Early this year, something happened that took the world by surprise. It was an apocalypse of sorts that all started with a single software update. Here’s the backstory;

It was supposed to be a regular morning for most businesses and Microsoft users across the world. Little did they know, this was going to be A BAD DAY. You can imagine the shock on their faces when after booting on their computers they were greeted by the dreaded Blue Screen of Death.

Although this is a common phenomenon with Windows PCs, the BSoD has always been an individual experience. This time was different. The scale of impact cuts across many countries and industries. We’re talking about TV stations, railways, banks, airlines, service providers, and even hospitals.

It all started with one bad update from CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company. Its Falcon sensors built to protect systems from security breaches had been updated resulting in the crash of the systems that had installed the software.

Flights were canceled, surgeries delayed, bank payments stalled and payment systems shut down. The stock markets weren’t left out. The London Stock Exchange, one of the biggest stock markets, was affected by the crash.

Talk of BAD DAYS !!!

In its typical fashion, the internet took it all with a mix of frustration and satire, but there’s no denying that so many entrepreneurs had a really bad day. Here’s how one company explains it all;

“Imagine you're hosting the most epic dinner party of the year. The invitations are out, the food is ready, and the music is set to groove. But just as your guests start arriving, the lights go out. Not only that but the caterer, who promised flawless service, trips and spills all the appetizers right at the entrance.

This is essentially what happened with Microsoft and CrowdStrike. Microsoft, the dinner host, faced an outage, leaving users in the dark, while CrowdStrike, the caterer responsible for security, had its own slip-ups. The result?

A high-profile tech party turned into a chaotic, candle-lit mess where everyone wondered if they should just order pizza and call it a night.”………. Cyber   Management Alliance

Dealing with Bad Days as an Entrepreneur

One thing to note is that if you’ve decided to become an entrepreneur, bad days are part of the deal. Whether it’s internal, or external (like the case with the Blue Screen of Death). Or you’re having a personal crisis. You’ll have as many bad days as good ones and some of those bad days will push you to the edge.

The good part of this is you’re not alone. Many entrepreneurs have passed through this road to become successful and there are many more to come. Knowing this should be a relief but here is the deal breaker for some people.

‍There is no deadline for the bad days. It is something you should always expect as an entrepreneur. So what do you do then? Suck it up and deal without it? Well, kind of. Luckily, there are ways to help you deal with bad days thanks to the heroes who have gone before us, had these experiences, learned from them, and were kind enough to share them with us.  

Let’s hear what they have to say.

Richard Branson - Pick Yourself Up and Try Again.

Setbacks, mistakes, failures, etc are all part of bad days. Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic and definitely one of the most successful entrepreneurs has had a fair share of bad days. In his interview with The Entrepreneur, Branson talked about his failed expedition trying to cross the Atlantic.

Their boat sank and had to be rescued by a banana boat 300 miles from the UK. He didn’t let this stop him, instead, he picked himself up and tried again the next year. This time, he succeeded.

“Interestingly, if we had succeeded the first time, I think it would've been a big story, but not the massive story it turned into…….it was things like that, where we tried and failed, that put Virgin on the map, gave it a sexier image than our bigger rivals, and turned us into an adventurous company and brand….At Virgin, we don't spend much time regretting the past, and we don't let mistakes or failures get to us, and we certainly don't fear failure.

We picked ourselves up and tried again and searched for opportunities in other gaps in the market.”.......Richard Branson

Wallowing in failure, setbacks, mistakes or self-pity is not the best way forward. Neither is regret. Successful entrepreneurs know this and have learned to move on quickly from this phase.

Warren Buffet - Deal With it Fast, Don’t Let it Simmer

In an interview with Jeff Cunningham, Warren Buffet was asked about the Salomon scandal. If you’ve never heard of it, here’s the backstory.

Salomon Brothers was an American Investment Bank founded in 1910 by three brothers. The firm grew to become one of the largest investment banks in the United States. In 1987, Buffet invested 700 million dollars in the firm making him the bank's biggest investor with a stake of 12%.

Two years later, the bank was involved in a trading scandal when a trader purchased more than the 35% bids allowed per transaction. This illegal move led to a $ 290 million fine from the bank and a ban from participating in trading.

