Dec. 19, 2025

William Holsten: How to ‘Uh-Oh Proof’ Your Business

William Holsten: How to ‘Uh-Oh Proof’ Your Business
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When you’re building a business, the most expensive problems are often the ones you never saw coming. In this episode, Business Mistake Prevention Specialist William Holsten shares how a carnival game side hustle turned into a patented product, a $2M revenue run… and a painful $2.3M lesson. From broken dunk-tank alternatives to distraction, fatigue, and burnout, William shows entrepreneurs how to spot their personal risk patterns—and “uh-oh proof” their business before costly mistakes derail success.

In this conversation, William Holsten walks through his 38-year career in corporate marketing and innovation—and the family side business that taught him the high cost of preventable mistakes. He shares the story of inventing Pitch Burst, a “drought-proof dunk tank” that took off quickly but nearly destroyed the business when early versions weren’t built for heavy rental use.

William explains how those “uh-oh moments” led to a redesigned product, multiple patented games, and ultimately a $2M business that still lives on today—even though the journey ended in a net loss and a lot of hard-earned wisdom.

Now retired from corporate life, William mentors entrepreneurs through SCORE, wrote the book “Uh-Oh! How to Avoid Unintentional Blunders that Derail Entrepreneurial Success,” and created mistakeriskquiz.com. This free tool helps founders assess their personal risk of mistakes across six areas, including stress, fatigue, assumptions, and distractions. He explains why behavior—not age, gender, or background—drives mistake risk, and how simple habits and tools can dramatically reduce the likelihood of costly, painful missteps.

  1. “Uh-oh moments” are inevitable—but preventable losses aren’t.
  2. Your behavior is a bigger risk factor than your demographics.
  3. Prototype thinking isn’t enough—you must design for real-world use.
  4. Distraction and fatigue quietly fuel most everyday business errors.
  5. Learning from others’ mistakes is a power move.

Connect with William: https://williamholsten.com/

WEBVTT

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All right, we'll see when it goes live. Oh, you

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know what? Shoot, I need to change the banner.

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Oh, your name looks good. We're live. We're live.

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We did it. William has the patience of what?

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Patience of me? Yeah, I'm a patient patient.

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Amazing. So thank you so much for waiting. So

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OK, so with William, we know three things because

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that's literally I don't know who he is. I know

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he's brave. He's got a nice head of hair. And

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he's brilliant. So welcome, William, to Adrian

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Barker Speaks. No prep needed. I have no idea

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who you are, but I love this business mistake

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prevention specialist. So take it away. Tell

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everyone who you are. Well, thanks a lot. I'm

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glad to be here, Adrian. Thank you for having

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me on this post -holiday day. Yeah, let me tell

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you why I call myself business mistake prevention

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specialist. I worked for 38 years for a big multinational

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corporate company in marketing and innovation.

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And I'm now retired. I retired two years ago.

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When I was working with them full -time, my wife

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and my family and I launched a side gig where

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we ran things on nights and weekends and vacations.

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We invented and marketed unique carnival and

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party games. And in doing so, I just saw you

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go away, Adrian. Are you still there? Well, this

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is a live thing, so these things happen. Are

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you still here? Adrian, I don't see you. I can

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continue the story, but I don't know if you're

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watching. Adrian? Uh -oh. It's funny I said that.

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I'll explain it in a little while when we get

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back on. I'm going to call you on your cell,

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Adrienne, because, oh, now you're back. Now I

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can't hear you. Well, I'm sorry about that. I'm

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here. Sorry. Everyone's sorry. OK, a little misthing.

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But I want to put the focus on you. You're way

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more handsome than I am. OK, so we're getting

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good. Yes, as long as I know you're there. I

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began by saying, while I was working for my corporate

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life, in the final 10, 15 years of that, we ran

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a side gig where we invented unique carnival

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and party games. And in doing so, we made tons

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of mistakes. And after I retired, I wrote a book

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about it, which I can show you later. But in

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that environment, we called our company Whirlwinds

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LLC, and we invented a game that was an alternative

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to the dunk tank. We were invited by my sister's

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family one summer when it was really hot. to

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help her daughter with a Make -A -Wish Foundation

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carnival. And we went out and rented from a rental

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company a dunk tank for that day. Well, two weeks

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before the event, the rental company called and

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said, sorry, we can't rent you that. That requires

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500 gallons of water. And as you know, there's

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a drought and we're not allowed to rent something

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that requires that much water. Do you want to

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toss across or something else? We said, no, no,

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thanks. We'll figure something out. So over our

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kitchen table, we sat down with a back of a napkin

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and sketched out, how do we get, how might we

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create that experience of getting dunked when

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you hit a target without all that dunking, without

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all that water? What we came up with is a game

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that ultimately was called a game called Pitch

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Burst. And it's one where we used a Home Depot

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plywood sheet, a bar going across from it that

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held a In the basketball room, we put a filled

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water balloon and we set up a toggle so that

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when somebody hit the end of the toggle, the

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other end went into and popped the water balloon

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and the water fell down on the person in a chair

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below it. So it was called the drought proof

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dunk tank at the time. And we had a magnificent

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day where kids lined up around the block. to

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pay a dollar to get three throws, to get their

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mom wet, to get somebody wet. And it was fantastic.

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We went home tired and sweaty, but happy that

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we had done something good for the charity. The

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next day, my phone started to ring. People were

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asking, hey, that was cool. Where can I buy that?

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Where can I rent a game like that? I'm thinking

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about having a party too. Well, my business development

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wheels in my head from my day job when it's a

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to high gear when we realized, hey, there might

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be a business here. Let's go and investigate.

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So the next step we did was look more deeply

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into patent situations. We realized this had

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never been done before. We hired a lawyer to

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help us file a provisional patent so we could

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move forward. When that was issued, we then went

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to the small bank and got an SBA loan for almost

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$100 ,000. to allow us to make 100 of these things,

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put them in the warehouse. And then, also, we

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used money to begin to create and then put ads

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in rental business magazines so it can begin

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to spread the word. That was where my marketing

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background kicked in. These are the days before

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you could go post it in social media and gain

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attraction like that. We were doing four -color

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magazine ads to get the story out. Well, I'll

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move forward just a little bit. We succeeded.

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We had the hundred units made and began selling

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in the trade show season, the American Rental

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Association, things like that over the winter

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and sold about 60 of those first hundred units

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in the first month or two. We were thrilled by

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this. And then the warm weather came and they

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began renting them out to their customers and

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they began being used and Then one day the phone

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rang and somebody said, you know, the wooden

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piece broke. And then the next day, another phone

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call, the nice logo panel peeled off. And then

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there were dozens and dozens of calls within

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about a month. We realized, uh -oh. Uh -oh is

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a big word for me. We had made a very big mistake

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by the materials we chose to make this. We used

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the same wood and setup that we used in our carnival.

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But we didn't take into account, even though

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we visited rental companies in our research,

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we didn't take into account that commercially

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rented items are used quite heavily and treated

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quite roughly and they break. So we realized

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that what we had made 100 of and paid a lot to

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advertise was not commercially viable because

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it wouldn't last the season. We did what we needed

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to. If I sold you something, I'm going to...

