How to Prepare for an Unexpected, Unwanted and Unwelcome Business Setback
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“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
Many people make mistakes and failure is a reality in life and that is what helps you grow. Every successful person in a world has experienced some sort of failure.
However, failure is never wanted. You are afraid of it in advance and when it finally happens, you get overwhelmed by it.
It takes over your emotions and your mind and you let in the guide you forward, or worse yet, backward.
Why is it so hard to move on with your life after a failure has taken place? How to avoid that failure and the fear that destroys you? Keep reading to find out.
Are you the kind of person who thinks and analyzes whether they will just do their job as efficiently as you would like? The good news is that you are not alone.
This is a feature of many people, especially executives. Experiencing a setback is a nuisance that no entrepreneur needs. But you can gain value from someone else’s painful experience and take direct measures to reduce your risk.
The opinions expressed by entrepreneurial taxpayers are their own.
Most entrepreneurs depend on computers and human support. But sometimes that support can fail, in a big way.
Although it is often thought that setbacks can be motivating, they can be a double-edged sword. Particularly for employees with recent solid performance.
ANALYZE THE CAUSES FOR POTENTIAL SETBACKS AND GIVE YOUR BEST TO COUNTER THEM
Expect the unexpected basically. To account for something, it’s best to prepare for it, but even if you can’t manage to prepare for specific setbacks so as to prevent them, it’s good to have a plan for their afterglow.
That way you can save not only your nerves but time as well and we all know that time converts to energy which basically converts to money.
Always have a backup plan.
Speaking of back up, you know that your gadgets and technology can fail you any second, so don’t rely on them.
Back up!
Back Up Your Data!
If you are keeping everything on your computer, the thing that might happen if something goes wrong is the loss of your intellectual property.
Keep everything on cloud or external hard drives and flash memories!
The lesson that can be learned from this is that frequent updates and technology replacement can help avoid problems and interruptions, and you certainly won’t let my computer survive its usefulness.
Update the Operational Documentation Regularly
You can choose to use checklists, instruction manuals or lots of sticky notes, just be sure to write all the critical processes for your business and then make sure that several people know where that story is.
Never build an organization on one person because, if the individual who has been running everything fails, the next who comes will have to reconstruct everything from scratch.
Reassess What Responsibilities You Want to Keep or Give Away
Each setback is a cue for reassessment.
For example, the loss of personnel offers you the opportunity to evaluate what tasks and responsibilities only you can do, and which ones you should delegate or outsource to make sure your focus is on what you need most.
If someone leaves your company, do not despair, this is the reason to find someone with a deeper experience than your former employee had.
Strengthen Relationships with a Few Suppliers
You should always have a backup card in your sleeve. Always have a plan B somewhere in your drawer. If the chain of supply fails you, just switch to another lane.
Keep in touch often enough to know if the people you worked with in the past are still available for you to turn to. Express gratitude, even for small things.
People appreciate being recognized for what they do. Keep your connections strong.
That way, even when unplanned setbacks occur, you will have a safety net waiting to ease your fall.
Always Keep a Record of What You’re Doing
Your suppliers and external suppliers may be useful, but you are still the final judge of what your business needs.
Prepare your operating instructions and notes on the work they have done for you as reference material for later.
Do this in the same way that you could give a new doctor a list of your current health conditions and medications.
First of all, keeping a record of your billings will help you make a system and you won’t have to waste so much time calculating your next moves. You will already know what works and what doesn’t.
Keeping a record will also unable anyone from factoring something twice and it will give you the chance to see if you have any obsolete expenses that you can easily cut.
ANALYZE THE BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS THAT LEAD TO SETBACKS
Concentrate on What You Do
Most setbacks occur due to a lack of attention or distraction that you or your teammates may experience.
Whether you’re countering a setback or you’re dealing with it, it’s important that you stay focused on your tasks at hand.
Practice mindfulness and meditation to learn how to flow with the present moment and reach the state of optimum performance at everything you do.
Switch that autopilot off and you’ll have accounted for at least half of setbacks.
Reassess Your Abilities
Don’t let fears stop you from doing your job, but don’t get too cocky either. It was Aristotle who said that happiness is the balance of your capacities and your strivings.
If your ambition is too low, you just won’t get enough feedback from what you do and if your ambition is too high, you’ll fail and end up disappointed. It’s a fine line so get to know yourself better.
Perfectionism as an Instrument of Demotivation
It’s in our nature to constantly strive for perfection. You look for perfect work, perfect workplace, perfect boss time, perfect wife, perfect kids, and a perfect home, but perfection does not really exist.
It’s just an idea you imposed on yourself or an idea that society made you swallow.
It is better to view life as a constant state of evolution in which absolutely everything is susceptible to constant dynamics.
Being a perfectionist will demotivate you in all endeavors you can think of so ground yourself asap!
Fearing Mistakes and Failure
Let’s start with one universal truth: everyone makes mistakes. Just about everyone experienced some setbacks, had to quit the project, got their business to collapse so don’t flatter yourself – there’s nothing exquisite in you failing.
The problem arises when you make a big drama over it and your stress levels kick through the roof. When stress becomes a regular occurrence you get used to it and start thinking that you will never recover and that you are stuck forever.
Remember, you are the one who shapes your future; you are the one who directs your thoughts. To fall is not to fail. To fail is to fall and not get up.
The Confidence Conundrum
People sometimes lack confidence but cover it up so well that no one can tell. The more you lack confidence, the more it becomes a problem in your business life even if you don’t notice it.
