One Christmas my wife wanted a pair of expensive athletic shoes for a gift. I was unable to find the shoes, even on the internet. So, in lieu of shoes my gift to her was a curio cabinet to house her pig collection. (You are probably thinking– A pig collection? But she has some neat pigs– fat pigs, skinny pigs, pigs made out of rock, short pigs, tall pigs, and even a piggy clock.)

Over the years I’ve built numerous pieces of furniture. While some were rather challenging, I thought that a curio cabinet would not be my most difficult project. Boy was I wrong.

It didn’t take me long to realize that this was a much more demanding project than I had imagined. Despite careful planning, there were many details that had initially escaped me. Despite carefully measuring, I found myself making wrong cuts and drilling holes in the wrong places. With each piece of wasted wood my frustration grew. But I persevered and eventually completed the cabinet.

So it often is with our small business. Despite careful planning, we often find ourselves confronted with situations that we did not anticipate. Despite careful execution, we often find ourselves with less than desirable results. And we find ourselves with a similar choice—throw our hands up in despair or learn from our mistakes and move forward. Or perhaps more importantly, we can learn from the success of others and avoid the mistakes all together.

Fortunately, with our business we can learn from others. We can avoid biting off more than we can chew. We can avoid putting ourselves in difficult situations. We can prevent many of the mistakes and frustrations that might result when we choose a course of action, in lieu of shoes.