How do you bounce back?

[LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett]

Have had a horrendous two weeks.

Sent in some really substandard copy - and I mean, it really was and there's no excuse for it.

Corrected grammar on a proposal - but made a mistake in my correction which then went a bit public.

Just found out that a proposal I was leading for a partner hasn't made it to the pitch stage, despite a lot of investment.

I know the careless errors are about being sloppy, just not giving every piece of work the care it needs - which I'm taking steps to address. But how do I get over that 'Urgh' feeling in the pit of my stomach?

It's times like this you need colleagues...

Also, could the loss of the contract be a chance to do something new? I know the secured money is nice, but doing the same thing each year might not be as interesting as a new project?

Have you thought about having some coaching? It sounds like you want a different business model?

I had some last year (sorry if I have already said) and she helped me realise my low paid retained work was taking up too much time.

I dropped it and after 2 very dire months at the start of the year, I am now earning much more.

I have also secured a new retained contract which is more than double the previous day rate and only 3 days a month which is a help.

All of this was thanks to her making me look at figures and to think about what I want my business to be.

Oh this thread has reactivated! How nice

Well I have some great news to share - the pitch that I lost in the OP? An old contact only emailed me two months ago to ask if I had any ideas about who to approach for exactly the same kind of project, for a much smaller business.

So I said, 'erm, me?' and am now doing the whole bloody thing myself. Which has been pretty terrifying, I have to say - lots of workshops, lots of time in front of actual employees instead of hiding behind the internal comms team, and I had to buy new clothes too!

And while it's only a one-off (type of procurement I've gone through pretty much guarantees that, plus the work I've done has helped them see how short-staffed they are so they have started some significant recruitment which will eventually pick up my work) I've already doubled my turnover for this year.

Huzzah for failure, or as my old gran used to say, 'God never shuts a door without opening a window.'

Wilson - so great to hear that positive update - go you and your new work clothes! :)

And I LOVE your gran's saying - that is going to be my new moto! Not religious by just love the imagery and logic!! She sounds like a lovely gran.

she had her own egg-delivery business in the 60's and eventually a senior management role in a residential school in the 70's/80's. Proper trailblazer, you would have liked her Margot

Am bringing this thread back to life to find out what you lovely people are all up to, and because I've had a crap morning and would like to do some virtual moaning .

Nice client, doesn't need much work from me but what they do is interesting and I was hoping for more from them, commissioned me to do something with 6 weeks lead time. I finished other work first and was just about to crack on with it with 2 weeks to go, and they've just stood me down on it. Although I haven't invested time on it, it's an annoying loss of money and I'm more globally concerned they are viewing my services as easily replaceable.

Reviewing my year I see I've made quite a few new client contacts, and have had lots of small bits of work for many of them, but it hasn't translated into much income at all. I have also let some things drop by the wayside because they were low priority at the time -which is adding to my feeling of Not Doing Enough.

Margo, may be time to revisit the coaching idea? HOw did you find someone?

That's a shame Dynasty, fwiw it's not unusual at this time of year ime. I quite often get very enthusiastic calls about stuff in November which doesn't turn into real work - I think people often are a bit quiet at the end of the year and think about 'pet' projects, get to December, then find they've no budget/something else turns up to fill their time.

I think it's good to sit down with a spreadsheet at the end of the year and devise a little plan for each clients - sounds like you've started to build relationships with some interesting people, now you need to make them pay off for you. Why not set up a couple of coffees or lunches - frame it as an end of year catch up - and see where you can target them for work next year?

Hello Dynasty & Wilson

Nice to see you both posting.

Sorry to hear about the loss of the project. Is there any chance it can come back to life? I think the things is these contracts/projects are really important to us, but to clients they are just one of a number of things on the to-do list. So they don't think anything of changing their mind/dropping it/doing something else etc.

I think you need to just be bright and breezy but keep in touch with them. Send a Xmas card "Sorry we didn't get to work together, but look forward to working with you in 2016". I have won jobs some mainly due to my tenacity at keeping in touch stalking.

Coaching - I went with recommendations but I am toying with the idea now and I am looking for somebody local. I think you need to be clear on what type of coaching you want - business development or manaing yourself, as it might suit different coaches. Look around and see coaches are near and how they present themselves. Have they worked with people like you? Most should offer a quick chat for free to see what the 'chi' is like.

As Wilson says you can also do a bit of self-coaching and try to review where you are and where you want to go etc. Can we help? Not that we are gurus, but I think the external perspective brings a lot and actually is a big part of why coaching is good.

My half-year has been ok. It has been too busy, which is a nice prob to have but basically I earned very little until the summer and then I have earnt it all this half. Which sounds ok, but was actually hiddeous. I was so stressed/teary and having to work all hours. So I need to find a better way too.

We are super niche (energy in data centres) and its me and hubby so if it goes tits up its not even beans on toast and live off one salary. The thing is to remember when you are super busy to keep an eye on new business activity and still make time for it - as if you drop that ball that is an empty patch further along the line which is difficult to fill with short term activity because of the natural lead time on your business development.

We have just had a mega busy patch with hubby working every hr each weekend for about last 6 weeks - we are even doing one assessment over a weekend to fit it in before Christmas for the client. We have booked time out over Christmas but I know this will be used to review and refresh approaches for next year, we have a few options and hubby doesn't like to say no to work which is right in many ways BUT for me it has to be int he direction of travel - its no use filling time with one of bits and bobs when you could be working to larger proposals with moer longevity and security. Also its is worth ensuring that your business could survive loosing one of your key clients - if you think you will struggle then you need to boost away from that client to ensure survival.

In terms of bumping myself when things don't go to plan - stop taking things personally, to your client you are a business not a person no matter how friendly you are.

i struggle with letting work out of our business and getting others involved -especially on sales development - we were burnt recently - it needs doing but its starting to annoy me that there is so much crud out there making calls to secure appts etc

On the coaching topic... I am really fortunate to be part of a lovely network, all people with similar values, and we have a few 'mastermind hubs' where 4 or 5 people get together once a month and co-coach.

We have defined rules about timespan (usually 6 month set), goal setting and sticking to discussions on goals etc, and I bet we could set up something here - we have the skills.... we have the technology... anyone interested?

I would be interested. I have buddied up with a couple of people on here but something structured sounds great. Anyone else?

VERY INTERESTED!!!

Even if somewhat late to the party