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make good. So we sent a lot, a lot of spare parts,

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make goods, replacements, and where we had to,

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we also made a lot of refunds, which put us in

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a disastrous position since we borrowed the money

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to make those units and advertise them. We had

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no money left and we had no way to repay that

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loan. So that was a very big, I call it an uh

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-oh moment. The moment is when we realized how

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bad things were, and we were in trouble. The

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good news is we did look into it, asked the customers

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who had used the game, did you like the concept?

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And would you be interested if we made a more

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durable version? And to a person, they said,

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yes, of course. The people loved playing it until

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it broke. So we borrowed more money from our

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credit cards and from the bank and hired a designer,

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an engineer who recreated the game out of steel.

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a steel frame with aluminum and plastic panels

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was the ultimate version of this game. This was

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in 1999. That game, the new one, is still being

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marketed today. By the way, that's the patent

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drawing of the original one behind me, if you're

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watching this on video. So I will never forget

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it. But that set me down the path of there's

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lots of mistakes happening all the time with

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entrepreneurs. We, in that business, later launched

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five different games and each one had some in

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-process learning. One was a bicycle pump game

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that looked like a dynamite detonator to blow

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up balloons. It was a balloon popping race and

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the mistake we made there was we used normal

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cheap bike pumps in something that was being

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used for hours in aggressive racing and the heat

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inside the pump builds up and the pumps clog

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because things flaked and broke. That got fixed

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when we chose better pumps and learned the dynamics.

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So we have to oil those little O -rings more.

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So those mistakes continued to pile on, actually

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cost us money on make goods. And we wound up

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eight years later, we had five games on the market.

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We wound up selling off the patents and trademarks

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to another company. And they're still selling

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most of those games that we invented. And during

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the time we sold them, we sold about $2 million

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worth, which is substantial. Wow. But when I

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did the look back accounting, we had spent $2

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.3 million doing it. So there was a big loss

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to swallow. Move ahead a little bit. I was in

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my marketing job and I switched in my day job

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company to an innovation role where I was the

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creative designer of workshops to help this consumer

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health company come up with new products and

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to solve marketing problems. So what year are

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we now? The game was in 1999 -2000 and we sold

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it till about 2010 -2012. From 2010 till three

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or four years ago when I retired, I was doing

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these workshops and I was using creative problem

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-solving techniques, design thinking techniques,

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to lead these professionals in ideation. When

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I retired, I got to put both of these pieces

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together, first talking about these uh -oh moments,

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my own and some famous people's, with some of

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the tools that can be used to help prevent mistake

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making with entrepreneurs. It became a project

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that I became obsessed with, and I wrote a book.

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The book, I'll hold it up. It's called Uh -Oh!

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how to avoid unintentional blunders that derail

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entrepreneurial success to goof -proof your business.

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This is where I first began thinking of myself

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as a business mistake prevention specialist.

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But that wasn't enough. The book came out last,

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this year in February, and it's doing well. It's

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on Amazon. You can find it all. I'll give you

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my website later. But in calling myself a business

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prevention, a business mistake prevention specialist,

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I was realizing I've really only given you a

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handful of tools and given you my experience.

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I was hungry to really help people find out their

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own risk of making mistakes and then do something

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about it. Besides reading a book, I created,

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and this came out in the fall recently, an online

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quiz that your audience and any entrepreneur

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can use to... answer 12 simple questions about

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their behaviors around risk and get a reading

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on what level of mistake making risk do you and

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your business have? Is it low, is it medium,

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or is it high? And it's out there and people

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have begun to use it, but I wasn't satisfied

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with that. I wanted to have quantitative numbers.

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of what the universe of entrepreneurs is like.

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So in October, November, we just got the field

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work in. We did an online survey of over 300

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entrepreneurs across America and asked them the

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same questions that are in that quiz. And we

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found that there are four really big factors

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that if they're true with you, they put you in

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a medium to high risk. Ask me, ask me. Well,

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I'll let you take the quiz. I'll give you the

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link in a few minutes. Those four are, and they

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happen in combination, stress, fatigue, faulty

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assumptions, and the number one one is distractions.

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If those are present in your day -to -day work,

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you're more likely to make mistakes. We had a

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lot of other learnings that I'll be putting out

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the report in January, but they include what

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mistakes most entrepreneurs are most afraid of.

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They include hurting customer harm, operational

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errors, financial mistakes, marketing missteps,

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people issues like hiring the wrong people, or

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a more important procrastination or even burnout.

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That's true with many people. who are entrepreneurs.

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We spoke to, of the 300 people, more than half

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were solopreneurs. Another big group were groups

00:13:46.179 --> 00:13:49.940
of people from company size one to four. And

00:13:49.940 --> 00:13:52.559
the balance were up to about 10 people. So it's

00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:58.279
small business focused. So if you're interested,

00:13:58.860 --> 00:14:01.559
listeners, or you, Adrian, in finding at your

00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:06.009
own risk, I invite you to go to Mistake. risk

00:14:06.009 --> 00:14:10.269
quiz all three words together mistake risk quiz

00:14:10.269 --> 00:14:14.210
dot -com and You'll be asked to answer 12 questions

00:14:14.210 --> 00:14:16.549
and right away on screen. You'll get your result

00:14:16.549 --> 00:14:20.070
and then you'll get an email With with no promotion

00:14:20.070 --> 00:14:23.330
behind it with an email with three or four suggestions

00:14:23.330 --> 00:14:28.649
for what you should do because of your It's called

00:14:28.649 --> 00:14:34.019
mistake risk quiz Spelled the regular mistake

00:14:34.019 --> 00:14:39.539
risk quiz way dot -com So that's what I've been

00:14:39.539 --> 00:14:43.059
up to as I'm beginning to write the final report

00:14:43.059 --> 00:14:46.539
I'm learning even more things about the frequency

00:14:46.539 --> 00:14:51.139
and impact of Mistakes that entrepreneurs across

00:14:51.139 --> 00:14:54.179
the country are making it looks like and I'm

00:14:54.179 --> 00:14:57.500
still finalizing the analysis It looks like it

00:14:57.500 --> 00:15:00.320
doesn't matter what your age your gender your

00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:03.139
ethnicity I didn't collect regions, so I can't

00:15:03.139 --> 00:15:05.379
talk about regionality, that those things don't

00:15:05.379 --> 00:15:08.419
matter. It's all about personal behaviors with

00:15:08.419 --> 00:15:11.259
respect to six specific categories. I mentioned

00:15:11.259 --> 00:15:14.779
the four that rose to the top. It's an interesting

00:15:14.779 --> 00:15:18.159
time. I'm looking forward to finishing the analysis

00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:21.340
and learning. And people can start. You could

00:15:21.340 --> 00:15:24.860
use that quiz right now. Oh, yeah, that's what

00:15:24.860 --> 00:15:28.919
I'm going to do right now. So hold, please. OK,

00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:33.580
go. Share screen Can't do it. I gotta have everyone

00:15:33.580 --> 00:15:38.059
watching. There we go. Okay now we're here Okay,

00:15:38.059 --> 00:15:42.700
beautiful, okay ready, okay, so it's like down

00:15:42.700 --> 00:15:46.960
and it says start the quiz Take the quiz. There

00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:49.039
you go. Well, this is exciting you do it. This

00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:51.259
is the first time anybody's done this live with

00:15:51.259 --> 00:15:55.299
me I'm a lot about the first timers because I

00:15:55.299 --> 00:15:58.549
take the risk But I also think ahead, I tend

00:15:58.549 --> 00:16:00.429
to, we just had a two -day event called Swat

00:16:00.429 --> 00:16:03.570
in Order. I tend to swap things out. So honestly,

00:16:03.750 --> 00:16:05.529
I think that I may have been sitting around your

00:16:05.529 --> 00:16:07.809
table, I probably would have said, wait, this

00:16:07.809 --> 00:16:10.909
is for commercial use. Okay, 12 quick questions

00:16:10.909 --> 00:16:14.169
to spot. Okay, let's do this. Oh, I added my

00:16:14.169 --> 00:16:16.629
email, which is no worries. Yeah, I'm still seeing

00:16:16.629 --> 00:16:20.269
the website screen. I'm not seeing the quiz itself.

