My Biggest Mistakes in 2017

In 2017 I setup and closed a new business, told everyone I was too busy for new work, failed to communicate with clients and gave away far too many free services. In all, it was a very good year full of many successful mistakes.

Below I detail these mistakes so that you may learn from my pain and failure. After all, as Winston Churchill once said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

Inventing time

2017 saw us dip our toes into the pool of new business. I was bitten by a self-congratulatory bug and saw in the mirror an entrepreneur capable of managing several businesses at once. I was wrong.

In hindsight, the business was a great idea, but I had invented extra time in my mind. I thought it possible to manage our core business, Lucky 6 Marketing, while also taking time out to build a new business.

I was soon struck in the face by the dumper truck that is reality. Creating, managing and growing two start-up businesses is, for me, impossible. There may be some superhuman people out there that are capable of this, but I am not one.

Below is a hit list of the key mistakes I made

1.      Thinking I had enough time to set up and grow a new business.

2.      Not separating the finances of the new business.

3.      Networking and trying sell two individual services and brands at the same time.

4.      Not understanding the logistical difficulties of hosting two businesses in one shared office.

No Regrets – Setting Up a New Business

I really do not regret this mistake. In fact, I am hugely glad I did it. Personally, I learnt so much, as did everyone involved. It was one of those mistakes worth making and if I could relive this experience again, I would.

Saying we are too busy for more work

Probably the most amusing mistake of 2017 was publically announcing we were too busy to take on any more work.

This announcement was very much true but lacked the strategic planning required to make it a successful gambit. I am fond of learning and found myself listening to many Audible books in 2017. One such book outlined a strategy to create demand.

This unique strategy was created from the concept many successful restaurants deploy. Restrict availability to increase the perceived value of your service to customers. Therefore, demand increases. In the past, it has been masterfully deployed by the likes of Apple and many leading supercar manufacturers.

Underpinning the success of this strategy is a well-thought-out plan and execution. Not just a single announcement such as the one I published.

Failure to communicate

95% of our work consists of writing all forms of digital communication. I truly believe we do this exceptionally well for our clients. However, in 2017, we did not communicate with our clients.

A photo of some of my early business cards which I found once again in 2017. Let's go for a coffee.

One of our flaws at Lucky 6 Marketing is that we really love our work. It is a huge personal enjoyment of ours to create fantastic work for our clients. We were so focused on this end goal that our personal interaction with our clients’ melted away.

The results of this were that our clients’ did not see everything we were doing or fully understand its value. This was a huge gap in our service and a personal failure of mine. I see us being masters at our technical work and utterly crap at the sales side.

More free stuff

In the pursuit of success, we often went above and beyond. This included adding extras to our service and not charging for them.

We always end up adding extra 360 photos, videos and services to our monthly social media management service.

This has always been a weakness of mine. I always feel so privileged to be chosen by a client that I endeavour to impress them. A result of this is that I often throw in extra services to our social media management.

A free video here and there, extra event coverage, additional graphics and late-night account management. Great news for our clients and not so good for our bottom line.

A failure of mine because Lucky 6 Marketing is like my very own child. An infant to which I find myself emotionally attached. So desperate to impress and succeed that the plain hard facts of the day disappear. As a business, I should be striving for profit rather than pleasing everyone.

In Conclusion

The year of 2017 was a great success for us despite the mistakes above. It is a privilege to find ourselves in a position where we can push the boundaries and experiment. I feel Lucky 6 Marketing and myself have now reached business adolescence.

Coming from absolutely no experience with no financial backing we have built everything from the ground up. We have a long way to go and many more mistakes to make but I am happy with my activities in 2017.

I remember my biggest error of 2016 was that I played it safe and stopped making the big mistakes. As a result, I found my business education slowing down. My hope for 2018 is to push further and harder. Make more mistakes and progress faster.

Thank for reading. Please feel free to share your biggest mistakes of 2017, if you dare.