A FREELANCER'S GUIDE TO SCREWING UP

Mistakes are an unavoidable part of life — and business. 

No matter how meticulous you are, eventually, we all come to know how it feels to fumble a deadline, misunderstand a client’s directive, or forget an important meeting.

When you work alone, there’s no HR to run interference or a team of folks to help absorb the blame. As freelancers, the mistake maker and the mistake repairer have to be one and the same, and that can make it challenging to be objective when things feel personal. 

Even though we know that wallowing in shame isn’t helpful, it’s not always easy to stop kicking yourself and move forward. If an oversight has you stuck in rumination mode, let’s talk about how to shift gears. 

Just Own It 

You are an amazing business owner, so when something goes wrong, it’s normal to feel like you need an amazing excuse. 

Unfortunately, in our effort to convey to all interested parties that the mistake would never have occurred under normal circumstances, we sometimes work way too hard on establishing context. We overexplain the factors working against us. We emphasize the parts that were beyond our control. Sometimes, we even kill off imaginary relatives. 

While the impulse is understandable, clients are almost always more interested in talking about how you plan to pivot than why they shouldn’t blame you. Convoluted excuses not only feel disingenuous, but they also pull time and energy away from actual solutions. 

At the end of the day, clients are people, and people respect transparency. If you’re late because you shouldn’t have stopped for coffee, there’s no reason to invent a 12-car pileup on the freeway. Apologize, and move on. 

Scale Your Apology 

An effective apology has three basic parts: 

• An expression of regret
• An offer to repair
• A plan not to repeat

Though this formula applies to big mistakes as well as small ones, it’s important to make sure the size of your apology actually fits the incident. 

No one wants to seem flippant in the aftermath of a mistake, but out-of-proportion groveling is uncomfortable for everyone involved. Unless you are a freelance air traffic controller or heart surgeon, there are practical limits to the worst case scenario. Laying it on too thick won’t change the work that needs to be done to course correct, and it may make the problem feel bigger than it actually is. 

Keep things in perspective, and address the issue without self-depricating. Your ability to right the ship is a lot more valuable to your clients than your ability to self-flagellate. 

Examine Your Processes

We’ve all heard that mistakes are supposed to be learning experiences, but the lesson is not always readily apparent. 

It can be helpful to think of the problem as a natural result of your current practices and protocols rather than as a moral failing. 

Don’t make time to reconcile your business and personal calendars? Of course, you double- booked yourself. 

Didn’t amend that scope when the client moved the needle on deliverables? Of course, they were caught off guard by the invoice. 

When things go wrong, they frequently reveal flaws in the system that are completely fixable once we notice them. Think of yourself as a scientist trying to improve a formula, and look at whether your inputs are creating the desired outputs. Finding objectivity can get you out of your head and on your way to actually fixing the problem. 

Move on with Your Life 

As a business owner, it’s important to hold yourself to a high standard. That said, it’s absolutely miserable to think of yourself as someone who, unlike everyone else on the planet, should not be permitted to make mistakes. 

When shame lingers too long, you can start to lose faith in yourself, even when it comes to the things you already know you do well. Combat rumination and self-doubt by bringing back our old friend, the Worst Case Scenario Exercise. 

If you are struggling to escape the undertow of a doom spiral, lean into it — ridiculously. Try to think of the ultimate nightmare scenario. 

Maybe your client will fire you on the spot. Maybe your failure will be the hottest gossip at networking events for the rest of the year. Maybe the incident will get its own section in your Wikipedia page. Maybe, but probably not. 

Our biggest business fears like to dance around in our peripheral vision — when we actually turn to face them, they are hardly ever as scary as we imagined. Take their power away, and you’ll be free to shift your focus back to resolution and repair. 

Once you stop putting energy into hypotheticals, it’s much easier to emerge on the other side of a mistake knowing things you didn’t know before. Celebrate your inescapable human-ness, and let yourself learn without shame.