When Your Business Decision Almost Breaks You: The Recovery Roadmap

Bad business decisions are not the end of your entrepreneurial journey; they're opportunities for growth and learning if you approach them correctly. The way you respond to mistakes separates successful founders from those who give up, with the key being to turn setbacks into valuable lessons that strengthen your business foundation.

• Understanding if your poor decisions were rooted in fear, ego, or desperation—the three silent business killers
• Five-step recovery process: own it without shame, audit the why, minimize damage, rebuild confidence, document the lesson
• Creating a "business mistake playbook" to transform pain into process and process into power
• Using transparency about mistakes to build trust with your audience
• Practical exercise: write down your mistake, list three lessons learned, and identify one immediate action step
• The importance of clear communication when working with others to prevent vision misalignment

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello world, welcome back to Not Just Candle Talk the
rawest corner of the internetfor creators, entrepreneurs and
small business owners.
If you're listening today,chances are you've made a
decision that tanked, burned orjust didn't turn out like you
hoped.
Maybe it cost you money, maybeit cost you momentum.

(00:22):
Maybe it cost you money, maybeit cost you more momentum, maybe
it cost you confidence.
But guess what?
You're not alone and, mostimportantly, you're not done.
On today's episode, bad move,big lesson and how to recover
from a business decision thatnearly broke you business

(00:46):
decision that nearly broke you.
So hit that subscribe button,because this episode might just
be the reset button yourbusiness and your mindset needed
.
So let's get started right here.
Everybody messes up, evenbillionaires, even that coach or
influencer you follow on IG whoseems like they've got it all
together.
The truth is, bad businessdecisions are not the end,

(01:11):
they're just part of the game.
But the way you respond, that'swhat separates a founder from a
flake.
So let's think about it.
You might have think about it.
You might have launched aproduct too early, hired the
wrong person, invested inmarketing that flopped, entered

(01:36):
into the wrong partnership ormaybe just ignored your gut.
Pause here just for a secondand ask yourself was this
decision rooted in fear, ego ordesperation?
Because the truth is thosethree fear, ego and desperation
are the real silent businesskillers.
So you say, now and now, what?

(01:58):
Now we rebuild.
So I have a few steps for youand these are how to recover
without spiraling.
So let's go through the steps.
Step one own it without shame.
Say it out loud.
That decision didn't work.
But I'm still here, I'm stillin the game.

(02:20):
Don't hide, stop hiding.
Talk about it.
Use it as part of your founderstory, because transparency
builds trust and trust buildsloyal buyers.
Step two audit the why.
Real quick.
Grab a notebook and ask whatinformation did I have at that

(02:43):
time?
What red flags did I ignore?
Was this move aligned with mybigger mission?
Because sometimes bad decisionscome with good intentions.
But that doesn't make youfoolish, it just makes you human
, okay.
Step three minimize the damage,because you have to ask yourself

(03:05):
is the issue financial?
If so, cancel the recurringpayment.
Is it a bad hire?
If it is, have that hardconversation.
Was it a product mistake?
Rebrand or refund.
Cut your losses early.

(03:25):
Don't drag the dead weight.
Here's a quick truth bomb.
Delaying cleanup only createscompound chaos.
Step four rebuild yourconfidence.
Bad decisions they shake us up,they make us second guess
everything, but this is whereyou get stronger by revisiting

(03:51):
your wins.
You can even talk to a mentor,if you have one, or a fellow
business owner, or you can evenread a review.
Someone left you.
But remind yourself you are notthat one mistake.
Step five document the lesson.
You can do something likecreate a business mistake

(04:13):
playbook for yourself.
Write everything down, whathappened, what you learned and
what you'll do differently nexttime.
This right here.
This turns pain into processand process becomes power.
So let me tell you guys a quickstory.

