioned to a co-worker/semi-friend after hours to be prepared for some changes from the C-suite to be announced the next day. I didn’t say what they were and didn’t divulge anything I knew. I thought I was being helpful to help her prepare herself for what was coming but it backfired big time– she freaked out and told other people and also went to our Sr. VP who also freaked out that I had shared confidential information (I hadn’t) but I felt he lost some trust in me.
Learning: Attempting to prepare people for unpleasant news isn’t helpful and I should have kept my mouth shut entirely!
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