00:16:20.669 --> 00:16:21.870
Right, I'm not seeing your email. Yep, I'm starting

00:16:21.870 --> 00:16:24.700
it right now. Okay. When I'm under stress, I

00:16:24.700 --> 00:16:28.200
rush decisions without fully checking details.

00:16:28.360 --> 00:16:30.960
When I'm under stress, I rush and say, ooh, I

00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:35.480
sometimes could do that. Yeah, sometimes. I hate

00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:37.139
when I do it. I miss early signs that a customer

00:16:37.139 --> 00:16:41.519
is unhappy. Very rarely. You could tell. You

00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:46.360
could tell. I really do believe that. And the

00:16:46.360 --> 00:16:51.370
slower replies are interesting. Oh, that. That

00:16:51.370 --> 00:16:54.250
must be a sign that a customer is unhappy. They

00:16:54.250 --> 00:16:58.029
start to be slow in their requests. Yeah, if

00:16:58.029 --> 00:16:59.570
you're used to getting an order every week and

00:16:59.570 --> 00:17:03.590
then suddenly they stop or there's lots of explanations

00:17:03.590 --> 00:17:06.869
for that. Yeah, so if you missed the customer

00:17:06.869 --> 00:17:10.490
signals, no, that's your fault. But if you're

00:17:10.490 --> 00:17:12.990
not getting the frequency of feedback or calls

00:17:12.990 --> 00:17:15.349
or anything, they could have gone on to somebody

00:17:15.349 --> 00:17:19.920
else. Interesting. Okay, when I'm tired, I skip

00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:23.539
or forget steps that cause rework or small errors.

00:17:25.059 --> 00:17:28.460
When I'm tired, I skip or forget steps that cause

00:17:28.460 --> 00:17:33.839
rework. Oh, definitely not often. Rarely. I can't

00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:37.279
say never. And I've been in business for many

00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:39.660
years, but even currently. When I'm making business

00:17:39.660 --> 00:17:42.099
decisions under pressure, I rely on assumptions

00:17:42.099 --> 00:17:44.440
instead of checking in the facts. Yeah, that's

00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:48.769
never. Even under pressure, I'm going to want

00:17:48.769 --> 00:17:51.509
the facts. I don't believe in assumptions. When

00:17:51.509 --> 00:17:55.930
I have too much to do, I focus on easy or minor

00:17:55.930 --> 00:17:58.670
attacks instead of the priorities that matter

00:17:58.670 --> 00:18:00.569
most. When I have too much to do, I focus on

00:18:00.569 --> 00:18:04.829
easy. Well, David Metzler said, if you love what

00:18:04.829 --> 00:18:07.210
you do, then learn to love the things you don't

00:18:07.210 --> 00:18:12.009
love to do. So I've been really trying to just

00:18:12.009 --> 00:18:15.420
get the hard ones done. so I can then have fun

00:18:15.420 --> 00:18:18.839
on the easy ones, so rarely, because I'm sure

00:18:18.839 --> 00:18:21.539
I have once in a blue moon. All right, on to

00:18:21.539 --> 00:18:23.579
question six, everyone. When I'm responsible

00:18:23.579 --> 00:18:27.180
for a task, I don't fully understand, like contracts,

00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:30.200
taxes, or compliance. That's crazy. Those are

00:18:30.200 --> 00:18:32.819
exactly what I don't understand. I proceed without

00:18:32.819 --> 00:18:36.700
first learning or getting expert help. Yeah,

00:18:37.180 --> 00:18:42.769
often. Yeah. I'm going to actually say always,

00:18:42.990 --> 00:18:44.670
because I wouldn't even be able to do the task.

00:18:45.609 --> 00:18:47.769
And thank you to ChatGPT. That makes everything

00:18:47.769 --> 00:18:49.690
so much easier. When it explains to me like I'm

00:18:49.690 --> 00:18:52.309
a 12 -year -old, then I can move forward, right?

00:18:52.950 --> 00:18:58.630
OK, seven. When I'm stressed, I put off important

00:18:58.630 --> 00:19:02.869
conversations or decisions, even when delay makes

00:19:02.869 --> 00:19:05.650
things worse. When I'm stressed, I put off important

00:19:05.650 --> 00:19:09.109
conversations or decisions even now. I'm going

00:19:09.109 --> 00:19:12.769
to say rarely on that, too. Okay, eight. I move

00:19:12.769 --> 00:19:14.930
ahead, assuming customers or colleagues are on

00:19:14.930 --> 00:19:18.150
the same page, only to find out later they weren't.

00:19:18.309 --> 00:19:20.130
I never really had that happen where I thought

00:19:20.130 --> 00:19:22.369
that they were like, I was starting to proceed

00:19:22.369 --> 00:19:24.990
with a reorder or request or something that they

00:19:24.990 --> 00:19:27.410
wanted, but then found out that they didn't.

00:19:27.690 --> 00:19:32.589
No, no, no. How did you answer that one, William?

00:19:33.009 --> 00:19:38.299
I'm a sometimes person. I mean, that would mean

00:19:38.299 --> 00:19:39.880
that I would have had to have a conversation

00:19:39.880 --> 00:19:42.779
with someone and let's say even the last 10 years

00:19:42.779 --> 00:19:45.200
that, oh, I thought you wanted me to do that

00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:47.960
for you kind of thing, right? I found it in corporate

00:19:47.960 --> 00:19:50.960
life that was part of just being there because

00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:53.319
you were working with large teams and you can't

00:19:53.319 --> 00:19:55.720
always ensure everybody understands and aligns

00:19:55.720 --> 00:19:59.480
with what you want to do. Oh, like, okay, so

00:19:59.480 --> 00:20:04.039
boards, committees, businesses. Okay, I'm going

00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:08.339
really on that. When I'm tired, I delay important

00:20:08.339 --> 00:20:11.900
tasks or make careless mistakes. Yeah, sometimes

00:20:11.900 --> 00:20:15.599
I do. I don't delay, but sometimes I can make

00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:19.880
a stupid mistake. Okay, number 10. When I'm multitasking

00:20:19.880 --> 00:20:25.299
or not fully focused, I miss key details. Yeah,

00:20:25.980 --> 00:20:28.519
definitely, okay. I put sometimes in case you

00:20:28.519 --> 00:20:31.619
were interested. Distractions from email, phone,

00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:36.069
or social media. Pull me away from focused work.

