“What if the Strategy I Proposed Fail?”
By Levina Kusumadjaja
“What if the strategy I propose fail, and months later my clients come back suing me and pressing charges?”
“What if they didn’t stop there... what if the clients then make it their sole goal to tarnish my entire reputation?”
“What if they take everything I own, and then I become homeless?”
That was a real conversation from a Brand Strategy Bootcamp Q&A session, where we talked about worst-case scenarios. The scenes seem real and close to home, don’t they? For me, what used to stop me from pursuing strategy was this fear that the strategy I proposed could fail my clients. It paralyzed me because I wouldn’t know what to do if that happened to me. And what if my clients did sue me and press charges? What would I do then? That would be the end of me.
When this particular scenario was discussed in the Q&A session, it felt like a dawn was breaking. Once the fear was finally put into the surface, and the group talked about how they would respond in that situation, it didn’t feel as scary as it was before. I’m not saying that it has now become a favorable situation—of course not. It is still absolutely not a good place to be. However, shifting our perspective from “this will be the end of me” to “let’s plan how we would like to respond” brings out a new level of inner confidence to move forward.
Here are my major takeaways from the discussion:
Find legal help.
Aaron, a fellow Bootcamper, had awesome suggestions and the first thing he suggested was to find legal help. This is such a wise move. Once the charges are in, it won’t be wise to just simply talk to the client. Connect and consult to someone who can be your legal advisor and follow their guidelines. Aim to find a solution that will cause the least amount of damage to both you and the clients. Strive to maintain a good relationship with everyone involved. You don’t have to work with those clients again, but settling everything on good terms will benefit you greatly.
Stop condemning yourself.
Remember just because the strategy failed, doesn’t mean you’re a failure. You can’t deny that something went wrong in the process and that something failed, but this doesn’t mean you’re a failure. Make sure you are able to differentiate between the work you produce and who you are, because this will determine how you will respond and how you will value yourself moving forward. Giving yourself another chance means to give yourself grace for the failures and not allowing those failures to determine what you’re worth.
Go back to your community and find your supporters.
This is another thing that Aaron mentioned, which is to reach out to the people in the communities that you’re in. A tarnished reputation is a problem. It will be hard to find clients that trust and value you if what they remember about you is your lawsuit and mistakes, but this doesn’t mean this will be the end of you. Find people who are rooting for you, who knows you inside and out, who sees your value beyond your mistakes. Reach out to them and ask for help. If worst comes to worst and nobody wants to support you now, build a new community. Find others who are in the same boat as you, who are looking for support as well and start from there.
Start with what you have and see it as a new beginning.
Even though it might not be the ideal start and it might even be a bleak beginning, but it is still a chance to start again. If you have given your best for all these time, for all the clients, and for all the people in the community, then take those work with you. Take the brands you have built, the case studies you have written, and the processes you have worked on with you. Redefine your vision, realign your goals, and reset your action steps.
Don’t allow your failures to define who you are and where you are going. Learn from your mistakes and figure out what you need to do differently, then try again. Don’t conclude that you had no business becoming a strategist. Just fix your eyes on getting better and on giving it another try, again and again.
Cheers!
Levina
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About the author:
Levina is a writer based in Indonesia. Because of Melinda Livsey, she recognized the power of brand strategy for every creative. She is sharing about her learnings as she goes to help creatives have fun in their growth and journey of building brands. Connect with her on LinkedIn and say hi!