What Happens When Things Go Wrong

I have talked recently about the importance of debriefing, both internally and with your production partners in the aim of getting better.  However, what happens when things go FUBAR.  For some creative business owners, you can fix the issue — interior designers can replace the couch, graphic designers can update the site, reprint the invitation, etc. — others cannot — event professionals, caterers, performers.  Regardless of fixability, the issue remains:  there is a mess and it has to be cleaned up.  The question is how and by who.

My first thought is a statement: throwing money at the problem solves nothing.  Giving a client their money back is just a way of patting them on the head and telling them to go away.  A refund does nothing to repair the pain you have caused by breaching their trust.  Now, if the client has been a class A you-know-what AND the project bombed, a refund is adding lighter fluid to a bonfire.  Most often, refunding money is only the first step and often the placebo you, the creative business owner, convince yourself will make the problem go away.  I will not, there has to be more.

The more is empathy, sympathy and resolve to create another memory that will never replace the sour taste but, instead, will create its own sweetness.  First, empathy.  Start with the vulnerability that the client was looking for your art to transform them, to fill an emotional void.  Whatever the cause, your work did not accomplish its mission.  That is a reason for sadness and a moment for you to stop and say, “Wow, that sucks.”  There will be time enough for the blame game, however in the first moment of empathy and sympathy you can convey your deep desire as an artist to make things as right as they can be.  You can then express your commitment to their memory, a desire to make things as they ought to be with the specific knowledge that nothing will remove the memory of what went wrong.

Which then brings me to investment.  I hear all the time about sales and marketing and I talk about the value of process and the meaning of journey endlessly. However, what about investing in your humanity and that of your art and your creative business.  I teach my kids (and myself) as much as I can that it is not the falling down or getting mad, it is the coming back that matters.  Integrity is standing tall when it is hard, acknowledging that you did not do what you promised and working to make it right. Of course, some will just want you to go away and that is their right.  What is not their right is to say the value of what you did is zero because you hurt me.  Uh uh.  If you did your work with intention, purpose and in good faith, you and your creative business deserve to be paid.  All bets are off if you tried to rip someone off and got caught.  However 99.9% of creative business owners I know are honest, hard working people trying to bring joy to their world with the art of their creative business.  And for those creative businesses that would seek to blame another for the failings of a project without any responsibility of their own role in the shortcoming, you deserve the lonely world you will undoubtedly find yourself in. This post is for those who know we rise and fall together. Always.

There is no guarantee that things will work as intended.  We have taken so much slack out of our systems that we expect perfection.  The stability of our computers, cars and infrastructure has brought all of us to a state of deep disappointment when things do not work.  I was on a flight recently where WiFi was down (but the in-seat system was working) and people were asking for their money back or some other source of recompense.  I admit I was frustrated too but had to stop and think about the absurdity of it all.  Now, when we are talking about art, the manifestation of the unknown and that does not work out alongside the expectation of perfection, you have a powder keg waiting to happen if you persist in the notion of perfection.  Please go the other way.  Value truly is in the journey and if you have worked as you should then diminishing that value by offering only money back is not only soul-crushing, it is also sending completely the wrong message. Instead, invest in another memory.

For instance, if you are a caterer and one of your events did not come off as planned, might you consider an intimate series of dinners?  If you are DJ and the gig was a bomb, will you offer to have an at-home/at-office dance party?  Photographers with an unhappy client can always promise to recreate a series of intimate moments.  The list goes on and on.  You might be thinking why offer anything when you have failed?  Again, empathy, sympathy and a desire to create a memory both you and your client can savor.  It feels strange because we have all been taught to run and hide when it comes to mistakes.  Some clients might never get past their rage.  So be it.  Do not build your business to protect yourself from these people — the ones who will never be satisfied until you suffer pain greater than what you may (or may not) have caused.  Instead, find those who can see your vulnerability and while they may never fully forgive your breach of trust, will be able to move past it to give another chance to do work you can both be proud of.  Invest in that effort — time, dollars and energy.  It is uncomfortable and awkward because it is supposed to be.  It is also the way forward, today more than ever.