I went to schedule a series of posts this morning and when I opened up my software, I was greeted by the following message:
Facebook and Instagram are currently disconnected. We apologise and are working on this issue
Er ... Hello ... what?
So my online scheduling program had hit a bump and my posts today had not gone out.
First things first, I have the post collateral saved. The image is in my design program so easily redownloaded. The link I was going to use, the text and the hashtags were all in my excel planner.
All I needed to do is log into each of my social media platforms and post it manually.
No, that isn't perfect. Yes, it took me 5 minutes to do. But it's done now.
So, when things go wrong, the first thing to do is to breathe, then work out what you need to put it right and go put it right.
But it doesn't end there.
Sometimes, we feel like we are fire fighting, especially when you are juggling a number of clients or activities. You sort out one problem only for another to arise.
In previous blogs I've talked about planning, such as setting targets you can achieve, but prevention is the final part of what you need to do when dealing with a problem.
It's easy to think that this is a once off but if it has a big impact on your work then taking steps to prevent it happening again is just as important.
Step 1
Identify what needs to be done to fix the issue
Fix the issue
Break the issue down into small steps so that it doesn't overwhelm you
Tick them off as you complete them so that you don't miss any
Step 2
Why did it go wrong?
Was this a system issue?
Or was this a person issue?
The reason for asking this is because it will help you decide how to prevent it happening again
Step 3
What can you do to stop it happening again?
Systems:
Turn on notifications so that the system will let you know about failures as soon as they happen
Turn on any fail safes that the systems may offer such as repeat send for an email, repeat post for social media etc
People:
Do you need to give yourself some training so you understand the system or process better?
First, look at free resources but always weigh up two things: how often is this likely to happen again and if it happens again, how big an impact will it have on you and your business. If it's going to take up lots of your time or eat up your business then think carefully about choosing some training or coaching that you pay for.
Putting in time and effort into your own development is always a good investment.
Things go wrong. We can't prevent that, but we can affect how we react to it.