Buffet stepped in, taking control of the bank and with his help, a disaster was averted and Salomon Brothers was later sold to Travelers Group in 1996 for a whopping 9 billion dollars. So Buffet’s investment paid off. Not only had he made a windfall but also learned an important lesson on managing bad days. Act quickly, deal with it fast. Here’s why….

The illegal activities in the Salomon brothers had been long known by then CEO John Gutfreund, who however failed to act on the information by reporting it. To this, Buffet said,

“When you find bad news, I say get it right, get it fast, get it out, get it over. Getting it right is important. When they questioned, Mozer had done it there. But the get it fast and get it out, they missed on.”

Acting fast can prevent a problem from becoming a crisis. This is an effective way of dealing with bad days as an entrepreneur. Don’t leave the problem lingering for too long. Figure out what needs to be done and get set on doing it.

If you don’t know how to handle the problem, get an expert, and seek advice from mentors or colleagues. Any action is better than no action or delayed action.

Also, creating a system where problems are identified early and reported as soon as they occur can help minimize the number of bad days or at least not make it worse.

“You’re going to get bad news. I got 330,000 people. I will guarantee you that probably dozens of them are doing something wrong right now. I just hope I find out about it early and the person below me finds out and lets me know if it’s bad enough and that they stop it.”………Warren Buffet

Jeff Bezos - Decide quickly and recalibrate on the go

Quick decision-making is a huge part of business success and nobody knows this better than Jeff Bezos. As the founder of Amazon, Bezos' approach has often been centered around making quick decisions and course-correcting as the need arises.

That’s where the concept of Day 1 or Day 2 entrepreneur comes into play. To better understand this concept, here’s a famous military maxim;

“Everything over 70% is overkill”

In the context of entrepreneurship, waiting to have all the information before making a decision is tantamount to business suicide. The alternative and better approach is working with what little information you have at the moment and recalibrating on the go.

It may sound like prudent advice to dot your T’s and cross your L’s before you make a decision especially when it involves something you have not dealt with before. However, delay can be dangerous. As Bezos puts it, if you’re waiting until you have 70% (or more) information to act, when do you know you have enough?

This puts into perspective the elusive nature of dealing with bad days especially if the cause is an unknown unknown. This is equally what separates Day 1 entrepreneurs from Day 2 entrepreneurs. Day 1 entrepreneurs value speed over perfection when making decisions.

And to be honest, bad days don’t leave much room for a slow decision-making process. In that case, you need to master the art of making high-quality, high-velocity decisions.

“Day 2 companies make high-quality decisions, but they make high-quality decisions slowly. To keep the energy and dynamism of Day 1, you have to somehow make high-quality, high-velocity decisions. Speed matters in business - plus a high-velocity decision making environment is more fun too. We don't know all the answers, but here are some thoughts.

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• First, never use a one-size-fits-all decision-making process. Many decisions are reversible, two-way doors.

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• Second, most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70% of the information you wish you had. If you wait for 90%, in most cases, you're probably being slow.

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• Third, use the phrase "disagree and commit." This phrase will save a lot of time. If you have conviction on a particular direction even though there's no consensus, it's helpful to say, "Look, I know we disagree on this but will you gamble with me on it? Disagree and commit?" By the time you're at this point, no one can know the answer for sure, and you'll probably get a quick yes.

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• Fourth, recognize true misalignment issues early and escalate them immediately. Sometimes teams have different objectives and fundamentally different views. They are not aligned. No amount of discussion, no number of meetings will resolve that deep misalignment. "You've worn me down" is an awful decision-making process. It's slow and de-energizing. Go for quick escalation instead - it's better. “……Jeff Bezos

Let’s put a pin here and review what we’ve discussed so far

Bad days are inevitable so if you’ve decided to become an entrepreneur, you must learn to embrace the bad days and learn from them instead of trying to avoid them. We've also discussed how Branson, Buffet, and Bezos dealt with bad days and we believe this knowledge can help you better manage your bad days as well. Here are the three main ideas from this article;

1. Pick yourself up and try again

2. Act fast, don’t let it simmer

3. Decide quickly and recalibrate on the go

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We hope this article was helpful. Here are links to other articles you may like.

Kristina Saffran and Erin Parks: Turning Shared Passion Into a Mission-Driven Company

Four Self-Made Entrepreneurs Reflect On The Lessons That Made Them Successful

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