Original post March 10, 2011
As Online Business Managers we pride ourselves on doing our work correctly – it’s actually a big part of what makes us great at what we do (paying attention to details, crossing all the T’s and dotting the I’s)
But I know for some of us making sure that “things are done right” can actually become a burden. To the point where we spend a lot of time and energy worrying about this – maybe triple checking when we don’t need to, having panic moments, worrying that our clients might get upset with us if we make a mistake. <– I know that’s a biggie for a lot of us.
Let me say this loud and clear:
Yes, you will make mistakes
As much as we hate to mess something up (believe me, I know that I do too)… at the same time, I know that mistakes are going to happen. It’s simply a fact of life and business.
Always remember that everything is fixable. In my 10+ years of working online, I have yet to come across an issue that wasn’t fixable. Including the time I accidentally erased the homepage of one of my client’s websites and we didn’t have a backup. eek! I remember being terrified to tell my client what had happened, and I felt SOOOO bad. And yet, in the end, I redid the site from scratch and it was all good – very fixable.
The Key here, however, is what you do about it when something does happen. As an OBM it’s up to us to take charge, come up with a proposed solution, get a thumbs up on that solution (if need be) and fix things asap. Even if they are upset at first, your clients ultimately aren’t going to care if a mistake was made – they are going to care about your fixing that mistake. That is what they will ultimately remember.
So if you find yourself worrying a lot about mistakes cut yourself a little slack… and repeat the mantra “Everything is fixable”…