Bad luck

Bad luck is going to happen. It happens to every single business. Sometimes it crashes on you over and over again, and other times it waits in the darkness waiting for you to get cocky. No business can avoid bad luck. What differentiates people is how they react to it.

After my Monsters and Other Scary Shit campaign, my printer misprinted the cover, and caused a 3-month delay. At least once a week I updated everybody, and I kept them informed every step of the way. Once we finally delivered the product, I turned around and had my most successful launch ever at the time, because I kept the trust.

After my Cthulhu is Hard to Spell campaign, we were hit with both a government shutdown AND a polar vortex. The books sat in Chicago for weeks. There was nothing I could do, because I live in Los Angeles, except sit on my hands and try not to freak out. I created dozens of contingency plans while I waited for that book to get delivered.

Bad luck is going to come. There is no doubt about it. You choose how to react to it, though. You can blow up, abandon everything, and screw everybody over, or you can work to correct the mistake by any means necessary.

People tend to be pretty forgiving if you admit you screwed up, as long as they know you’re working to correct your mistake. The way you react is all that differentiated a business that succeeds in spite of adversity and one that collapses at the sight of it.

Sometimes, nothing will go your way. That is true for everybody. Not everybody can brave adversity, though, and come out the other side.