HOW TO *RIGHT* A BAD REVIEW ABOUT YOU ONLINE
Have you ever been eating something DELICIOUS that you either baked or reheated and it's all going well ... it's super yummy ... and then you take a big bite and it's either still raw or it's freezing cold??? That's how yesterday went for me. I was going along ... things were coming together for me creatively, I was feeling all the feels with my clients, I had an incredible Skype session with Bree of Rockrose Floral Design (she's super badass and such a sweetheart!), and I was actually pretty on top of all the 'mom stuff' I had to do (which never happens ... haha), I *even* had dinner ready to throw in the oven on time ... can you imagine?? ... and then BANG(!!!!!) I get a FB messenger chat from a client and they shared a screenshot of someone blasting me in a FB group string ... and that was the bite that killed my day.
HAS THIS HAPPENED TO YOU?
Look, I am no angel ... out of 85+ clients who I have designed websites for I think around 7 ish probably hate me ... yeah, I will say it! Clients are people! Business owners are people! And what do I always say on here???
PEOPLE CAN BE UNREASONABLE
I am a human made of human with human stuff going on inside of me ... I'm definitely not perfect. Clients are also made of human stuff ... and sh*t happens. But here's what irks me about 'blasting someone online' ... it's very one sided and completely taken out of context ...
This person who had fun talking sh*t about me last night QUOTED ME out of context ... yeah, fun right??? Took one thing I wrote in an email that I fully stand behind and just added that bit to her super cute little review of me.
I had a client a few weeks ago who never even worked with a person (they only had an initial consultation) who then went and pasted a gross and disgusting review about her all over Yelp! WTF??? Never even worked together and this person had so much extra time on their hands that they wanted to use some of that time to try to destroy my client's business online.
HEATHER, IF YOU PISS SOMEONE OFF IT'S THEIR RIGHT TO TELL PEOPLE ABOUT IT SO THEY CAN AVOID HAVING THE SAME EXPERIENCES
Sure ... but is it ever truthful??? Have you ever seen a bad review go like this:
I HAD THE WORST EXPERIENCE WITH 'XYZ' ... THEY WERE AWFUL ... SURE I WAS SUPER CONFUSING IN MY EMAILS AND I SENT ALL MY MATERIALS IN WITH TYPOS AND IN A SUPER DISORGANIZED FASHION ... BUT THEY SCREWED ME OVER! YEAH, I WROTE A BUNCH OF THREATENING EMAILS AND TOLD THEM THEY DIDN'T NEED TO DO ANYTHING FURTHER FOR ME ... BUT WHEN THEY TOOK THAT TO HEART AND DIDN'T DO ANYTHING FOR ME I GOT VERY ANGRY ... AND THEY ARE THE F*CKING WORST EVER!! SO AM I, BUT STILL ... THEY ARE THE WORST!!!
^^ nope ... not gonna see anything like that anywhere ... ever.
Ok, so the point of this blog post ... aside from throwing myself in front of a bus to hopefully make whoever is reading this feel better if it's happened to them ... is to let you know what I did to make myself feel better about this potential tornado that is out there about me in a very large FB group of my exact target market ... haha ... innit great??? Ok, here's what I did:
I talked to my husband and admitted to him where I went wrong. Admitting your part of a mistake feels really good and helps you to see things from the other person's point of view.
I allowed myself to see if there was any other way it could have gone. Was it doomed from day 1 and I completely ignored all the red flags? Ignoring red flags is never a good idea ... but it happens sometimes.
I focused on what I do have that's awesome ... my great reviews, my success stories, my amazing relationships ... I took a walk down 'it's going to be ok Lane' and stopped feeling like everything was doomed.
BAD REVIEWS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN
I finally realized that if you have over 50 ish clients there are going to be sh*tty stories that come from it ... things can't always go well... you can't make everyone happy all the time and you can't always walk away from every business transaction with a major success story and smiles all around.
But you do need to keep things in perspective ... admit your wrongs, even if it's only to yourself, to your husband, wife, dog, or an invisible person ... a big wrong may have been accepting that client in the first place ... or not putting up enough boundaries and saying 'yes' when you really should have said 'nope' ...
I make mistakes. You make mistakes. Bad reviews in a public place called THE INTERNET are super disheartening and can make you feel like everything is going to come crashing down around you ...
BUT DON'T LET IT.
Vent to your friends ... if they are good friends (like mine are) they will help you not only by getting angry for you and with you, but by being there when you finally 'come to' and are able to admit your mistakes.
Focus on your successes ... don't get sucked into the black pit of doom where you feel like a total failure and zoom in on everything you've ever done wrong. THAT is what will ruin you - not the bad review.
Move on ... put the bad review in your rearview mirror and throw yourself into a project and turn it into a crazy good story that will help erase the bad bite you took.
Ok, have an amazing day!! Here's to all of us starting this day fresh with a fresh perspective :)
XO~ Heather
