The Friday Finance Break

New rule: Every Friday, I'll take a break from the Finance content and focus the day's post on Founder mental health.

Off topic? Honestly, I don't think so.

Business finances are TOUGH, they're STRESSFUL.

So, on Fridays, we pivot from talking about market forces

To talk about the forces driving our own behavior.

Down? Let's get into it!

Rewarding failures

This week, I lost a proposal.

It's just part of the process of growing a services business - you win some, you lose some. To put it in perspective, this is one of 4 proposals requested this week. And this was the stretch one. So objectively not a big deal.

But that's not how it felt;

It felt terrible.

I found out via my phone while away from my desk, enjoying a pottery class. Instantly, my mood plummeted. I felt the grips of my scarcity mindset kick in. I wanted to go home and work harder on my business. Had no desire to stay out and spend money (after all that money I just lost? No way!). I wanted to crawl into a hole until I fixed it.

But I didn't.

Miraculously, my inner badass CEO kicked in.

I thought about what I would do if this happened to an employee. Would I punish them for this miss? Would I tell them to work harder? Would I rub their nose in it?

I would absolutely not.

Because if you punish failures, you reinforce never taking risks.

If this happened to an employee, I would praise them for sending the proposal in the first place. I would take them out of the office for a coffee to clear our heads and reward their bravery. We'd do what we needed to get out of that failure mindset. And when they were ready to try again, we'd use that energy to debrief, chart a plan, and try again.

So that's exactly what I did. For myself.

And you know what?

It was a much better use of my time.

As business owners, we need to do hard things. Every day.

...Whether it's pitching a deal even when it's a longshot

...Launching that new product when some features still feel embarrassingly incomplete

...Pushing yourself to get to profitability, even when that means firing a friend

These tasks are a ton to ask of ourselves.

So, when you hit a snag, you can beat yourself up and discourage yourself from ever trying again

Or you can do the kind, smart thing

And give yourself a break.

Have a great weekend and see you Monday!

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