Make sure your confidence is not a compensation for what is actually a lack of it.
Concentrate on the skills and abilities you have, not the one you lack and keep pushing yourself forward. Once you’ve determined that you’ve found the right direction, keep the momentum going.
Opinions Dependence
Disagreements and even conflicts should not be cause for concern. Accept constructive criticism and don’t react with negativity. The trick is not to identify with other people’s opinions.
In addition, you shouldn’t identify with your own thoughts either.
Opinions are always biased and they rarely fully correspond with the truth. Their purpose is to provide guidelines, so don’t make too big of a fuss over it. Liberate yourself!
CONVERT YOUR SETBACK INTO SUCCESS
The life of an entrepreneur is a constant search for personal growth.
Sometimes, that growth can hurt.
As the saying goes – No pain, no gain.
No matter how long someone is in business, it is never easy since you always get to experience setbacks.
The only difference is whether you know that sometimes they are meant to happen.
One can never know what’s it good for, right?
There are ways to convert the setbacks into success.
Expect the Unexpected
Think positively and try to anticipate potential setbacks, but don’t be naïve. No matter how hard you think, you can’t forestall everything. Setbacks are bound to happen.
Having said that, it’s safe to say that expectations are your safest route to disappointment. If you are eagerly waiting for success to happen and something opposite comes along, it can be shocking for you as you weren’t prepared for it.
Maybe you were surprised because someone very important resigned or you weren’t prepared to lose your best client.
Whether the setbacks are out of your reach or they happened as a cause of some bad decision, keep in mind that they are a must-have in every entrepreneurial life.
Control Your Emotions
If you invested a lot into your business and setbacks happen, it is normal to react emotionally.
However, do not let emotions steer your wheels. Take your time to think and calm yourself before saying something or making a decision that might add oil to the fire.
Focus on Further Developing and Learning
Whatever is the end of setback and no matter how hard it affects your business if you concentrate on your problem, you will be trapped in a place of worries, anxiety, and regret and nothing good ever came from that pace.
You can always choose if you want to become a better person after a setback or become grumpy.
Will you learn something from this setback or not? It’s your choice so be wary of what you’re focusing on.
Train Your Brain
When you are confronting the crisis or obstacles and challenges in your business, it is very important to develop a successful mindset.
Brian Tracy wrote a book called Change the way you thinking, Change your life, in which he explains how you could train your mind like every other muscle.
Ask for Some Help
Few heads think better than just one, especially if one of those heads is an expert in its field.
Search for experts that can help you deal with whatever difficulties you may be experiencing.
Remember that, in our time of academic diffusion, chances are that your problem is someone’s Ph.D. thesis.
Ask for people with experience in the field. As the Bible says: Seek and Thou shall find.
Keep Your Setbacks in Perspective
Never mind if it is about life or business, you can always find someone who is more successful than you are. If you fail, you can be easily absorbed and overwhelmed by your challenges.
The best cure for a perspective of your setbacks is to listen to someone who is going through an even greater struggle.
If you listen to other people’s problems somehow you realize that you can manage your setback because comparing to others, your problems seem meaningless.
Remember that it’s all a game. No one gets alive anyway, so live a little. Losing your nerves over losing money is a double loss.
Always keep your setbacks in perspective and change that perspective if need be.
Play to have fun and learn, not only to win. It is not the end of the world if you sometimes fail so don’t let ambition or greed get to you.
You never really know if something will work until you try it;
You should fully accept that this is part of the “entrepreneurship” game and be encouraged to take those risks.
There will always be those who are very happy to criticize you and your decisions from the barrier. Not everyone will be understanding and supportive. Even your dearest beings can harm you.
Criticism, both by friends and enemies, should improve you. Although it is difficult to feel that you have disappointed people, try not to take it personally. As human beings, you can make mistakes as long as you learn from them.
You are also live subject to the envy of others. And, therefore, it is normal that sooner or later you should receive strong criticism, even from those who trust you the most. In the face of criticism, the best, in many cases, is to shut up and nod.
It sounds like meek submission, but especially if you are passionate, it is better to give yourself time when you are alone to reflect on what they have told you.
Give yourself time to recover from failure!
It is important to rest, reflect and gather your energy before thinking about what might be next for you. You have been spending time with your loved ones and evaluating what is important to you.
After so much time putting everything in the business, it gives you a new perspective on life that you appreciate.
In many senses leaving behind a business is like resolving your biggest problem. You can finally feel free and ready to start again from scratch, having a great experience with you.
CONCLUSION
Many people believe they will be successful before they even start the business.
That kind of inspiration is cool, but it can’t be completely detrimental if you don’t account for the potential setbacks now and then.
As you already know, in the sea of startups nowadays, only some live up to their expectations.
Success is only one part of the game. Even if you have a lot of experience in business, you should always prepared to fail.
It’s like in martial arts like judo and aikido. The first thing you learn is how to take the fall. It can sound strange, but it is true. If you are not prepared to fail, you are going in the wrong direction where you could lose everything and lose the chance to start again.
Before you fail you should inform those who need to know. It is not easy to tell people what your business is falling.
Nevertheless, it is the best way to call for action.
When telling people of your failure you may receive advice that could save you or get instructions on how to move on. Some of your coworkers can lead you and help you in the process of closing the door of your business.
By being responsible, you are also preserving the opportunity to work with these people again when you start your next business.
Identifying risk the owners of the companies should have in mind that failure happens.
Companies that confront risks that have serious consequences should protect themselves from that risk.
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