Running a business is full of trial and error, but it’s what we do with those errors that shape our growth. In this episode, I’m opening up about some of the biggest mistakes I made in 2024—sharing more detail than I ever have before.
It’s not always easy to admit where we went wrong, but my hope is that by getting real with you, these lessons can inspire you to reflect on your own journey and approach challenges in a fresh, empowered way.
From nitty-gritty miscalculations to bigger missteps, I’m walking you through what happened, how I dealt with it, and the tools and resources that helped me course-correct. I’ll also share the single biggest lesson I learned during what turned out to be a pivotal year of transition.
This is a deeply personal episode, and it’s all about embracing imperfection, learning from our stumbles, and turning them into stepping stones for an incredible 2025. So settle in, grab your favorite notebook, and let’s kick off Season 6 by facing our mistakes head-on—together. Here’s to learning, growing, and thriving in the year ahead!
Episode Highlights
- The Cost of Holding On: Rebecca reveals the financial and emotional toll of keeping employees longer than needed. She shares the hard truths about profitability, severance costs, and learning to make tough decisions for the health of her business.
- When Deviating from the Process Backfires: Hear how breaking her own seven-step design process for a repeat client led to unmet expectations and project hiccups. Rebecca explains why sticking to proven methods is crucial for delivering consistent results.
- Burnout from DIY Pitfalls: Rebecca opens up about the stress and inefficiency of trying to handle tech and project management tasks herself. She highlights the importance of outsourcing and focusing on your strengths to move the needle in your business.
Episode Resources
Read the Full Transcript ⬇️
00:01:23:13 – 00:01:49:00
Hey, hey, hey, it’s Rebecca. And you are listening to Resilient by Design. Today’s episode is really, candid and honest. And I am sharing with you the mistakes I’ve made this year in business. So hold on to your hats, because this is going to be a juicy one. And I’m going to share information that I probably haven’t shared as honestly ever before.
00:01:49:01 – 00:02:20:22
So here we go. Today’s episode is about mistakes, but it’s also about what we learn from mistakes. And at this time of year when we’re starting to reflect, or hopefully you’ve already been reflecting on, your year past the entirety of 2024, it’s definitely a time to look back, reflect, look at what went wrong, and look at where we can improve for the future, especially when there are specific aspects, running a business that we know we could do better.
00:02:20:22 – 00:02:44:19
And a lot of the times for me, most of my most of my journey really has been fraught with trial and error and making a lot of mistakes. For better or for worse, I find that the mistakes are really the best teacher for me, and I hope that by me sharing my experience with you, my mistakes, it will really help you to avoid them.
00:02:44:23 – 00:03:03:12
Or at least if you get close to making these mistakes. There’s like a little birdie in the back of your head that’s like, wait a minute. I listen to that one podcast episode with Rebecca where she talked about, yeah. Maybe I’m not going to do that thing. So here we go. We’ll see. And of course, if you’ve experienced these mistakes, please do let me know.
00:03:03:12 – 00:03:25:20
But I’m going to walk you through a few of the biggest mistakes when I’ve reviewed my year, that I’ve made. So let’s just dive in. So the first mistake, not the first mistake. This is not an order, by the way. Chronological order. This is just in order of as they came to me. And as you guys know, I really lean a lot into my intuition these days.
00:03:25:20 – 00:03:44:24
And so for me, it was the first mistakes that came to my mind. I wrote down. So really, if anything, the first one I wrote down is probably the biggest, one of the biggest mistakes, because that’s the first one that came to mind. Anyhow, here we go with except Marty.
00:03:45:01 – 00:04:28:09
It’s cold. All right. Mistake number one. I kept employees on longer than I should have and longer than I needed them in my business. And I paid the price. So let me get clear on this. I have a tendency to keep contractors, employees on much longer than probably I should because of multiple reasons. One, I’m nice and I’m really hopeful that things are going to work out.
00:04:28:11 – 00:05:13:12
Two, I’m always afraid that as soon as I let someone go, I’m going to get really busy and I’m going to need them again. And three, I’m sometimes not always paying attention to the numbers. As much as I’ve improved, there are times where I’m not really paying attention to the bottom line and looking at profitability. And so what happened to me in January, which is why this is the first mistake, because as soon as I close my eyes, all I see is this I had a hard reality when I looked at my books in January, and I was reviewing the numbers from the year prior, and I noticed, oh my God, I can’t afford to
00:05:13:12 – 00:05:42:18
keep certain people on my team because those certain people aren’t growing, sales aren’t contributing to bringing in revenue, and in fact, they are hurting my profit because I’m paying them when I don’t need their services. And this had nothing to do with ability to do the job or, dedication to the business or the company or to me.
