I made mistakes that cost me more than €250,000, here are the lessons so you can avoid doing the same
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💸 7 lessons that cost me over €250,000
I had a teacher in my business school who told me from the very first class:
“The first lesson in getting rich is: Stop losing money!’
It’s true, logically, the basis of enrichment is learning not to lose money unnecessarily and to earn more than you spend, whatever your financial level.
The principle applies to €25, €250, €2500, €25000 or €250000… At any standard, you can win or lose, and the higher you go, the more you have to lose and the bigger you “play”.
In fact, over the last 5 years, I’ve lost €250,000 through “bad decisions”, which we’ll say was the price of lessons, so consider it worth it 🙂
The examples I’m going to give are rounded sums for simplicity’s sake.
I’ll be honest, losing money is okay, it hurts, but it’s always an investment that allows you to earn more, and you can always recover… Lost time, on the other hand, is never recovered!
Lesson 1: Stop wasting time
The day I realized that earning money meant freeing up time, and not the other way around, was the day I took off!
The problem is that I’ve lost time:
- By not daring to make full use of my real strengths (my zone of genius)
- By wanting to do and control everything
- Reinventing the wheel instead of asking for help (I didn’t like asking for help, I only learned that in 2022).
In addition to the unquantifiable losses of being off my axis where I excel, a “legal error” caused me to lose €30,000 in 2019 (contract concerns where I didn’t protect myself) when I should have sought advice before trying to do everything myself.
Sincerely, focus on your strengths and surround yourself with competent people!
The debt of ignorance is very, very expensive, both in terms of losses and mistakes, and in terms of making up for those mistakes!
Lesson 2: Only you know what is good in your life and your projects
In 2021, I invested €50,000 in a mastermind with entrepreneurs making on average between 1/2 million and 10 million a year… To hear how I should run my business and what advice I should be following.
Being a good student, I listened, I applied, and the next quarter I had a 30% drop in my profitability!
Advice is important, but the problem is when it’s not always tailored to you! Up until then, I’d designed a business in my own image, based on the way I operated… Then I turned around and applied what works for others.
Take advice, but make sure it comes from people who can adapt to you (I make this a point of honor in my coaching).
And above all: don’t forget that, deep down, you know better than anyone else what’s right in order to make the right decisions! Always have the last word, especially if your intuition speaks to you…
Lesson 3: Not listening to your intuition is very, very expensive
Exactly, to make the transition:
When I listen to other people and screw up, I have deep regrets! When I listen to myself and screw up, I have no regrets!
I’ve never regretted listening to myself; on the contrary, it’s when I don’t listen to myself:
I went into partnership with someone, all the signals were green, but there was something I didn’t feel, without explaining it: this person ended up ripping me off for €20,000 on the project.
I hired a service provider who was very competent, everything seemed fine, but once again, I felt something strange deep down… The socket on a €10,000 service!
“When in doubt, there is no doubt…”
And the same goes for your projects:
Lesson 4: “Necessity” and “must” motivation are not sustainable in the long term
If I launch a project out of obligation or necessity: It’s often a failure, a flop, or if it works, it doesn’t last!
If you’re only motivated by short-term gains, you’ll make yourself poorer in the long run.
Sometimes it’s better to lose a little to invest for the future.
In 2022, I lost €20,000 organizing an event that I’d done more out of obligation (pressure from the community and especially myself to do one after the confinements) instead of really wanting to do it. I didn’t enjoy it and it wasn’t profitable, even if the participants and speakers appreciated it.
If I had to quantify all my flops by not respecting this rule, we wouldn’t finish 🙂
Good things that have deep meaning for you take time.
- Earning money in the hope of doing what you love: you’re in a never-ending loop.
- Do what you love and make money doing it: Dare to follow your vocation!
Lesson 5: Don’t sell yourself short, especially in your zone of genius!
Please note that what I’m about to say is not at all a disregard for customers on my small programs. On the contrary, I still offer them because some ranges are accessible.
