Have You Ever Been Pleased to Be Disappointed?

Have you ever been pleased to be disappointed? This is kind of an odd question, but in episode 182 of Journey to $100 Million, Erik talks about a situation where he was disappointed, but came to the realization that this specific feeling of disappointment was actually a good thing!

We previously had gotten a deal for a relatively small amount of money: $1,200/month. This was a good deal, but it just wasn’t that big compared to the deals we had recently been getting. We had recently been getting multi-thousand dollar deals (per month) upwards of $10k a month from certain clients. So for us, getting a $1,200 a month deal for a project with a year long minimum engagement felt like a disappointment. It just didn’t seem like the size of projects that we had been getting.

This was interesting to Erik, because after he got over his initial disappointment of getting this new contract (which didn’t make any sense to him,) he started to embrace it! Erik realized the reason he was disappointed was because it had meant that Array Digital had transitioned from doing small projects for smaller clients, to bigger projects for bigger clients. At that moment, Erik realized that it was a good thing that he was disappointed, because it meant that we were no longer settling for small projects! That being said, we will still take on small projects, we are not cutting them off. But, we are going to start to do larger projects more often, that are also more meaningful to us.

At the end of the day, Erik was very happy and pleased with the fact that he was disappointed. This meant that Array Digital was growing as an organization and felt more confident as to the kinds of projects we could receive. Once we felt more confident in what we were doing, Erik knew that meant we would inevitably get bigger deals. We knew we were going to get bigger clients because we are ready for bigger clients - and that is exactly what has been happening!

This was a very interesting situation for Erik to see unfold. A year or two ago, a $1,200/month deal would have been seen as a big deal for us. We would have thought that this was a big dollar amount in the past, but now it does not have the same allure as it used to. We are getting used to gaining these bigger deals, and we are eager for more! So now, it is slightly disappointing when small deals come through, but we are very happy with this disappointment.

—

Erik J. Olson is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. The Founder & CEO of Array Digital, he is also the host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

—

Kevin Daisey is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. He started his first company when he was just 23, and is the Founder & CMO of Array Digital. Kevin is the also the co-host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the co-organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.