Did you see our quote of the week? It basically says that there are no woulda, coulda, shouldas in life. And, frankly, this may be easier to do in your personal life than in business. Running a small business can be tricky. Often there is no one else to help you make decisions. You can bounce ideas of your spouse or friends, but ultimately, the decision lies with you.

That said, do you regret any of your business decisions or do you use them as learning experiences? Everyone bids a job, whether residential or hi rise, incorrectly when they are starting out. Do you honor that price?

There were a few commercial, one-time jobs that we bid incorrectly in our early years. Usually our philosophy was to bite the bullet and chalk it up to inexperience. We knew better the next time similar work came up. There was also one particular city building that took sealed bids each year. We knew of several window cleaners that bid and tried our hand at it once or twice. The third year we won the bid only to realize there was a reason that the previous years’ winners did not bid again. We walked away from that one. Wisely.

On another occasion, as I was closing out the day’s paperwork, I realized that a member of our team had made an addition mistake in the amount of almost $80. I called the residential client and informed her of the error. I told her I was not interested in collecting the money as it was our mistake, but I wanted her to be aware for the next cleaning. It was blatantly obvious to anyone even glancing at the paperwork that a mistake had been made, but she never called again.

So what do you do? Have you ever walked away?

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