00:20:37.849 --> 00:20:41.069
Okay, I'm gonna say it. Email, phone, or social,

00:20:41.069 --> 00:20:42.930
pull me away. Well, sometimes social media is

00:20:42.930 --> 00:20:45.450
my work, so I'm not gonna get that, but the phone,

00:20:46.349 --> 00:20:48.269
because I try to answer the phone so I don't

00:20:48.269 --> 00:20:52.069
have to call that person back. So, sometimes.

00:20:53.450 --> 00:20:56.759
Okay, often. And when I face a business challenge

00:20:56.759 --> 00:20:59.559
for the first time, I guess or wing it instead

00:20:59.559 --> 00:21:02.880
of following a process, research, advice, small

00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:07.319
tests. No, I don't wing, I don't wing, because

00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:09.359
I think that's the most important part of a business

00:21:09.359 --> 00:21:12.660
challenge is how you handle that challenge. Especially

00:21:12.660 --> 00:21:15.400
when it's a part of your business, right? Oh

00:21:15.400 --> 00:21:17.039
yeah, and I grew up in the logo merchandise,

00:21:17.319 --> 00:21:19.900
promotional products business, and mistakes are

00:21:19.900 --> 00:21:23.089
often, and I noticed that clients were they were

00:21:23.089 --> 00:21:25.069
understandable if you admitted you made your

00:21:25.069 --> 00:21:28.130
mistake and you had solutions on how to fix it

00:21:28.130 --> 00:21:31.930
but for those that you know like um on the other

00:21:31.930 --> 00:21:33.950
hand we were distributors so as the suppliers

00:21:33.950 --> 00:21:37.349
would like give you all these excuses so actually

00:21:37.349 --> 00:21:40.990
William about 10 years ago i had um my new year's

00:21:40.990 --> 00:21:44.349
eve resolution was no more excuses so i refuse

00:21:44.349 --> 00:21:46.369
to do it okay i'm submitting it to look at our

00:21:46.369 --> 00:21:48.980
results Okay, I'm still seeing the first screen.

00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:51.059
I'm not seeing what you're seeing. Oh, glad you

00:21:51.059 --> 00:21:57.099
told me. There we go. So now I'm medium. So based

00:21:57.099 --> 00:22:01.059
on my answer, my risk is medium. And that means

00:22:01.059 --> 00:22:04.079
each answer score rate. Oh, I love this distraction.

00:22:04.460 --> 00:22:09.400
I have a six out of 10 fatigue, five, 10. Okay,

00:22:09.400 --> 00:22:12.019
what does this all mean? You're in the medium

00:22:12.019 --> 00:22:16.559
range. And among the six categories of Mistake

00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:19.480
risk, if you scroll up a little bit, looks like

00:22:19.480 --> 00:22:21.259
the ones you get six on are a little bit higher

00:22:21.259 --> 00:22:24.200
than the ones you got five on. Six is medium

00:22:24.200 --> 00:22:28.940
level. Five is between low and medium. In your

00:22:28.940 --> 00:22:32.740
email now, you should receive an email right

00:22:32.740 --> 00:22:35.619
away that says what you might do about those.

00:22:35.740 --> 00:22:38.180
And it's got a PDF on each of those categories.

00:22:38.759 --> 00:22:41.180
So let's say distraction was a big one for you.

00:22:41.460 --> 00:22:44.400
You can click on the distraction PDF. And it

00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:48.619
will give you some tips for reducing your distraction

00:22:48.619 --> 00:22:54.039
risk. Oh, I like this. There you go. Oh, then

00:22:54.039 --> 00:22:56.940
it gives me steps. You have steps right here.

00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:00.759
Yeah. Now, it has all the steps because I couldn't

00:23:00.759 --> 00:23:03.380
find a way to customize it exactly to you. But

00:23:03.380 --> 00:23:06.359
you read your score and you were six out of 10

00:23:06.359 --> 00:23:08.819
on distractions. You can click on distraction

00:23:08.819 --> 00:23:11.720
one pager and it'll give you here's some tips

00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:14.339
on how to reduce Your distraction. Some of them

00:23:14.339 --> 00:23:19.579
are just common sense. Yeah, but sometimes we

00:23:19.579 --> 00:23:22.299
almost need like common sense. I get, but sometimes

00:23:22.299 --> 00:23:24.980
I feel like we need to also, you know, refresh

00:23:24.980 --> 00:23:28.160
ourselves on common sense too. This is beautiful.

00:23:28.220 --> 00:23:30.319
And then I'm sharing the tab right now. So if

00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:33.460
people can see it and how beautiful. So these

00:23:33.460 --> 00:23:36.839
are group, the first group, the ones that say

00:23:36.839 --> 00:23:39.900
moves you can do right away. Like you do a sprint,

00:23:39.960 --> 00:23:42.430
you do some. end of the day, shut down before

00:23:42.430 --> 00:23:44.529
you close down, think about this and think about

00:23:44.529 --> 00:23:47.730
that. And the other ones, the bottom three are

00:23:47.730 --> 00:23:50.230
things you might do longer term. I like to talk

00:23:50.230 --> 00:23:52.630
about a pre -mortem. If it's a new product, a

00:23:52.630 --> 00:23:55.589
new project or something, the pre -mortem is

00:23:55.589 --> 00:23:58.490
all about the opposite of a post -mortem. Why

00:23:58.490 --> 00:24:02.410
did something die? You think today, my business

00:24:02.410 --> 00:24:05.670
three years from now died. It was horrible. And

00:24:05.670 --> 00:24:08.779
you imagine with you or your team, What are the

00:24:08.779 --> 00:24:11.940
things that did kill it? Because you're imagining

00:24:11.940 --> 00:24:14.839
it's in the past. And you make up a list of a

00:24:14.839 --> 00:24:17.759
whole bunch of things which went wrong in your

00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:20.920
imagination. Then you stop and you prioritize

00:24:20.920 --> 00:24:25.299
them. And you say, well, the top two or three,

00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:28.440
how might we keep those from happening as we

00:24:28.440 --> 00:24:30.880
finalize this business before it's launched?

00:24:31.480 --> 00:24:34.660
So those steps are very adaptable to your detainee

00:24:34.660 --> 00:24:37.279
by the situation. But it's a great way of doing

00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:42.579
it. This is beautiful. This is beautiful. I absolutely

00:24:42.579 --> 00:24:45.700
love this. Wait, let's go to fatigue guys. I'm

00:24:45.700 --> 00:24:49.759
gonna put the tab. We're live on YouTube too,

00:24:49.799 --> 00:24:52.259
so people can see this. This is a beautiful,

00:24:52.259 --> 00:24:56.099
beautiful gift. So here, fatigue, low energy

00:24:56.099 --> 00:25:00.240
leading to careless errors. I love this. It's

00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:02.640
got a little example of a story and then the

00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:06.200
steps that you take, energy mapping. This is...

00:25:06.279 --> 00:25:10.200
Killer. Really good. Oh, you did a great job.

00:25:10.299 --> 00:25:13.859
You have done something very special here. Wow.