(04:38):
A few years ago I investedhundreds into a rebrand with a
team that didn't quiteunderstand my voice, my audience
or my vision.
Everything it looked polishedand looked good, but the sales
they were crickets in the marketwe was trying to go for and

(04:59):
that crushed me a little bit.
I felt like I was losing myself, trying to do something or
trying to be something.
I wasn't.
But when I think back and Iwent back to the drawing board,
I recreated a why, a differenttype of why, and I rebuilt with

(05:22):
a better understanding and thegrowth I saw was a little bit
better with the team.
So mistakes can break yourbudget.
It really can, and that's whatit broke my budget a little bit,
but that don't.
It didn't break me per se, andthe lesson was in that for me,

(05:44):
was to always, always get backto your why, reconnect with your
why.
Why are you doing that?
Because my why and the team'swhy was different.
And once I figured that out andunderstood that, I did some
rebranding with them and itturned out a little bit better.

(06:08):
But I went through the samething.
It happens right.
So every mistake is a potentialmarketing story.
You made a bad hire.
Share that journey in a blogpost you launched too soon.
You can create a product withdifferent timing, or better

(06:32):
timing If it's seasonal.
You signed a shady deal.
Talk about contracts and yourboundaries.
You talk about it.
It's important because you knowwe all we all, we all make
mistakes.
Like I said before, turn yourscar into a story that sells.
Turn your loss into a lessonpeople will pay to learn from.

(06:56):
Your brand doesn't have to beperfect, it just has to be real,
raw and human.
So let's get tactical.
I want you to write down thisand actually do it this week.
Number one write out yourmistakes in two to three

(07:17):
sentences.
Number two list three lessonsyou learned.
Number three identify oneaction step you can take within
48 hours to move forward.
Okay, then, when you do allthose three things, email it to
yourself and title it evidenceof my comeback.

(07:39):
Okay, we don't just bury ourpast, we build on it.
You're not behind, you're notbroken.
You're becoming Bad decisions.
Don't define your business.
Your next one does.
So go make a good one, go makea good decision.

(08:00):
And before you close this outagain, can you just subscribe?
Because we just don't talk shop, we talk survival, comeback
stories and building businessesthat outlast the burnout.
I just want to touch, of course.
I want to touch on this becauseit's relatable, it happened to

(08:23):
me.
Because it's relatable, ithappened to me.
I, you know, when I talk topeople and I talk about business
with them, I always say I took,I took a few more losses than
wins a few years back.
Right, and I don't shy awayfrom it because it's the truth.
Right, and people who smallbusiness owners, startups, they
need to hear that because youknow you don't want to get into

(08:46):
the mindset of I'm going to winstraight out the gate, because
that does not happen at all.
It takes time to get those winsand get those steady wins.
You have more losses, moremistakes, more hiccups than you
do, and that's okay, as that'sokay as long as you learn from

(09:07):
them, right, as long as youlearn from and you understand
your why in every step of theway.
Um and I didn't know that a fewyears ago.
I didn't know what my why was,I didn't even understand what
question was all about.
But after going through aseries of losses and

(09:32):
partnerships and working andcollaborating with different
people, I took a step back and Iasked myself these questions
and if, if there like was ever atime where that scenario came
back, I went back to the past ofthat same scenario and um took

(09:56):
a better path, took a betterpath and and vocalize that with
the people I work with now, whenI do anything or any
collaborations with anybody, myintentions are to communicate
what my vision is, becausesometimes, when you work with
other people, your vision andtheir vision is totally

(10:17):
different.
But if you communicate it,that's where you come in and
maybe get on the right path,because it can turn into a
really bad business decisionright off the gate, right right
at the beginning and you don'tknow that because you don't

(10:37):
you're not communicating yourwhy with the person you're
teaming up with.
So I just wanted to do thisepisode.
Like I said, there's so manyfacets of your startups,
creators and things thatentrepreneurs go through.
There's so many differentthings and it can be

(11:00):
overwhelming.
And I'm always one of thosepeople who likes to have the
conversation, uh, when I meetpeople and uh, and one thing a
lot of us have in common is baddecision making, especially in
the beginning.
We don't know, you know, wejust jump into it.

(11:21):
So, anyway, thank you forlistening.
I don't want to keep ramblingon, but thanks for listening.
Please again, hit thatsubscribe button and maybe I'll
do a part two.
I can bring on a guest and wecan talk about more situations
with bad decisions and how toovercome them and what was the

(11:43):
outcome when they did overcomethem.
Thanks again for listening.
I will talk to you guys later.
Thank you, bye.