00:05:42:20 – 00:06:04:20
But it was a realization that I did not need certain people in certain roles. But I waited too long. And what happened was because some of these people were on salary, I still had to pay out. When you let someone go, at least where I live, you have to pay severance. And I know in the U.S. it’s different.
00:06:04:20 – 00:06:36:00
But in Canada, the law really favors the employee rightfully so. But because I wasn’t thinking and planning ahead, I let people go long after. I probably paid them for a month or more of time that I didn’t need them. So I’m draining. The coffers. Plus, then I still owed vacation pay, which obviously I paid, but I didn’t plan or forecast that because I’ve always been good at forecasting.
00:06:36:00 – 00:07:02:22
Like here’s where the sales are going to be. Here’s we’re going to need to hire, but it’s a whole different story to forecast. When am I going to need to scale back in what area? Where am I going to need to cut back? And so what I learned is I need to also forecast and plan for when I don’t have the revenue in a certain area or when I don’t have the need for so many hours, or when we’re not being as efficient with our time.
00:07:02:22 – 00:07:29:16
And so that is something that I definitely learned the hard way. Several thousand dollars later, I was paying for people that I really didn’t need, and it was like they were having to fill their time with tasks that really weren’t moving the needle. They knew it, I knew it, and financially it took me a while to recover. So that is one of the mistakes I made, and I’m sure I’ll make it again.
00:07:29:16 – 00:07:45:16
But it’s part of the learning process. So if you’re listening to this and you’ve been there like you’re not alone, and if maybe you’re afraid to hire and you’re like, oh my gosh, I don’t, I need to hire, but I don’t want to be in that situation. I’m not saying you will be. I don’t think that should stop you from hiring.
00:07:45:16 – 00:08:08:08
Absolutely. Please do hire. Just consider all of the all of the outcomes, right. If this person doesn’t work out because they’re not good at their job, what am I going to do if this person stays with me and then I don’t need them anymore? What do I do if this person, like, think about all the scenarios and I do actually recommend that you work with an HR specialist.
00:08:08:10 – 00:08:26:02
We have worked with one in the past. She’s been on the podcast. Laura Tullock of Essential HR is amazing. So give a shout out to Laura. Go reach out to her if you need help with HR and you’re in Ontario. Let her know that Rebecca sent you. But she’s been really helpful because she can tell me.
00:08:26:02 – 00:08:47:17
Okay, here’s what’s expected of you. Based on the law. Here’s what you would need to do. Here’s how many weeks notice you need to give them. Here’s how you need to do it, blah blah, blah. And so just be prepared. Whether it’s an employee or it’s someone on contract, do you have a written agreement with them that you that you need to give them a certain amount of notice, pay attention to that.
00:08:47:19 – 00:09:03:09
Think about that ahead of time. If you’re thinking, oh, I don’t know if I need this person, start thinking ahead, okay. If I were to, you know, sever our relationship, that gives them two weeks. Do I want them to work out those two weeks, do I not? You need to continually think about your bottom line and the problem I made.
00:09:03:09 – 00:09:26:04
The mistake I’ve made is not pay enough attention to the bottom line and paying more attention to the people and the livelihood. And there has to be a balance because I also have to pay attention to my needs and my family and I and, and I need to pay myself. And so it’s a constant balance. And if you can let somebody go with enough time and warning, then they can find the right fit for them.
00:09:26:04 – 00:09:57:22
And that’s obviously always the ideal scenario because you want them to land on their feet. Okay. That was the first mistake. Number two, in no particular order, by the way. I feel I’m like hesitant to share number two because I talk about this a lot. I teach about this inside power of process because process is so freaking powerful, which is why I built that course, and why I teach designers to always follow your process no matter what.
00:09:57:24 – 00:10:26:17
Mistake number two is that I made an exception to my process. Cannot. I know the expert on process doesn’t even follow her own advice. Guys, I told you this is going to be brutally honest this episode. And what I mean by that is I made an exception to our seven step process for a repeat client. And what I did specifically is, I’m sure you’re wondering what was the exception that Rebecca made.
00:10:26:19 – 00:10:48:11
I made the choice or the decision to agree with a client request not to do the implementation. Now, if you guys have taken pop and you’re a Popper, then you know how important implementation is for me because I love to offer white glove service, full service design from start to finish. And to me that’s how I get the best results.
00:10:48:13 – 00:11:12:23
And I say that all the time, and I know that, and I live it and I breathe it. But for some reason, against my better judgment, I said, no worries, we’ll just order this thing in the other. But we won’t oversee the construction and we won’t project, manage or implement as we call it. And what happened as a result is we did not deliver the service that my clients have come to know and expect.
