Lesson Six: Find your fertilizer.

The first time we were disqualified from a grant review process because we submitted the wrong documentation for a client, I died a little inside. Okay, a lot. I died a lot.

We all spent some time grieving over that egregious mistake. But you know what we did? We drastically changed our submission procedures to ensure that it never happened again. Over the course of a few days, we wallowed in our frustrations and shame added checks and balances and protocols and walked through them to ensure their effectiveness. Had we spent too much time down on ourselves, the results would not have been the same:

the creation of a higher quality product for our clients

How many of you have made mistakes in your work?

If your hand isn’t up, you aren’t working hard enough. 

(Just kidding)

For those of us who have, those mistakes cannot define us or become obstacles to our success. In fact, they must be the opposite: fertilizer for our growth.

I could give you several examples of mistakes that led to a change in our company, but you are probably already thinking of your own. Run with those. How can you make your product, your services better based on your experience? I challenge you to come up with a plan, add some deadlines for yourself, and make it happen.

Here’s to growth.