All too often, you only hear about what went right when you hear about successful entrepreneurs, writes Jeanette Mulvey in a recent post appearing on BusinessNewsDaily. Yet Frank Farwell, founder of the apparel catalog WinterSilks, is candid about his mistakes. “There were plenty of painful setbacks along the way,” Farwell said. “But each of them was a blessing and led to a better solution to the original problem.”
In Mulvey’s article, Farwell shares five things he learned (the hard way). One is to never outsource customer service. By handling customers in house and treating them with kid gloves, you’ll get to know each other better — resulting in improved customer service and increased profitability for your business.
The full BusinessNewsDaily post can be found here.
Ohhh the mistakes I’ve made learning this online course I’m teaching. Nothing the students can see, but it’s a real learning curve learning to conduct web meetings, UPLOAD audio files in various ways,…a lot of work but so worth it. Customer service to students: There are few who attempt “the web meeting” online…but the students so appreciate it…and I get to know them better.
Kudos for accommodating the preferences of your “customers” (students, in this case). When it comes to learning new technology, mistakes are inevitable. If you fall down, you just have to dust yourself off and keep going.
The only ones who don’t make mistakes are those who do nothing. The trick is recognizing the root of the mistake and learning from it. Shaking off shame and feelings of personal foolishness are pretty important too.
One way to put mistakes behind you is to ask yourself whether anyone will remember the mistake a year from now (or maybe even a month or a week from now). In most cases, the answer is no.