00:11:13:03 – 00:11:39:21
This project was a lot bigger than the previous project when we worked with them several years ago. And what I learned was sometimes it’s not just about we’re not there daily and we’re not the ones communicating what’s changing on site. Implementing a design is so much more than that. And what happened was I took my foot off the gas I didn’t have, and I’m going to get to the next mistake I made in a second.
00:11:39:21 – 00:12:06:07
But I didn’t necessarily have the right team to see the project through to the end, to the level that I want, because I wasn’t generating enough revenue, quite frankly. So, I mean, I, I, I, I stacked up my team accordingly. But because I’m so used to doing things a certain way, I’m so used to us being in the know for everything that I took my foot off the gas, in the sense that I got focused on other projects, I did other things.
00:12:06:07 – 00:12:29:10
I took vacation, I’m like, I’m not needed. But as a result, I wasn’t on the ball and we weren’t on top of all the things we need to be on top of and mistakes happen. And it was actually not my fault. Not anyone’s particular fault, but the fault was that we were not involved. And I see now really why, for me, it is so important to be involved in the implementation plan.
00:12:29:12 – 00:12:50:08
Like I’m trying to think of an example because I feel like you guys want concrete, specific examples. I know I would if I were you, like, one example might be let me just think here, the kitchen. So the kitchen was designed by us and the client signed off. We moved forward. Shop drawings were signed off by the client.
00:12:50:08 – 00:13:11:03
The client was in direct communication with our kitchen company, and and the contractor, of course. And so we weren’t always privy to all the emails and lot even though we were supplying the kitchen, it led me to believe erroneously, the clients got this. I know that they’ve paid us to like, oversee the kitchen, but clearly they’ve been communicating.
00:13:11:03 – 00:13:37:20
And so I’m making an assumption that they’re happy with all of the inserts, or they’re happy with everything to do with the kitchen. So come installation day or week, the kitchen gets installed and there’s issues with some of the inserts that were there. Even though the client signed off on them. The client was disappointed that I didn’t advocate for them and really bring it to their attention that things had changed, and that is because I felt like I was just an ordering person.
00:13:37:22 – 00:13:57:08
And this may not happen to other people who are used to not being the ones to implement. But when you’re used to doing something one way, the same way, own it and stick to it. Because as soon as you veer from your process and you make an exception. I’ve made so many exceptions over the years, and I’ve shared them here on the podcast, but this is one exception.
00:13:57:08 – 00:14:22:06
I would not repeat again, I would not stand down from implementation, but still order product. We were ordering tile, plumbing, millwork, lighting. Well, that was kind of the decorating part. We were ordering all of that and supplying it, but we were not apart from that involved. And we were supposed to be involved on an hourly basis. But in order to save on costs, we weren’t invited to a lot of the meetings.
00:14:22:06 – 00:14:42:09
And so I had to spend my time doing other things, but as a result, it made it actually harder for me to do my job. So that would be a big, big, big learning for me not to do that. Number three, another big mistake that I made this year on more than one occasion is I waited too long to send clients final invoices.
00:14:42:11 – 00:15:04:23
I waited too long to send the balance invoice, and I think part of it is if I have to, you know, really pinpoint it is probably because we weren’t following our regular process, which is like very clearly at this point. This is when we send the final invoice. So many weeks before delivery, to the point where we were being pushed to get things delivered, to get things done.
00:15:04:23 – 00:15:23:02
But we hadn’t received the money. And so we were like gently pushing back, kind of like, well, we need the money, but the client’s like, well, you just sent me the invoice and everybody was very polite about it, but it stressed me out like I was anxious, I was stressed, I kept messaging my admin. I was like, what’s going on with this?
00:15:23:02 – 00:15:51:08
Where’s that, you know, do we have an answer yet? We were negotiating, not negotiating. We were coming, conversing back and forth about this, that and the other with the client. They had a question about that. And even though there wasn’t a lot of variance really in the balance invoice that was owing, we still needed that that remaining 25% before I could place the final payment for the carpets, for the kitchen, for the custom furniture before it was delivered.
00:15:51:08 – 00:16:09:02
And so it all worked out in the end. But I definitely waited too long. So this is another reminder for you to have it super clear. And I needed to follow my contract, and we didn’t really follow the contract because we kind of in some ways the project was happening on a different planet, like because we weren’t involved in it.
00:16:09:02 – 00:16:31:02
So please set a time. I believe in our contract. We say it’s I think it’s like four weeks prior to something or two weeks prior to installation or prior to scheduling deliveries, and then stick to it because there’s always a bit of back and forth. There’s always a lag like, oh, shoot. Well, we just, you know, we want to e-transfer you, but we just e-transfer it and it’s our limit or whatever.
00:16:31:07 – 00:16:50:10
I’m away on holiday. The client could be away on holiday or we’re going to send you a check, but like, don’t deposit it right away because we’re transferring funds or you guys know there’s a million things, right? You need to be really strict on that with yourselves, because if you wait too long to invoice, you could come up with potentially causing delays.