00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:16.440
A lot of links. I hope people do take the time

00:25:16.440 --> 00:25:18.880
to do all the links, though. But I love it. And

00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:21.500
then when you have a few minutes. Yeah, Adrian,

00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:25.619
all you need if you do the test and you find

00:25:25.619 --> 00:25:28.299
out even if you're in low risk, there are some

00:25:28.299 --> 00:25:30.779
things you do to stay in low risk. But if you're

00:25:30.779 --> 00:25:32.960
medium or high, if you're somebody who's making

00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:37.480
lots of mistakes, they do. They give you all

00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:40.559
six of those tip sheets. You only need to open

00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:42.779
the one that's relevant to your highest score.

00:25:42.900 --> 00:25:45.500
Try that this week and then if you're still hungry

00:25:45.500 --> 00:25:50.559
for more, go back to the other ones. Oh, I really

00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:53.819
like this quiz. I like the oops. Sorry, just

00:25:53.819 --> 00:25:56.900
OK. I like this. You did a great job. This is

00:25:56.900 --> 00:26:01.380
fantastic. OK, really, really good because I

00:26:01.380 --> 00:26:06.609
care and I do want to. be the specialist intending

00:26:06.609 --> 00:26:09.470
to help people. Because I'm a mentor on the side,

00:26:09.470 --> 00:26:13.009
I'm doing other things. I do love helping small

00:26:13.009 --> 00:26:17.630
businesses succeed. And I know that a lot of

00:26:17.630 --> 00:26:19.769
small businesses, when I talk about this topic,

00:26:20.289 --> 00:26:21.910
they say, I'm not thinking about mistakes. But

00:26:21.910 --> 00:26:24.210
if you think about, don't worry about the mistakes,

00:26:24.269 --> 00:26:26.509
think about your behaviors, because it helps

00:26:26.509 --> 00:26:29.170
ensure your success. If you don't have to stop

00:26:29.170 --> 00:26:31.890
and redo, if you don't buy the wrong thing by

00:26:31.890 --> 00:26:34.609
mistake. Hopefully these things are small, like

00:26:34.609 --> 00:26:37.009
a typo, you can fix it. But sometimes they're

00:26:37.009 --> 00:26:42.210
disastrous. In my book, I write about some very

00:26:42.210 --> 00:26:45.450
famous uh -oh moments where very famous people

00:26:45.450 --> 00:26:48.849
made big mistakes. There's Steve Harvey when

00:26:48.849 --> 00:26:52.529
he was emceeing the Miss Universe contest, and

00:26:52.529 --> 00:26:54.789
he announced the wrong winner. And then the next

00:26:54.789 --> 00:26:57.690
year at the Academy Awards, They announced the

00:26:57.690 --> 00:27:00.529
wrong best picture, but they can be more serious

00:27:00.529 --> 00:27:04.009
than that. One example in the book is about a

00:27:04.009 --> 00:27:08.049
skydiver who years ago was asked by another couple,

00:27:08.150 --> 00:27:11.309
an instructor and another skydiver student to

00:27:11.309 --> 00:27:14.130
film them as they jumped out of a plane. So this

00:27:14.130 --> 00:27:16.910
guy, Ivan McGuire, he had been a skydiver for

00:27:16.910 --> 00:27:20.049
20 years, very good at what he does. So they're

00:27:20.049 --> 00:27:23.069
up in the, he got himself a camera because it

00:27:23.069 --> 00:27:25.349
was before GoPros and before your cell phone

00:27:25.349 --> 00:27:28.150
cameras, it was film. So he got a camera, strapped

00:27:28.150 --> 00:27:29.650
it to himself, they all went up to the plane,

00:27:30.049 --> 00:27:32.009
and at 10 ,000 feet they gave each other thumbs

00:27:32.009 --> 00:27:35.589
up. Ivan jumps out of the plane and points the

00:27:35.589 --> 00:27:37.990
camera upwards, and he gives them the thumbs

00:27:37.990 --> 00:27:40.130
up and they jump out and get the most beautiful

00:27:40.130 --> 00:27:43.529
shot on his film camera. Then they both pull

00:27:43.529 --> 00:27:45.809
their ripcords and their parachutes open, still

00:27:45.809 --> 00:27:48.710
a beautiful shot. Then Ivan reaches for his ripcord

00:27:48.710 --> 00:27:52.109
and it wasn't there. Literally he fell to his

00:27:52.109 --> 00:27:54.970
death. It's a horrible, tragic situation. It's

00:27:54.970 --> 00:27:58.500
in the book, though, Because there are miss there

00:27:58.500 --> 00:28:01.339
are learnings small business can take from anybody

00:28:01.339 --> 00:28:04.140
else's mistakes that one tragic Nobody should

00:28:04.140 --> 00:28:06.619
ever have that happen to him. It's even hard

00:28:06.619 --> 00:28:09.480
to talk about but you can think for your small

00:28:09.480 --> 00:28:14.619
business What one thing if I ever forgot it could

00:28:14.619 --> 00:28:18.519
be? Dangerous tragic or even worse for the business

00:28:18.519 --> 00:28:24.910
or for me personally. I think of a an urban retailer

00:28:24.910 --> 00:28:28.049
who leaves at night and forgets to lock up and

00:28:28.049 --> 00:28:30.750
everything gets stolen. Or somebody who's in

00:28:30.750 --> 00:28:32.690
charge of renewing the insurance every year,

00:28:32.910 --> 00:28:36.329
he forgot it and there's a disaster and a fire

00:28:36.329 --> 00:28:38.329
kills the business. Those are the type of things

00:28:38.329 --> 00:28:41.089
you can never forget. And anybody listening to

00:28:41.089 --> 00:28:43.390
this can think in their own business, what is

00:28:43.390 --> 00:28:46.109
that one thing? Well, remember the skydiver,

00:28:46.450 --> 00:28:49.410
you're glad you're not him. What is it for you?

00:28:49.430 --> 00:28:53.539
You can make your next day better. I call that,

00:28:54.500 --> 00:28:58.140
it was Warren Buffett who said, it's good to

00:28:58.140 --> 00:29:00.519
learn from mistakes, but it's better to learn

00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:04.480
from others' mistakes. In the book, I write about

00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:07.460
my own mistakes, the whole bunch of them, and

00:29:07.460 --> 00:29:10.539
about 20 of these famous ones I've been mentioning.

00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:14.119
And I call the art of learning from others, uh

00:29:14.119 --> 00:29:20.039
-oh -ology. There are two steps to it. Observe

00:29:20.039 --> 00:29:22.900
and understand what happened and understand why

00:29:22.900 --> 00:29:26.799
then it's think and apply How do I draw a lesson

00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:29.039
from that which is outside of my business that

00:29:29.039 --> 00:29:32.119
applies to me? The parachute is the very strong

00:29:32.119 --> 00:29:36.299
example Steve Harvey's with Miss Universe He

00:29:36.299 --> 00:29:40.380
might have done good by taking a pause or if

00:29:40.380 --> 00:29:44.759
he was not sure To pause the contest and just

00:29:44.759 --> 00:29:48.450
ask did I get this right much better than? Announcing

00:29:48.450 --> 00:29:51.089
it to there was a billion people watching. He

00:29:51.089 --> 00:29:53.190
was a man. He made us a man about it though He

00:29:53.190 --> 00:29:55.569
came out within five minutes. He says folks.

