People make mistakes. New entrepreneurs make mistakes all f’ing day long. We’ve made a LOT…
Things we’ve done wrong:
Asked for too much
THE STORY: In the earliest of Skimm days, a very big brand wanted to work with us. The head of said brand was an idol of ours and we were very excited. They asked us to throw out a number of how much it would be to work together in a very big way. We asked people for advice and people told us to aim really high. We aimed a little too high.
THE REACTION: We got a bunch of emails telling us we should be ashamed of ourselves and that we had lost a potential mentor.
THE PANIC: We wrote 3 apology notes and sent flowers we couldn’t afford.
THE LESSON: We were wrong. But we also realized that a mentor should want to welcome the opportunity to teach us and put us in our place. Not just make us feel bad.
Never showed up
THE STORY: We had a meeting with the co-founder of a successful brand. We forgot to put it in our calendar and never showed up.
THE REACTION: Angry emails from an assistant asking where the f we were.
THE PANIC: We sent two apology emails, a hand written apology note, and alerted the person who connected us to let them know what happened, and sent flowers. Again. Then two follow up emails. Never heard from her again.
THE LESSON: Nothing annoys us more than when people waste our time so we think it’s fair that said co-founder should have hated us for awhile. Time to move on.
Didn’t pursue enough
THE STORY: We really liked a potential investor. But couldn’t make up our mind about when we were closing our round. So we let the clock tick and tick and tick. When we checked back in with said investor, she was no longer making investments for the year.
THE REACTION: She told us that we didn’t pursue her enough.
THE PANIC: We wrote a letter telling her she was right and why we wanted her involved.
THE LESSON: Go after what you want. Or opportunities will slip by.
Forgot about it
THE STORY: We had an amazing intern who worked for us remotely. And then we forgot about her. We forgot to give her assignments. Forgot to check in. Forgot we had her as a resource.
THE REACTION: The intern kept asking if she could do stuff. We kept putting a note on our to-do list to email her back with an assignment.
THE PANIC: We told her it wasn’t her, it was us. And we meant it.
THE LESSON: Managing is a full-time job. Identify key areas you need help in and look for solutions that you can utilize. But adding ‘help’ for the sake of help, wastes everyone’s time.
NEW ENTREPRENEUR LESSON OF THE DAY: You’re going to make mistakes. Get over them and learn how not to make them again.
Originally published at blog.theskimm.com.
