How "Blowing It" Can Lead to Big Business Wins | Ep 8

The stories where we fall down or fail are the most important ones to share. These "lessons learned" moments humanize us, make us relatable, and provide valuable insights that can help others avoid similar pitfalls.

• Failure stories are powerful connection points with your audience
• When starting in social media consulting, I made a major presentation mistake
• I prepared advanced strategies for an audience who didn't know what Facebook was
• Had to throw away my presentation and start with absolute basics
• This failure shaped my entire business approach and led to teaching opportunities
• Sharing mistakes makes you more human and relatable
• Your "lessons learned" can save others time and frustration
• These stories demonstrate growth and real expertise
• It's not about falling down but how you get back up

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Chapters

• 0:00 The Power of Sharing Failure Stories

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

We're all afraid of sharing these stories, the stories where we fall down, the stories where things don't go according to plan, the stories where we feel like we failed. And those are the stories we're going to be talking about today, because those stories, those lessons learned, they're important stories on your journey and they make a difference in how you're showing up. Welcome to another episode of the Story Lab. I love this episode because I know that many of you are going to hate this episode. I love this episode because it's so important. It's an episode about learning from our mistakes. It's an episode about growing from what happens to us. It's an episode about showing people that it doesn't matter if we fall. It's how we get back up. It's about lessons learned. It's not failures, it's lessons learned, and that's what we're going to talk about today. What lessons could you learn?

Speaker 1: 1:14

When I first started in the social media business I just left my college bookstore business I thought everybody knew what social media was and I was going to help businesses really show up like, get past the basics and understand what they can do to really really win on social media with strategies and campaigns and all that things that we were doing in the college bookstore business Right, and I was asked early on in my career, literally two months into it, to speak to a bunch of business owners about how to show up on social media. And I went into this conversation thinking, all right, here I'm going to blow them away with what I know and what they can do and how they can do it. So I got there, I'm starting to talk about things and I'm welcoming people in and you know I get my presentation started and I started with this big like social media can be, this amazing thing that's going to blow up your business and you're going to be able to grow with smart campaigns and this, and that I started talking about things you could do on Facebook and Instagram and how you could grow your business page and how you should have a group so that you could be building community and all of these things. Lo and behold, a woman in the back very shyly raises her hand yes, ma'am In the back, you have a question? Slowly puts her hand down and goes yeah, you have a question. Slowly puts her hand down and goes yeah, what's facebook? Everything went through my mind like what do you mean? What's facebook, what's? And I immediately had to bring myself back in, remember.

Speaker 1: 2:54

I've only been doing this for two months, I'm a little bit new at it. I had to bring myself back in and I asked everybody. I'm like I'm sorry, I'm gonna get to that. Who else doesn't know what Facebook is? Half of the crowd raises their hands and I immediately, immediately, knew I blew it.

Speaker 1: 3:11

I didn't do the one thing that is so important for all of us, no matter what who's our audience? Who are we talking to? What do they need? I miss that. I totally miss that.

Speaker 1: 3:27

And I started with this whole big idea on things you could do on social media and how you could learn and to grow your business with this and that and the other thing. And while that's great, it's not what they needed. They need to know how to build a Facebook page, they need to know how to get a business page. They need to know how to show up on Instagram with pictures, because that's what we were doing. I missed very important lesson when I first did this presentation. I didn't see where my audience was and what they needed, and that's a lesson I took with me and I still take with me in my entire career who am I talking to? What do they need Listening to my audience before I put out what I think they need, because what I was doing was I was speaking so I could be the smartest person in the room, so that I felt good about myself and could talk about all these things that they knew nothing about.

Speaker 1: 4:28

That didn't serve them. It didn't serve me in the long run either. So as I got to that in this moment, I literally threw away my presentation. I sat on the desk and I started answering basic questions like what was Facebook? And I showed them what Facebook was and I showed them how they could set up their own profile. My presentation was in the trash. It didn't matter because they wouldn't get it. How are they supposed to know? This also was where my nine essential posts came from, and I know a lot of you have heard me talk about nine essential posts. There were nine posts that you could post in your business that would work for any business. They were all different things that you could talk about. They came because I needed to teach at that level at first. What are the basics that you need?

Speaker 1: 5:18

So that moment, that story of failure, was a lesson learned that helped shape my business, and it's why I've been hired to teach public school districts how to use social media. It's why I've been hired to teach businesses how to do social media that have never done it before. A local wedding hall hired me for a three-day session on how to use social media. That was a lesson learned and that's a story that shaped my business and it'd be silly for me to never share that story, because that story highlights a really important lesson that led me down a path that has gotten me hired for other things. It's gotten me hired to do to help those school districts, to help those other organizations.

Speaker 1: 6:05

So why would I leave that out? Now I know why many of us would leave that story out because I look silly in that moment. I look silly saying you got to do these things and all these advanced strategies and you don't even know what Facebook is. Yeah, I look silly, but I learned from that silly and I built my business on that silly and I showed those businesses how to do the basic things. That silly allowed me to step in one Halloween and teach a class that I'd never taught before. Three hour class, never taught before. But because I knew the basics, on two hours notice, I went and taught a college class on how to do social media, and guess what? I taught that class for four years after that.

Speaker 1: 6:53

See, that lesson learned helped me be better at my business, and I'm sure that you have lessons learned that have helped you be better at your business, that have helped you go further, that have helped you understand things differently. And if you're not sharing them, you're missing the opportunity to share this very human thing that happened, this very human thing that your audience is going to resonate with, this thing that people will find endearing. And, even better, because you shared it, you're sharing your lesson learned with somebody who needs to learn that lesson as well, and that's a big deal. You're saving people time. You're showing up as a human. You're being real Lessons learned or failures, even if you're showing up as a human. You're being real lessons learned or failures, even if you want to call it a failure. There's stories that matter to your audience. There's stories that can connect with your audience and they help you show up in a real way that your audience is going to resonate with. So that's why you need to share those lessons learned, those failures, so that your audience sees you. That is why those stories are so powerful. That is why you need to share those stories.

Speaker 1: 8:05

That's another episode of the Story Lab and I hope that you enjoyed that episode. And I hope that you share your story of failure, your story of a lesson learned, because it doesn't matter that you fell, it matters that you got back up and kept going. So make sure that you keep getting back up and you keep going, because that is what matters. If you enjoyed this episode, please do me a favor and go over to your favorite podcast platform and give us a rating or write us a review. Those always help and I love to see what I can do to make this podcast better for you.

Speaker 1: 8:40

I need an ending to this podcast and I want your feedback. I need something that wraps it up and encourages you to come and listen next time. So tell me how I should end my episodes. Going forward, I'd love to hear what you have to say and I will see you on the next episode of the Story Lab. Remember, make your story one they remember the truth that ignites the reason they stay. This is your time. You're brighter than ever. You've got something to say.