00:29:55.569 --> 00:29:58.109
It was my mistake. Here's what happened. This

00:29:58.109 --> 00:30:00.890
is the real winner I'm very sorry and that gave

00:30:00.890 --> 00:30:02.609
them two years of things to talk about on his

00:30:02.609 --> 00:30:07.990
talk show How they overcame? the content yeah

00:30:07.990 --> 00:30:12.329
became the content that's funny the the the phrase

00:30:12.329 --> 00:30:17.390
I like to remind listeners on podcasts is Fixing

00:30:17.390 --> 00:30:21.609
mistakes is expensive. Preventing them is priceless.

00:30:22.029 --> 00:30:24.549
Now, it's important to realize making mistakes

00:30:24.549 --> 00:30:26.430
is part of growing up. When you're learning to

00:30:26.430 --> 00:30:27.789
ride a bike, you're going to fall down over and

00:30:27.789 --> 00:30:30.170
over, keep trying, then you get better. These

00:30:30.170 --> 00:30:32.289
types of mistakes I'm talking about, these uh

00:30:32.289 --> 00:30:34.490
-ohs, are not those because there's no learning

00:30:34.490 --> 00:30:38.730
related to them. They're just hindrances to your

00:30:38.730 --> 00:30:44.349
daily success. That's why I'm a mistake. That's

00:30:44.349 --> 00:30:48.660
why I'm... Yeah, go ahead. No, no finish it up

00:30:48.660 --> 00:30:51.339
finish it up. That's why that's why I wrote the

00:30:51.339 --> 00:30:53.519
book and that's why I care and that's why I'm

00:30:53.519 --> 00:30:57.359
a mentor and that's why I'm Happy to share with

00:30:57.359 --> 00:31:00.420
your audience tips and ways to do this and I

00:31:00.420 --> 00:31:03.279
invite them to look at that website I'll repeat

00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:06.460
it again if you want and take the test themselves.

00:31:07.740 --> 00:31:11.279
Oh Mistake risk quiz comm yes, that's it'll be

00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:14.480
the show notes to Can you hear that phone in

00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:18.210
the background? I don't hear a phone Good. All

00:31:18.210 --> 00:31:23.750
right. So I want to ask you a question. OK. So

00:31:23.750 --> 00:31:25.589
as you're talking, I'm thinking, oh, this is

00:31:25.589 --> 00:31:27.950
so interesting because it's actually like looking

00:31:27.950 --> 00:31:30.869
at your business and looking at your weaknesses

00:31:30.869 --> 00:31:34.690
and your threats together and that combination.

00:31:34.869 --> 00:31:37.029
And I like that because a lot of times when you're

00:31:37.029 --> 00:31:39.349
swatting a business and you're adding the strength

00:31:39.349 --> 00:31:41.910
and weaknesses, you kind of can, you know. be

00:31:41.910 --> 00:31:44.109
all over the place, a strength could be a weakness,

00:31:44.230 --> 00:31:46.730
all of that, but here you're just focusing on

00:31:46.730 --> 00:31:49.890
what that weakness is. And as a score mentor

00:31:49.890 --> 00:31:52.369
for over eight years, I'm no longer, but I was

00:31:52.369 --> 00:31:56.470
chairwoman here in our town, first woman, I have

00:31:56.470 --> 00:31:59.609
to always say that. But anyways, my point is,

00:31:59.829 --> 00:32:03.329
is that people, I just want to make a little

00:32:03.329 --> 00:32:05.970
clearer for business owners and entrepreneurs

00:32:05.970 --> 00:32:09.230
that, that you're very hard for you to see your

00:32:09.230 --> 00:32:12.490
own risk and your own threats, even your own

00:32:12.490 --> 00:32:14.349
strengths and weaknesses and opportunities. That's

00:32:14.349 --> 00:32:16.670
why you need someone from the outside that can

00:32:16.670 --> 00:32:20.009
come in and see it in a different refresh, like

00:32:20.009 --> 00:32:22.609
a different face, right? Different eyes, different

00:32:22.609 --> 00:32:25.029
ears, so that you're like understanding it and

00:32:25.029 --> 00:32:26.710
you're gonna ask those questions. And a lot of

00:32:26.710 --> 00:32:28.549
times when people do this, like, let's gather

00:32:28.549 --> 00:32:30.569
around and do our risk assessment. Let's look

00:32:30.569 --> 00:32:33.089
at our threats. Let's look at our weaknesses.

00:32:33.549 --> 00:32:36.869
they're all like echo chambers just doing the

00:32:36.869 --> 00:32:39.329
same thing. Nobody's looking outside of it. So

00:32:39.329 --> 00:32:42.710
I loved your example. I was wondering about the,

00:32:42.910 --> 00:32:44.190
well, first of all, I have to tell you when you

00:32:44.190 --> 00:32:46.769
were talking about like the games and all of

00:32:46.769 --> 00:32:49.390
that and the dunk tank, I love that my dad, when

00:32:49.390 --> 00:32:51.630
he started his business years and years ago,

00:32:52.190 --> 00:32:56.710
he got, he did the game of, oh no, it was, it

00:32:56.710 --> 00:33:00.599
was where you have the horse racing. Yeah, but

00:33:00.599 --> 00:33:04.440
it was horse racing using like a cloth and like

00:33:04.440 --> 00:33:08.119
little figures and so we rolled the dice you

00:33:08.119 --> 00:33:09.859
roll the dice and you move ahead a couple spaces

00:33:09.859 --> 00:33:16.599
and it's a step -by -step race You're I don't

00:33:16.599 --> 00:33:28.900
hear you know, I still don't Know you hear me

00:33:29.069 --> 00:33:31.730
Oh, shoot. Oh, now you're back. Whatever it was.

00:33:31.809 --> 00:33:34.829
Yeah, I can hear you perfectly. OK. OK. I think,

00:33:34.829 --> 00:33:37.970
yeah, the plane flying over us. OK. So what were

00:33:37.970 --> 00:33:40.769
you saying? I was trying to guess the game that

00:33:40.769 --> 00:33:44.369
you said your dad had. I've seen a rental game

00:33:44.369 --> 00:33:50.829
where they have six hobby horses and they draw

00:33:50.829 --> 00:33:54.549
on the street some lanes that they move forward

00:33:54.549 --> 00:33:57.569
one step with each roll of the dice. So. So you

00:33:57.569 --> 00:33:59.950
roll two dice and horse number one moves three

00:33:59.950 --> 00:34:02.289
spaces, et cetera, until they get to the finish

00:34:02.289 --> 00:34:04.549
line. Is that what you have experience with?

00:34:04.569 --> 00:34:06.650
Yeah, yeah. My dad loved those. He had all the

00:34:06.650 --> 00:34:08.550
games and the bingo games and all the things

00:34:08.550 --> 00:34:11.250
that you could play. And I love that. And then

00:34:11.250 --> 00:34:13.389
I worked for Muscular Dystrophy Association for

00:34:13.389 --> 00:34:16.289
12 years. And Jerry Lewis's carnivals were huge.

