Appreciation and Automation

Wow, it's been a busy week!  I don't want to talk too soon, but I think a pattern of mine is going to be published in a magazine!!  I was putting the final touches on the sample to send for approval and still need to double check the pattern before turning that in.  More details will come as things firm up...

Pushing to meet this deadline really made me start appreciating what great opportunities might be opening to me and got me to focus on the positive rather than the negative.  The housework is still piling up, I'm still woefully behind on paperwork, I can't get MailChimp to automatically integrate with PayPal, but hey, I'm trying to let it all slide down my back like water off a duck and "like my life" :-)

Mmm, I am feeling a creativity spurt coming on though -- I've been seeing some really cool patterns in my mind's eye, so I'm hoping I can start actualizing them soon.  As I've written about in the past, I so totally appreciate how small business owners struggle with doing the actual thing that they love (making their product) versus the business, marketing, organizing, etc. side of things.  I'm enjoying trying out some new software products that are supposed to help automate certain functions, and I will definitely share as I find ones that work (probably helpful for me to share the ones that aren't so great either).  I continue to really like MailChimp, but I have been experiencing some problems with trying to get different services to integrate with each other.  Customer service has been responsive though, so I'm hoping to report a happy ending to that saga soon.  I also think it might be time for me to start utilizing an accounting program to keep track of expenses and income (my Excel spreadsheet has been working ok so far, but I'm starting to see limits to my having to input everything manually).  I just read about www.outright.com, which sounds like it might be what I'm looking for, but there is a monthly fee that kicks in after a trial period.  I'm going to keep searching for a free service and will report back on that too!  Let me know if you've had success with a service you like :-)

Failure

Not a word that many of us are comfortable with or like to think about.  But, frankly, you can either embrace it and learn from it or just give it up!  I've been experiencing a bit of self-inflicted failure recently, and I figured I should let you all in on it since it's just not realistic to paint a rosy picture of things all the time.  I have over-scheduled, over-promised and over-whelmed myself recently and, as a result, I feel like I've let some people down.  I hate that feeling, especially since of course that was not my intention at all!

So, I'm in the process of trying to figure out how to fix it (if possible).  I think there are a couple of steps that I can take to mitigate:

1)  Apologize.  Not the "we regret this inconvenience" or "I'm sorry you're upset" kind of apology, but a sincere, heartfelt one in which you take responsibility for your (in)actions and express regret.  "I'm sorry I did not have your pillow done by the deadline date."

2)  What are you going to do now.  Let the person know what they can expect from you now.  And be realistic about it, rather than getting yourself deeper into the hole with another promise you can't keep.  "I hope to have it finished in two weeks, but I don't want to overpromise again so I will keep you updated."

3)  Express appreciation through more words and actions.  Throw in an unexpected treat along with the promised item.  "I appreciate your patience with me, and I hope you will accept this free pattern and tote bag as my token of gratitude to you for your business."

I expect that this won't always work -- people are going to legitimately get and stay pissed off at you if you don't meet their expectations, but a sincere apology and course of mitigating action hopefully will bring some people back around to you.