Finding opportunity in other people’s bad deeds

Sometimes people with screw up. The best of those people will work to fix their screwups, but many won’t. Many people will try to slink away into the darkness, taking people’s money and trust with them.

This is an opportunity for you. While customers are pissed off, sad, and disillusioned, you can help fix their broken trust.

I have done this countless times in my life. I’ve offered free course licenses, free books, and free coaching to people when nobody else wanted to help them. I know that it looks easy for me now that I’ve had success, but I did the same thing when I was just starting out. I gave away a ton of my work for free to make people feel better about working with me. I know it feels impossible at the beginning, but at the beginning is when you need good will the most.

Often, this led to them becoming fans of my work, but more importantly, it restored their faith in the ecosystem.

That last part is very important. We work in an ecosystem, and when somebody is slighted by Kickstarter, or an indie author, or a course creator, or a coach, it makes them hate the system as a whole. Part of our job is to keep the ecosystem sustainable so that people want to buy more from us.

We all have a part to play in the ecosystem, even as bad actors work to destroy the gentle balance we rely upon to survive. If you become the person who heals those wounds, you will get the most upside from it, as people will remember that you restored their faith in the broken ecosystem.

If your work is incredibly good, you have a chance to earn a fan for life as well.

Yes, you lose money in the moment, but those people likely would have never bought something from you anyway, because they lost faith in the ecosystem. Somebody else’s mistake is a chance for you to be a hero and stand out in a crowded market that just tries to take, take, take.