Advertising genius Leo Burnett once said, "To swear off making mistakes is very easy. All you have to do is swear off having ideas." With the thought that mistakes often lead to more learning than do successes, we asked three established Thunderbird entrepreneurs to reflect on their current success, missteps along the way, and how they parlayed mistakes into learning opportunities.

Jack Williams '78
Owner of Smog 'N Go, LLC (http://smog-n-go.com )
jack@smog-n-go.com

Smog 'N Go is a chain of test-only smog check stations in California. Designed with the consumer in mind, Smog 'N Go facilities are ultra clean and typically have customers on their way in 15 minutes.

MISTAKE
The biggest mistake I made was expanding too fast. We were extremely successful from day one and we opened an additional three locations in a 12-month period. This almost took us down because of the infrastructure needed to maintain and grow these three new locations.

CORRECTION
We have not expanded since. This allowed us time to grow these locations and help them become mature and profitable.

LESSON LEARNED
We have been very successful due to the fact that we are extremely customer-service oriented. If we have the interests of our customers first and foremost in mind and follow proven business principles we will see the success we desire, and we have.

Star Vision is a Dubai-based firm selling satellite television products and services. The company operates in Bahrain, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

MISTAKE
I was basing my day-to-day decisions on gross margins as opposed to cash flow.

CORRECTION
We took a very systemic approach for the company to become cash flow centric, which saw us through some highly volatile times that are natural in our industry.

MISTAKE
I made some hiring decisions based on short-term objectives, which later backfired on me.

CORRECTION
We outsourced the HR function and took pains to match the right people with the right jobs.

LESSON LEARNED
There are three core components to making any business successful, i.e., the right concept, sufficient resources, and the right people. The correct proportions of these ingredients, when brought together at the right times in the right manner, will ensure success every single time.

Dekart creates affordable and easy-to-use security tools for storing and transmitting sensitive data. Their products include disk encryption, file encryption, digital certificates and secure logins for your desktop.

MISTAKE
I gave too much faith/credit to my business partner's due diligence prior to getting involved with a development partner.

CORRECTION
Since my partner did not dig deeply enough on issues of ownership and tried to bring a product to the market too quickly, we were faced with some major problems. The end result was that the product committed by our development partner as his 'capital' contribution was not owned by him and therefore not in his power to contribute. The short version of what happened: When we finally discovered this little error we closed down the structure we made with that partner and eventually dissolved our entire working relationship with him. That was about nine months in and lots of money – very painful.

LESSON LEARNED
Verify twice (if not thrice) before agreeing to join forces and resources with someone or something.

MISTAKE
In Dekart's industry, as any, sales are a very important factor. Our sales guys were always too eager to book an "interested party" as a "completed sale." We battled often as to when to list a sale as completed but being the finance person... a sale is completed for me when it is paid for (and past its return option).

CORRECTION
I had to stand my ground every time and in some instances I let things slide, as the head of sales is also one of the owners (we are four) and the situation required "give and take."

LESSON LEARNED
NEVER believe (or hardly ever) sales forecasts! Note: Although I still own part of Dekart I have recently launched a new company, VinUS, Incorporated, with my husband. This venture is 100% by us and therefore, final word(s) and decision come from us. We are of like mind, studies and generation, yet different enough to bring various perspectives to our business decisions.

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