Lesson 38 Don’t be afraid to make mistakes
Last month, I wanted to launch a new product line, a transparent teabag. I thought about this idea for a long time and I believed that it should work, so I designed and printed all the materials I needed. But finally because of the teabag provider’s mistake, I could not get the teabags, which meant that all of the related printing stickers and leaflets would go nothing.
Ahh… What a waste! The time, the energy and the money. I was so low.
Jose encouraged me, “Don’t be distressed, Yuan, you are still learning.”
And he said, “You know why you can learn so many things from me? Not because I am more intelligent than you are, but simply because I have more experience than you. But what is experience? My experience is the sum of all the mistakes I made before. So don’t be afraid to make mistakes. It is just something you need to pay for a learning process.”
“And it’s definitely not a question of life or death. All the things you have made will not disappear, just leave them there, you might use them one day, you will not lose them. But, please, focus on something which is really life or death for you——channels.”
“Since the beginning, I kept telling you that you need to find your own market. And that you need to use channels to find your own market. What is the best product for the channels? I would say that a simple product with a lot of profit for them is bound to interest them. You know, money talks. So forget the transparent teabags for the time being, it is not your strength. Your real strength is your branding. Just find a few channels to let people know that you exist.”
“Yuan, everything has two sides. Instead of looking at the bad side, you should look the other way, at the good side. It is Ok that you can not get the teabags. Give yourself some time and give the provider enough time to solve his problems. You already have a very beautiful branding; use it, and go with the herbal teas.”
I felt much better.
I had already bought some of the most popular herbs like pink rose, chrysanthemum buds, stevia leafs, lavender, peach blossoms… So I tasted them carefully one by one. It was the first time I really tasted these herbs myself. Some are good, and I love them, like the pink rose with the stevia leafs. Wow, it is so sweet, so beautiful and it smells so good. But some are very bad to my surprise… like the lavender.
I told Jose, “Wow, lavender is such a beautiful flower and so romantic, but it tastes soooooo bad.”
Jose said, “What?! You tasted lavender? You should ask me before you do that. I will tell you to be careful out of my experiences, erhh, in fact, mistakes…”
I asked, “You tasted it before?”
“Sure, when I was 12 years old, in France, I tasted it… and it remains until now.” Jose frowned.
“Haaahh, that terrible!” I laughed.
Jose said, “You feel funny right? But the taste of lavender is not funny at all.”
I asked, “But the lavender is such a beautiful flower and it smells so good, why does it taste so strangely?”
Jose said, “Well, it is like perfume, perfume smells so good, but can you imagine that you would like to taste it?”
“Erhhhh….Nooope….”
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