The Importance of Recognizing Your Mistakes

On this podcast, you may notice that Erik talks a lot about mistakes we make. It is essential to discuss these mistakes in order to understand the things you could’ve done beforehand to avoid them. In episode 174 of Journey to $100 Million, listen in to Erik has he explains the importance of recognizing the mistakes you make within your company.

Once we make a mistake here at Array Digital we like to rewind and figure out what happened through a root cause analysis. A root cause analysis is figuring out the main reason for this mistake/problem. After we realize we’ve made a mistake, our first step is acknowledging it - something that a lot of companies do not tend to do. Some people will try to cover it up, or make an excuse. But, when Erik started Array Digital, he decided that we are going to be truthful and honest when mistakes are made. You must acknowledge these makes so you can be introspective and figure out what happened.

To figure out what exactly happened, we conduct a lessons learned session. In this meeting, all of the stakeholders internally involved in the mistake or project get together and descontruct the situation. If we receive feedback from a client, we will also look into this and decipher what it means for our Array Digital team . We like to not only figure out what we could have done better, but also what we can do moving forward to ensure the same mistake does not happen again.

Every person screws up, every company screws up. You must own up to your mistakes if you want people to consider you authentic. Owning up and fixing these mistakes will allow your company to grow and get better over time. The last thing Erik wants, is to have a company 5 years down the road making the same mistakes. Once you acknowledge that these mistakes are made, you are able to fix them. Array Digital is getting smarter, better, and faster - but that is only going to continue to happen if we recognize our mistakes. In your business, recognize the mistakes you are making. Focus in on the mistakes, figure out what you could’ve done to avoid them, and then put a process in place so that you will never make that mistake again. If you do that, you will win - and win BIG!

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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.

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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.