I’m talking about a minority here too, but here’s the reality:
99% of customer support disputes and unpaid invoices concern products costing less than €500, and 95% concern sums of less than €100. (It’s rare, but it only comes from these segments).
I’ve never had any unpaid bills, requests for refunds, disputes or anything else on top-of-the-range services (over €2,000). (This has happened 3 times in 5 years: unpaid invoices settled afterwards).
That doesn’t mean we won’t continue to make certain offers available to the general public, but access to my consultings is never sold out!
Between 2020 and 2022, I “gave in” by reducing the price of consultings for customers thinking I was doing a good deed. Not only did I miss out on big contracts because of this (too busy), but these customers made my life hell in terms of vampirism vs. what they had invested.
Just a reminder: if you have to lower your rates for one customer, it’s the wrong customer!
I’ll be able to expand on this in future content if you’re interested.
Between lost contracts, rebates and lost time, we’re easily approaching €50,000 in losses!
I know my zone of genius, and seeing how I triple my customers’ sales and save them an enormous amount of time, peace and serenity in their structure, selling out is out of the question! (There are years of testimonials online about these results).
What’s easy for you, where you have great talent and value for others, is precisely what you should charge the most for!
Lesson 6: Look at the obvious! (When everything lines up or gets stuck)
Life is good!
When a path you’ve taken no longer fulfills you, when everything becomes a burden, friction, frustration… When things don’t work the way they used to and require more effort: it’s time for a change!
The problem is that change is scary, and sometimes we don’t want to admit it.
In 2017, I felt the need for change, so I created and launched Gamentrepreneur, which has been a huge success and was in line with my energy at the time.
The concept reached its peak in 2021, and then I started to get the hang of it. In 2022, I began to feel that I was forcing things, that I was becoming increasingly misaligned with the “new wave” of members (nothing against them, they were still a minority, but no longer in line with my vision).
It was getting heavy, I was forcing myself, I was getting tired…
So I decided to stop while I changed the formula and moved on to something else.
In 2023, I launched Flowtasking, and everything went smoothly: new customers, new programs, new opportunities!
When you’re in the right place, on the right axis, everything lines up.
When you stubbornly keep going in one direction, everything becomes heavy and friction-laden, and you get stuck!
I’ve got lots more examples like that!
When everything slows down, gets stuck, stops… Don’t take it as pain or frustration, see it as an opportunity to adjust your direction, reinvent yourself, evolve!
Stay in motion, in your FLOW :
Lesson 7: Stay in the Zone or go dark…
The Zone, Flow, is that state of perfect balance between your talents and the challenges you face.
It keeps you focused, enthusiastic, dynamic and motivated…
2021 and 2022, with great outside advice and my appeal for “greatness”, I grew my team and my business with it.
The problem was that little by little, I found myself having to run meetings, manage, and put myself under monumental pressure to meet targets in order to pay everyone.
I spent less time doing what I love: creating! And more time managing…
My flame gradually faded, I was no longer fulfilled… I just had to achieve goals and raise everyone else!
Several tens of thousands of euros of recruitment, tool and equipment purchases, process investments… later, I went back in time.
I’ve lightened and simplified everything, reduced the team and gone back to a model that suits me better: light, simple, where I stay in my creative flow!
If you feel out of place: move, realign yourself, don’t stay where your sacred fire is gradually dying out!
Bonus lesson: Your health!
No goal, no profession, no project, no path should cost you your health!
I invested thousands of euros in 2022 to recover from a major health problem I had over the summer. It took a long time to recover physically and mentally.
I approached this period during the Flowtasking tour. While it was a great opportunity to realign and reinvent myself to take things to another level, this “slap in the face” cost me dearly. But I bless this lesson because there are no after-effects 🙂
Never sacrifice your mental and physical health for a job or a company.
It’s your most precious possession!
So much for lessons.
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