How I Turned A Marketing Mistake Into $1 Million In New Business

Have you ever made a correction successful business that you wish didn't happen? The truth is that each business proprietor must look nonaccomplishment astatine immoderate point, but problems don't personification to beryllium pointless.

In fact, immoderate mistakes lead to unthinkable success! Take nan Post-it, for example. In nan process of trying to create a super-strong bonding agent, Dr. Spencer Silver astatine 3M produced nan different — a ace anemic adhesive that could easy abstracted from anything. Silver dedicated himself to discovering a usage for this, and it led to unthinkable wealthiness and success.

What if you took your correction and turned it into gold, too? That's precisely what I did past year.

My correction successful 2024 went nether my radar. I didn't moreover announcement it until I started doing immoderate digging.

You see, I personification ever had a strict psyche norm that our postcard promotion has to spell retired each azygous week without fail. Even my squad successful manufacturing knows this! When I started PostcardMania, nan number was 1000 postcards a week — past 2,500. It was working, but successful bid to summation it to 5,000 pieces, I had to trim my ain net ... truthful I did!

It really paid off, truthful complete time, we continued to summation that number up to 205,000 successful 2023. Then, successful October of past year, I saw our top-line gross from caller clients wasn't expanding arsenic accelerated arsenic it had successful erstwhile years. I talked to my Vice President of Sales, and she stated nan obvious: "How astir we connection overmuch postcards?"

Here are 3 takeaways I learned from my 2024 mistake.

Related: 3 Marketing Blind Spots That Are Holding You Back (and How to Fix Them)

Never hide nan tried-and-true trading strategies that worked successful nan past

I've built my business connected nan conception that nonstop message works, and thousands of mini business owners I've helped cognize this truth, too. But I still mislaid show of my champion trading tactic. Even though nan correction was a 5% trim successful postcard quantity, it was tin to costs my business revenue.

This infinitesimal was immense for maine — I needed to judge what I preach! If we summation our postcard mailings, we summation our apical connection without fail.

It's easy to get swept up successful nan trendiest trading platforms aliases strategies today, but ne'er hide your ain trading truths.

What worked for you successful nan past? It could moreover beryllium point arsenic elemental arsenic referrals and launching a trading strategy that rewards your customers aliases clients if they mention your business to a friend.

Take a dense dive into your history and spot what you find.

Look astatine your apical connection to fig retired wherever your caller customers are coming from

Yes, you petition to look into your past to retrieve wherever your customers came from backmost then, but you too petition to cognize wherever your caller customers are coming from now.

While location is worthy successful looking astatine your bottommost line, I really look astatine nan apical connection first to spot what is bringing nan astir gross into my business.

New customers show you precisely wherever nan caller money is coming from, and past you tin turn connected your biggest maturation drivers to bring successful overmuch revenue.

Once we personification our top-line maturation moving successful nan correct direction, I adhd successful efficiencies to maximize profitability from that growth. If you do nan same, nan entity is nan limit pinch your early success.

Related: The End-of-the-Year Marketing Checklist That Helped Triple Our Annual Revenue Growth

Be consenting to put overmuch successful your trading to move your business

This is my second-greatest trading mantra of each time: You petition to marketplace for illustration crazy to grow.

This is because erstwhile you want to grow, you personification to beryllium consenting to locomotion more. How and wherever you locomotion that different money isn't an nonstop science. You personification to proceedings different strategies and measurement results to fig that information retired for yourself. But this information is an nonstop taxable because cutting backmost will ever cripple your gains. Instead, marketplace arsenic overmuch arsenic you can.

Coming into nan past agelong of nan year, I decided to return my ain connection and summation our trading walk because I saw that our gross numbers were not connected measurement to deed their targets.

We added astir $100,000 to nan past six weeks of nan twelvemonth pinch nan extremity of achieving different million. It's mostly going to nonstop mail, but we're too expanding different areas arsenic well.

It's an costly decision. Will it get america that different million? I consciousness assured it will — moreover if I don't spot that different cardinal until January. Increasing my trading locomotion has ever worked successful nan past, truthful I expect it to net disconnected again.

So, do yourself a favour and study from your mistakes for illustration me. Heck, represent them down connected a Post-it to punctual yourself! Turn those "failures" into gold.

Related: I Made These 3 Big Mistakes When Starting a Business — Here's What I Learned From Them