00:34:16.530 --> 00:34:19.489
So watching kids, you know, I love the whole

00:34:19.489 --> 00:34:22.289
idea. I love that you, we actually had a woman

00:34:22.289 --> 00:34:25.070
who came to us who had the idea of doing like

00:34:25.070 --> 00:34:28.090
backyard games. And you know and setting everything

00:34:28.090 --> 00:34:29.769
up and then renting them so that people didn't

00:34:29.769 --> 00:34:32.150
have to buy it They would go and set it up, but

00:34:32.150 --> 00:34:36.590
when she found out what her risks were And there's

00:34:36.590 --> 00:34:38.849
liability insurance is quite expensive these

00:34:38.849 --> 00:34:42.349
days. Yes Yeah, so she said no, but that was

00:34:42.349 --> 00:34:44.889
part of it But that is actually the beauty of

00:34:44.889 --> 00:34:46.989
working with someone like you like, you know,

00:34:47.110 --> 00:34:49.349
don't say to yourself Oh, this is too risky or

00:34:49.349 --> 00:34:51.789
there's too many threats Talk to William because

00:34:51.789 --> 00:34:53.849
he could show you how to do it with and less

00:34:53.849 --> 00:34:57.909
than that. First of all But I don't think anything

00:34:57.909 --> 00:35:00.170
we do in life is really a waste of time. So everything

00:35:00.170 --> 00:35:03.789
that she ended up doing, she ended up starting

00:35:03.789 --> 00:35:06.590
a permanent jewelry business. Completely the

00:35:06.590 --> 00:35:08.369
opposite. And all of that was background because

00:35:08.369 --> 00:35:14.360
she learned, OK, not that. Yes. Yes. To me. I

00:35:14.360 --> 00:35:16.599
started my business almost by accident because

00:35:16.599 --> 00:35:18.800
we couldn't rent the dunk tank then. But then

00:35:18.800 --> 00:35:21.000
I got the passion for it and I got to meet a

00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:22.820
lot of people who were small business owners

00:35:22.820 --> 00:35:25.440
of rental companies. And I saw the struggles

00:35:25.440 --> 00:35:28.679
and they saw what does make them, what thrills

00:35:28.679 --> 00:35:30.760
them so they could thrill their customers and

00:35:30.760 --> 00:35:33.599
what pisses them off. By the way, a game that

00:35:33.599 --> 00:35:35.980
they bought from you that breaks, that pisses

00:35:35.980 --> 00:35:41.139
them off. Yeah, that's for time. I also sold

00:35:41.139 --> 00:35:45.179
like prize game wheels and the Different games,

00:35:45.280 --> 00:35:47.239
you know that you go to trade shows and see so

00:35:47.239 --> 00:35:49.599
that's great. You're right. This is of course

00:35:49.599 --> 00:35:53.659
If that yeah one thing goes wrong one ball gets

00:35:53.659 --> 00:35:56.280
stucked that there Yeah, you have to know how

00:35:56.280 --> 00:35:58.280
to like work the crowd and make sure everyone's

00:35:58.280 --> 00:36:00.980
happy while you're shivering Yeah, you were machine

00:36:00.980 --> 00:36:04.019
you were discussing when the team gets together

00:36:04.019 --> 00:36:05.500
and they want to go through the strengths weaknesses

00:36:05.500 --> 00:36:09.230
opportunities threats The quiz is really focused

00:36:09.230 --> 00:36:12.630
on the behaviors of the owner or the person or

00:36:12.630 --> 00:36:16.269
the people. And if you look at strength, weakness,

00:36:16.610 --> 00:36:19.349
opportunities, threats, their behaviors can be

00:36:19.349 --> 00:36:22.929
part of any of those, whether it's whether it's

00:36:22.929 --> 00:36:25.650
procrastination or not sleeping a night and making

00:36:25.650 --> 00:36:28.789
mistakes or the opposite, that they are superstars

00:36:28.789 --> 00:36:31.929
and they can do anything. But it's about the

00:36:31.929 --> 00:36:34.690
behaviors because that's you don't control what

00:36:34.690 --> 00:36:37.110
your competitors do. You don't control when the

00:36:37.110 --> 00:36:39.050
government says there'll be tariffs. You don't

00:36:39.050 --> 00:36:42.090
control lots of things. You do control your behaviors.

00:36:42.630 --> 00:36:45.110
That's why we're focusing on the behaviors, which

00:36:45.110 --> 00:36:49.389
can help you succeed more. If you realize adapting

00:36:49.389 --> 00:36:51.449
a few behaviors and the quiz can help you find

00:36:51.449 --> 00:36:55.849
them, can help you. And you can't do it all at

00:36:55.849 --> 00:36:59.769
once. The email you got says, try one of these

00:36:59.769 --> 00:37:02.639
this week. It does need to be taken. Try it out,

00:37:02.679 --> 00:37:05.420
and if it works, cool, do more of it. If it doesn't,

00:37:05.420 --> 00:37:09.119
go down the list and try the next one. I like

00:37:09.119 --> 00:37:13.840
that, William. So back to the reality of this

00:37:13.840 --> 00:37:17.579
day and age, though, where if you send out something

00:37:17.579 --> 00:37:21.059
and it breaks, it's not fixable, your clients

00:37:21.059 --> 00:37:24.199
could very quickly do a charge back that will

00:37:24.199 --> 00:37:27.099
just hurt everyone. And you get a zero -star

00:37:27.099 --> 00:37:30.079
review, and it damages the reputation instantly.

00:37:30.420 --> 00:37:32.639
Exactly. And they didn't just put that review

00:37:32.639 --> 00:37:35.940
on, they actually copied that review to all the

00:37:35.940 --> 00:37:39.019
event leaders. And like, yeah, it's really a

00:37:39.019 --> 00:37:43.300
scary time. And so don't wait and then find out

00:37:43.300 --> 00:37:46.079
it happens. It's better to meet with you. So

00:37:46.079 --> 00:37:48.320
I like this idea, business mistake prevention

00:37:48.320 --> 00:37:52.280
specialist, and you are semi -retired. I heard

00:37:52.280 --> 00:37:54.820
the word retired, but then I'm like - I'm doing

00:37:54.820 --> 00:37:58.800
this now. I'm promoting the book and I'm - I

00:37:58.800 --> 00:38:02.920
can lead workshops, I can consult. I am also

00:38:02.920 --> 00:38:05.639
a score mentor, so for free, I'm seeing people

00:38:05.639 --> 00:38:08.039
in the state of Delaware. I'm a Delaware score

00:38:08.039 --> 00:38:11.659
mentor. You can find me on score .org, find a

00:38:11.659 --> 00:38:16.000
mentor. Oh, I love that. Wait, no, we're gonna

00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:17.360
talk score for a minute. Who's your regional

