Mistakes Will Happen

“As long as the world is turning and spinning, we’re gonna be dizzy and we’re gonna make mistakes.”

— Mel Brooks

Recovering from mistakes is something I wish I could get better at, but over time I feel I have gotten better at it.

Last week while I was testing out a WordPress Plug-in called Autochimp  and did not configure it correctly. My blog ended up sending multiple messages into your inbox. The first one was a previous newsletter, the second one was the correct newsletter ,and the third one was another version of a newsletter.

Before I continue. I want to thank you for not unsubscribing from my list. Experimenting with new things to enhance my newsletter made you receive a few unnecessary emails. I really appreciate and thank you for supporting me even when I make a mistake.

The Fear of making a mistake

Like every other human in this world I am scared of making a mistake that will impact negatively the relationship I have with you  and others I respect.

Overall, I fear making many types of mistakes. But the fact that I am not normal is that with time I have learned that by building enough courage I can overcome most fears.

Your subscription is important to me

Thanks to you this newsletter exists and more importantly the feedback I receive from you and others not only helps me improve it but do better in other areas of my life.

I understand how important it is for you to give me a few minutes to read this newsletter. You have many more options and I am very grateful that you are here reading. There is nothing better than seeing your feedback and replies once the newsletter is published.

With every reply I see a different aspect of the subject I wrote on and more importantly I get to know you better.

Once I saw the newsletter sending the wrong content and having your email inbox receive multiple emails I was a bit worried. Your time is so valuable to me I did not want you to feel that I was sending spam to your inbox.

Once I read a few positive replies and others who asked me if everything was ok offering help I felt a bit more at ease.

Apologizing

One of the first things I did on this newsletter was apologize for last week’s mistakes.  I really want you to understand you’re important to me (Have I written how important you are to me? Sorry when I make mistakes I over apologize).

I over apologize because I don’t like it when someone makes a mistake that impacts me and can’t find the guts to apologize.

Sending a message when you really mean it, makes a difference so we can overcome whatever obstacle we are faced with. Sometimes the biggest issue is not that you made a mistake.  The problem might be your lack of response and accountability of what happened.

Most importantly there has to be a plan to move along in a healthy way for the parties involved.

Moving on

To move on I made sure this newsletter’s topic was on how I think others on the personal and business side should react when the make a mistake.  I also made sure to do research and find a better way to have my blog publish my newsletter and not have last week’s issues all over again.

Making up for it

I want to make up for the mistake by doing two things:

1. Give you a Special  Consulting Rate

I have been offering some coaching sessions and my standard hourly consulting rate is $125.

For VIP like you  I will be offering a  phone call (minimum 45 minutes) where we can discuss any idea or business topic you want my advice in the areas of technology, business, web development, or online communications for the special newsletter subscriber rate of $49 (limit of 10).

I will not offer this again for the rest of the year so if you are interested this offer it will be valid until Tuesday.

If you feel I can help anyone with this feel free to forward the email to him or her and have them mention you.

2. Showing you how I configured my WordPress post to publish to MailChimp

I will  also point you towards Chris Lema’s Blog where he explains how to get your WordPress blog to publish to Mailchimp.  I would have written down the steps I followed but he does such a better job explaining I thought it would be worth it.

How do you handle yourself when you make a big mistake? Any thoughts on how we can all grow from this opportunity. Hit Reply I am waiting on the other side for your email.

PS: Today is a special day for my friend, business partner, and artist extraordinaire. He publishes his 100th Daddyknows Cartoon over at Papaheroes. So if you can spare a few more minutes congratulate Rick by leaving a nice comment on something he does to share his experiences as a dad.