(Akiit.com) Every business is bound to experience certain setbacks, mishaps, and general-purpose undesirable happenings, as a matter of the ordinary course of things.
Entrepreneurs who want to be successful not just in the short term, but in the long term as well, have to become comfortable with the idea that some degree of failure is inevitable in entrepreneurial life, and the real key to longevity and success lies in always being able to withstand, and bounce back from, mishaps.
With business leaders as acclaimed as Richard Branson having a multitude of failed business ventures to their names, you shouldn’t expect to be the one prodigy who enjoys smooth sailing all the way to the top.
Here are some tips for bypassing and dealing with errors and setbacks in your business, so that you can keep pursuing your passion without becoming disheartened.
Keep some expert problem solvers on your Rolodex, and consider bringing them on board
Problems happen, and that’s a fact, and because it’s a fact, plenty of expert problem solvers exist and are willing to ply their trade to businesses of all sizes, for the right compensation.
Depending on the specific nature of your business, professional “problem solvers” such as Outsourced IT Services may need to be brought in from time to time to help you deal with some dramatic blunder or unforeseen issue.
But it can also be worthwhile having some expert problem solvers contractually tied to your business, either in the form of managed services companies or by paying freelancers a retainer to ensure that things in your business are always ticking along pretty smoothly in a given area.
At the very least, identify some useful expert problem solvers, and keep their details saved. You never know when you’ll need them.
Budget for the unexpected
One of the top rules of responsible budgeting, is to always budget for the unexpected, and not just for the clear expenses that you know you need to cover.
This is true in personal life, and it’s certainly no less true in professional life. Rest assured that it’s “the punch you don’t see coming that knocks you out,” and that your business is never so vulnerable as when you haven’t made provisions for unforeseen troubles.
Create a category on your company budget for unforeseen expenses, and allocate a decent amount of money to that category. It may be the safety cushion that saves you from insolvency.
Embrace an attitude of accountability rather than victimhood
Things often go wrong in business, for reasons that are not particularly in our control.
But, acting as if the buck stops with you, and everything that does or doesn’t happen is essentially your responsibility, puts you in a position of power. It forces you to identify strategies that can offset future shortcomings, and helps you to compensate and move past current ones.
On the other hand, adopting an attitude of helplessness and victimhood only disempowers you, and makes you the kind of professional who looks for scapegoats rather than solutions. Clearly, that’s a losing strategy if you want professional resilience (or personal resilience, either.)
Staff Writer; Karl James