00:16:50:16 – 00:17:06:14
And of course, never, never invoice after the fact. I learned that lesson a long time ago. But even when you’re invoicing before the final items arrive at the house, make sure you’re sending that invoice early enough. Okay? Mistake number four.
00:17:06:14 – 00:17:33:19
I tried to cut costs by doing things myself. Okay, so for any solopreneurs out there, you’re probably like, well done, Rebecca. Like, obviously I did two things myself. Here’s the thing. When you’re not used to doing something yourself and then you go do that thing, you are not in the habit of it. Also, you may not be that good at it.
00:17:33:19 – 00:17:46:00
Like there’s a reason I outsource the tech in my business, and I’ve never been the one to set up softwares and programs and platforms. So why did I think that it was a good idea?
00:17:46:00 – 00:18:01:00
Leading up to our launch of our course, to be the expert in many chat? Anyone anyone know why I did that? Because I was being cheap and I was worried about timing, and I didn’t want to spend the time to find the person to do it for me.
00:18:01:00 – 00:18:18:06
I was like, how hard can this be? Another entrepreneur friend of mine was doing it really well on her business. I’m like, if she could do it, I should be able to. And yes, did I learn many? Chad I took a course, I learned how to do it. I spent hours and hours and hours that could have been spent doing other things.
00:18:18:08 – 00:18:37:23
Outreach for podcasts, connecting with all of you online. Like there’s so much more I could have done. Instead, I spent too many hours in the tech with my eyeballs burning, staring at screens. I’m not even used to that. Connecting this with that and referencing back. And I’m proud of myself that I did it. But do I need to do that again?
00:18:37:23 – 00:19:00:13
Absolutely not. That is not my wheelhouse. I have learned that I am successful when I outsource the things that I do not want to do, so that really hurt me. I think from a burnout standpoint, I got really burnt out right before we had our launch of our power process course on that, and it physically and for my health, it affected me.
00:19:00:15 – 00:19:24:06
But also I tried to cheap out by trying to do a lot of the project management and design work myself, and I used to do it, sure, but I haven’t done that in like eight years. And I was like, well, we’re implementing, you know, they’re not hiring us to implement this project. I’m sure I can just do it.
00:19:24:06 – 00:19:43:05
It’s like, I’ve done this for ten years. Obviously, I know what I’m doing. I can be the one who goes to site instead of a senior designer or a project manager. I can be the one coordinating with my admin to make sure things are on site. I can be, but guess what? I totally suck at it now because I’m not doing it all the time and things slip through the cracks.
00:19:43:05 – 00:20:07:03
Like our weekly progress email updates that we sent. I wasn’t something that I was like, well, there’s a push to update, but guess what? My clients came to me towards the end of the project and said, we really miss getting those email updates we used to get from your senior designer. After she left, we felt like we didn’t know who was in charge and I was like, but it’s me, I’m in charge, obviously, and they get it.
00:20:07:03 – 00:20:30:04
Your name may be on the door, but you actually look more professional if you have help. So if you were looking to hire an assistant like this is a great reminder that it will pay off in the long run. And me trying to save money by not having somebody managed that project actually cost me money. And it cost me trust for my clients.
00:20:30:06 – 00:21:01:01
So just remember, saving money by doing things yourself works for a period of time until it doesn’t. And so if you’re maybe further along in your business journey and you’re hearing this, this is a great reminder. But maybe if you’re early on in your business journey and you’re like, okay, maybe this is my sign I need to hire, even if it’s just an executive assistant or a VA or somebody who can just pick up and take the things that you’ve outsourced.
00:21:01:03 – 00:21:24:01
So here’s what I learned. Stop trying to wear too many hats, Rebecca. You’re not going to move the needle. And that, I think, is the biggest lesson throughout the the entire year of 2024. It’s been a huge year of transition for me, and I’m going to share more on that in another episode. And there’s obviously the whole episode where I walk you through how to review your year, and that’s where these came from.
00:21:24:03 – 00:21:48:06
But just remember that you need to really pay attention to what matters in your business and where you are your strongest, so that you can show up in 2025. Being strong, being the leader, and really moving the needle so that you are making money and not losing money, and more on that to come. If you guys like that episode, let me know.
00:21:48:06 – 00:22:09:19
I would love, love, love if you could send us or leave us a five star review on iTunes. It would be so, so helpful. That’s what helps to bump our podcast so that others will come and listen to it and subscribe to it. And of course, always hit me up on IG with a DM and let me know, have you made any mistakes this year?
00:22:09:21 – 00:22:13:20
I would love to know what they are. All right, that’s it. See you soon.
