£6000; A Learning Experience or Expensive Mistakes?

Ridiculously expensive mistakes made in business can be a cost effective way getting the expertise you need to grow and run your business (or the next one if you’ve really tanked it).

Back in 2008, I set up a concept business that took off. Work was coming in regularly from a couple of key clients that I had known in the past, but I wanted to step it up a gear. I knew I offered a fantastic, needed service and I knew that I hadn’t even scratched the surface of potential clients. You see all the clients I had taken very little thought to acquire. Good problem to have, right? Wrong! Having clients fall into your lap with no monitoring isn’t replicable. By 2010 I had amassed a reasonable sum & decided I could afford to grow(GOSH! how little I knew). Not knowing how simple Marketing could be, I came to the conclusion a lot do, that I need to hire someone….But I had no clue where to even start doing that. Although I had a 30 plus strong staff team, I had never hired someone for the “Office” side of my business, so I outsourced that.*Face Palm*

BIG EXPENSIVE MISTAKE 1: Taking on the services of a recruitment agency. It cost me £6000 just to hire Marketing Executive number 1. She was the only option given. She looked good on paper. We got on well during interviews. She had marketing experience & was not afraid to do those dreaded calls.

BIG EXPENSIVE MISTAKE 2: Laptop & phone purchase later & she was ready to go and get work in right? 7 months of exactly no leads – paying her full-time hours, she moves out the country, but not before finding me a replacement.

BIG EXPENSIVE MISTAKE 3: Hire 2nd Marketing Executive. This time, part-time hours….Still No Results 🙁

This time I’d learnt.

It was around this time that I finally cracked Twitter. I won notoriety from respected entrepreneurs & realised that “Marketing” was what I (I see the light!)was good at. The main reasons being; I knew my business, my customers and I had the passion and skill to present the service well. I was marketing all along I just needed to find a system that worked well for me.

Lots of reading, courses and talking to other entrepreneurs and I finally cracked it…

Know Your Self

Your Customers

And Your Business

Now what I do is help business owners, like you, find their own path in business. We review, simplify & put systems in place so you can manage your own marketing because no one is ever going to know your business like you.

Going through the expensive mistakes I made in my business ended up giving me a business education you couldn’t learn without experiencing. I now count those early years in business as a cost effective Business Degree…well it’s much cheaper than $100,000 plus cost of Harvard Business 😉

Now for you: What was your biggest business faux pa? & More importantly what did you learn from it? Please share in the comments below.