00:38:17.360 --> 00:38:20.500
director? Because did you go to Jacksonville

00:38:20.500 --> 00:38:23.960
for a meeting a couple years ago? No, no, I've

00:38:23.960 --> 00:38:27.369
only been from home and I've met. my Delaware

00:38:27.369 --> 00:38:30.369
mentor colleagues at one luncheon once. It's

00:38:30.369 --> 00:38:33.550
been, since COVID, it's been all remote and all

00:38:33.550 --> 00:38:34.869
of my mentoring sessions. Do you want to shout

00:38:34.869 --> 00:38:37.250
out your score? Do you want to shout out your

00:38:37.250 --> 00:38:40.949
score office? It's the Delaware score, but whoever

00:38:40.949 --> 00:38:43.869
watches this anywhere in America, go to score

00:38:43.869 --> 00:38:47.829
.org and click on find a mentor. You'll find

00:38:47.829 --> 00:38:50.900
somebody in your zip code or near you. and you

00:38:50.900 --> 00:38:52.940
can put in something about the business you're

00:38:52.940 --> 00:38:55.800
dreaming of or having problems with, and somebody

00:38:55.800 --> 00:38:58.039
will be assigned to you who's got some relevant

00:38:58.039 --> 00:39:00.840
experience. I see people and I tell them, I know

00:39:00.840 --> 00:39:03.500
lots of things about how not to make gains. I

00:39:03.500 --> 00:39:05.440
know lots of things about from my corporate life,

00:39:05.679 --> 00:39:07.980
but I don't know everything. The magic of that

00:39:07.980 --> 00:39:10.659
score, there's 10 ,000 volunteers across the

00:39:10.659 --> 00:39:14.480
US, and we're networked. So when I had something

00:39:14.480 --> 00:39:18.559
on, somebody wanted to open a barge business,

00:39:20.260 --> 00:39:22.880
the barges they use to construct bridges. And

00:39:22.880 --> 00:39:25.480
I know nothing about that. But I found a colleague

00:39:25.480 --> 00:39:29.119
who'd been to something in that side of the heavy

00:39:29.119 --> 00:39:32.820
equipment industry, and we got some advice. So

00:39:32.820 --> 00:39:38.679
I'll shout out even more. It's free. And it's

00:39:38.679 --> 00:39:42.139
not only mentors, it's a library of resources

00:39:42.139 --> 00:39:44.980
and templates. and even a whole bunch of live

00:39:44.980 --> 00:39:47.739
and recorded workshops on any topic you can think

00:39:47.739 --> 00:39:50.480
of, from how to do a business plan, where to

00:39:50.480 --> 00:39:54.219
find financing, how to use AI in enhancing your

00:39:54.219 --> 00:39:57.760
marketing. It's a very good tool. I must also

00:39:57.760 --> 00:40:00.940
say, SCORE is not the only one that's a free

00:40:00.940 --> 00:40:03.440
resource to entrepreneurs. You can reach out

00:40:03.440 --> 00:40:08.159
to the SBA, your State Small Business Development

00:40:08.159 --> 00:40:11.690
Council, I think it's called. Oh, SBDC, yes.

00:40:13.389 --> 00:40:17.710
SBDCs. All of those services and resources are

00:40:17.710 --> 00:40:20.550
there for the taking. And if they can just help

00:40:20.550 --> 00:40:24.090
you think through and bounce off ideas on one

00:40:24.090 --> 00:40:27.070
thing that's got you bugged, it's worth the time.

00:40:28.010 --> 00:40:30.190
And Adrienne, you mentioned it, a good friend

00:40:30.190 --> 00:40:33.949
of mine is ChatGPT, because it does. If you don't

00:40:33.949 --> 00:40:35.869
understand something, you can say, hey, ChatGPT,

00:40:36.150 --> 00:40:38.730
I have to do something here. Explain it to me

00:40:38.730 --> 00:40:41.860
like a fifth grader. And it will instantly do

00:40:41.860 --> 00:40:45.199
it. I say, watch it with a grain of salt because

00:40:45.199 --> 00:40:47.539
it gets some bad stuff out of that too. But it

00:40:47.539 --> 00:40:50.400
will send you down a good path to do more research

00:40:50.400 --> 00:40:53.300
of your own and thinking of your own. So it's

00:40:53.300 --> 00:40:55.679
a good time to be an entrepreneur because there's

00:40:55.679 --> 00:40:59.760
lots of resources out there. I love that you

00:40:59.760 --> 00:41:01.719
can be retired with SCORE. As a matter of fact,

00:41:02.039 --> 00:41:04.380
I did a SWAT on our own chapter, and when we

00:41:04.380 --> 00:41:08.400
got to threats, I said, oh, I'm your, I said,

00:41:08.579 --> 00:41:09.880
not the threat, but I'm the biggest weakness.

00:41:09.980 --> 00:41:11.500
And they're like, why? And I'm like, because

00:41:11.500 --> 00:41:14.889
I'm working. And so I only have a certain amount

00:41:14.889 --> 00:41:17.750
of time. And at one point I may have to leave

00:41:17.750 --> 00:41:20.929
to start to make money. I won't have all this

00:41:20.929 --> 00:41:23.949
time to volunteer. And sure enough, it was like

00:41:23.949 --> 00:41:28.150
a year later, I passed it on to Sheila Slick,

00:41:28.429 --> 00:41:30.329
who was co -chair for, who chaired it for a year

00:41:30.329 --> 00:41:32.519
and then went to someone else. And I always feel,

00:41:32.800 --> 00:41:35.519
too, that it's important to actually leave sometimes

00:41:35.519 --> 00:41:37.699
those positions so other people can come up.

00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:40.219
So sometimes it gets stagnant with the same president.

00:41:40.539 --> 00:41:42.300
So I love that year. I love what you're doing.

00:41:42.300 --> 00:41:43.980
I love everything about it. All right. We've

00:41:43.980 --> 00:41:46.239
got your website. We've got the mistake. We've

00:41:46.239 --> 00:41:49.079
got your information. We know that you can do

00:41:49.079 --> 00:41:51.219
workshops for companies. You could do workshops

00:41:51.219 --> 00:41:54.400
for yourself. And you'll be perfect for my next

00:41:54.400 --> 00:41:57.679
Swat in Order next year. Sure. We'll have you.

00:41:57.920 --> 00:42:01.380
The other thing I... I speak on these topics

00:42:01.380 --> 00:42:05.460
as well. And when I finish this new 300 -person

00:42:05.460 --> 00:42:08.900
research report in January, I'll have a much

00:42:08.900 --> 00:42:14.340
richer set of learnings really on the behaviors

00:42:14.340 --> 00:42:18.960
that can lead to success or mistakes. I love

00:42:18.960 --> 00:42:20.920
it. Thank you so much. Is there anything that

00:42:20.920 --> 00:42:22.860
I didn't ask you that I should have asked you?

00:42:23.340 --> 00:42:24.780
As long as you got in the show notes, they need

00:42:24.780 --> 00:42:30.050
to know my website. riskmistakequiz .com. Just

00:42:30.050 --> 00:42:35.329
look me up by my name, williamholston .com. Beautiful.

00:42:35.869 --> 00:42:38.329
Beautiful. Williamholston .com, you guys. Very

00:42:38.329 --> 00:42:41.769
easy. Thank you for your time today. Enjoy your

00:42:41.769 --> 00:42:44.130
rest of your Friday and the long week. Well,

00:42:44.369 --> 00:42:47.630
you enjoy every day. I try to. I want to be William

00:42:47.630 --> 00:42:49.829
Holston. Thank you so much. I'm going to end

00:42:49.829 --> 00:42:52.050
the stream and have a great rest of the day.

00:42:52.170 --> 00:42:54.150
Thank you, Adrienne. Thank you, everybody. Bye

00:42:54.150 --> 00:42:54.449
-bye.