My (Costly) Mistakes That Became Powerful Life Lessons @divineyoganista

by Caroline Frenette | Featured Contributor

So, we should probably talk about the fact that as an entrepreneur you’re bound to make mistakes.

(There.  I’ve said it.)

Heck, you’ve probably made your fair share already, but let me go first…

As an ambitious, passionate, and driven entrepreneur, I’ve made some pretty awesome mistakes, especially in my early years in business.

While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with ambition and passion, for me, that drive was often intertwined with a strong sense of urgency.  I was convinced that “if I don’t do it RIGHT NOW I’ll miss the opportunity… “ or “if I don’t jump in I’m gonna miss my chance…”

As a young entrepreneur, I was also a little impulsive.

(Blend a pinch of urgency with a full cup of impulsivity and you have a recipe for disaster.)

Wanting to go a hundred miles an hour to get things done (already) may be thrilling, but it has one ginormous disadvantage: it means you’re gonna miss the red flags along the way.

And miss a few red flags, I did…

The expensive lease I felt pressured to sign right away (with the obnoxious landlord)?  Big RED waving FLAGS.  It’s not that I didn’t get the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. It’s that I  wanted to open my retail store THAT season.  I didn’t want to wait. (Can you smell the urgency?  The impulsiveness?) So I signed on the dotted line and ignored my intuition (and better judgement). Turns out, if I had paid attention to the red flags, I would be about $50,000 richer right now.

And that employee that seemed too good to be true? I was in a hurry to get a new manager for the store and I (again) ignored the signs. Turns out my intuition was right, there was something a little off about her.  (Call the cops folks, we have a thief in the house!)

Mistakes happen. Lesson learned.  

How can you avoid making the same mistakes?  Maybe you’ll learn from mine but most likely you’ll make your own mistakes, and that’s fine.  Hopefully, you’ll learn your lessons fast and move on.

My biggest lessons?  Don’t make decisions from a sense of urgency.  Because urgency, my friends, scrambles the signals of inner guidance. It makes you act when really, you should just stay put a little longer.

Pay attention to red flags.  They are called ‘red flags’ for a reason.

Slow down.  Launch a business or a project in an excited hurry and you may end up paying the price later on.

My new mantra?  Is “slow and steady wins the race”.

Because I’ve learned that when I take my time, I spot the red flags a mile away which enables me to stop, reassess and re-direct.

When I take my time, I hear the voice of inner guidance loud and clear.  I actually listen to her messages and THEN, act on her wisdom.

So what does that look like in my business and in my life?

Simple.

The sense of urgency has been replaced by well being and the stress is pretty much all gone.  I make better decisions which impact my life and business in a surprising (and  sometimes even miraculous) way.

My costly mistakes became powerful life lessons.  And I couldn’t be more grateful that I got to learn them early on in my business.

Now your turn: have you ever made mistakes in your business that became powerful lessons?  Feel free to share your lessons in the comments; they will serve other entrepreneurs like you!

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Caroline Frenette is a certified Master Intuitive Coach®, an Intuitive Leadership + Business Coach & the founder of The Intuitive Leadership Academy.  She teaches women entrepreneurs around the world how to create thriving businesses and extraordinary lives by tapping into the wisdom of their own inner CEO’s.

Caroline’s expertise has been featured in popular magazines such as Nitika Chopra’s YourBellaLife.com, Om Times, My Yoga Online, Elephant Journal, The Yoga Blog, Gabrielle Bernstein’s HerFuture.com, Spiritual Wisdom Magazine and Dr. Lissa Rankin’s Owning Pink.

She also hosts a free monthly tele-jam series where she shares fun tips & ingenious tools to create a profitable business AND a freedom-based lifestyle.

To get in touch with Caroline, or to learn more about her work, please visit carolinefrenette.com. You can also find her on Facebook , Twitter and Youtube.

Caroline Frenette