Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff: How to Learn from Missed Opportunities as a Small Business Owner

young man yelling in frustration while holding a computer

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff: How to Learn from Missed Opportunities as a Small Business Owner

Starting and running your own business requires you to take a good deal of risks and from time to time a leap of faith. Entrepreneurs and business owners have to make quick decisions on what opportunities to chase after and which one’s they let pass on by. When we swing and miss (or don’t swing at all) it can be difficult to shake that feeling of regret and how to deal with those feelings and keep moving forward. Dwelling and obsessing on those misses is counterproductive and affect your ability to make decisions.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when dwelling on missed opportunities: 

  1. Accept it and Learn from it: Holding onto regret won’t take the sting away. One method is to acknowledge, feel it, reflect about why it happened, and make sure to be ready to not repeat the same mistake again.

  2. Get back on the horse: Another way forward is to get back out there and seek out more opportunities. While the one you missed would have been great, there are other ones out there. More positive opportunities are floating around and focus on not letting the next one pass you by.

  3. Prepare, prepare, prepare: When the next opportunity comes along, you’d be best served to be ready with questions and criteria so you know what you are looking for and how to assess it.

  4. Keep the positives in mind: Seeing the positives even in a missed opportunity can greatly impact your mindset and lookout going forward. Keeping your head up and maintaining positive energy will push you into a better place and bring your business and new opportunities along with you.

No one wants to deal with the what if’s and what could have been’s but when they occur keep these things in mind and maybe they will help you out. As you are working and growing your business in Iowa, lean on us at IASourcelink to help connect you with experts that can assist you in making decisions on opportunities. Reach out to us here – we look forward to hearing from you.

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