Whats the most financially costly business/private mistake you've ever made??

[annabeebalc]

Mmm, Nothing too major to report but lots of little things now spring to mind...

Paying for my friend and I to go on holiday to Ibiza earlier this year only for her to pull out and not give me the money back and I didn't go as I didn't want to go alone.

Paying £450 for a years gym membership up front and only going twice (ouch)

Paying £175 advertising for new staff to only get one unsuitable reply.

Not telling my best friend how much I loved her before she died. :cry:

 

[Janiwanidoodaa]

I bought a digital nail art printer a few years ago - not the £6,000 one (I'm not completely stupid) but it was £2,500 . It is now in my loft because the ink has dried up through lack of use :irked:.

 

[Anastasia Vasic]

I bought a microdurmabrasin machine on ebay from the states, which i never got. It cost me 2k.
Being a student for 2 years i borrowed too much money (student loan). I didn't need to, really, I'm still paying it back. Beside it was in New Zealand, and because I live in Ireland now I have to pay a huge interest, you pay 8.0% if you are overseas.
That is about it I think.

 

[Buff]

Was doing mobile tanning, got leaflets printed, did 2000 leaflet drop - no work from it, gave up (was doing as hobby). Found some of these leflets 7 yrs later and they had 1 didgit wrong in the phone number. Not a very costly mistake but how stupid! lol

 

[collin]

Was doing mobile tanning, got leaflets printed, did 2000 leaflet drop - no work from it, gave up (was doing as hobby). Found some of these leflets 7 yrs later and they had 1 didgit wrong in the phone number. Not a very costly mistake but how stupid! lol

now that is really daft :lol::lol::hug:

At least you stayed in the industry despite that bloomer :hug:

 

[Vetty]

I made 2 mistakes early on in my business life which although neither were massivley costly in £'s, both involved me being taken for a mug......

1: I qualified in August 2004 and launched my mobile business in January 2005. By the summer of 05 things were building but slowly and I received a phone call from the owner of a hairdressing salon close-by asking me to take over the nail clients because the existing Nail Tech was 'leaving the industry'...... Long story short, I was carried away by the thought of having my own room and ready made clients, spend £200 on furniture, £300 on rent and the salon provided 2 clients in 3 weeks! Later found out that the Nail Tech was working from home and had taken the clients with her......

2: I got conned by Ufindus.com into advertising with them for a year - cost me around £500 and brought me nothing.

Neither case cost me thousands but I was a fool not to look more deeply into them. Lesson learned though, I don't just trust what people tell me any more, especially if they're selling something!!

 

[Cathie!]

Failing to realise that money doesn't actually grow on plastic trees!

 

[collin]

Failing to realise that money doesn't actually grow on plastic trees!

LOL ...talking of plastic money...I went to a cash machine a couple of years back with my youngest son in tow ....who thought all you had to do was stick the card in the machine and keep drawing money out,as much as you want whenever you want

...it didn't occur to him that you could only draw out what was in there in the first place and that you had to repay it

Thank goodness I hid the pin number from him :lol::lol:

 

[catsaremad]

mmmm I'm a classic, went through two marriages,lost my house both times but did not have any debt at the end of it lucky me..............................so I went spending brought a mazda because I always wanted one only to discover it crippled my knees because I could not reach the pedals , changed cars lost 4k brought a mini cooper,extortionate to maintain (lost 6k) brought a peugeout, dodgy as hell spent over 2 K getting it back to scratch, got wrote off by a sainsburys van the next day.................dont ask lol resulted in a lovely spiral of debt and then the BF spent alot on my ccard, reposseion of house we lived in etc etc, so one IVA later.....................

oh well what does not kill us makes us stronger !!!!

But if anyone does find a money tree please think of me lol xx

 

[lilylou21]

I rented a beauty room for a year at £600 per month at the most made about £200 profit a month. Had to use 10k that my nan had left me to just live, pay my mortgage and buy food and pay bills. Left the salon cause the money ran out and then had to use credit cards instead. Now I feel I have wasted money that could of been used on something so more important. And Im in debt. and my boyfriend left last week so now im gonna get more into debt.

BUT... My mobile buiness is going well so far so hopefully it will continue

 

[dawn@nouvatan]

My blunder was one made on emotion. A friend was having problems with her housemate and asked to move in with us. After two weeks I realised the reason she was having problems was because of HER moods! they were awful but, instead of saying she had to go I stupidly bought a house at the end of 2007 as a buy to let and she moved in as a tenant.
The recession hit two months later, the house went into negative equity. In Jan this year, we all went on holiday ( we paid for her) and two days after we got back she said she was moving out!
Next tenant came in March this year and after 6 months of sporadic rent I asked if she could buck up her ideas on the full rent. She did a bunk, taking all the furniture and owing me thousands on the rent.

 

[tog]

Bought a newbuild house with my partner and moved in august 2007.
The advertising agency he had been freelancing with for 2 years continuously prior to that, told him in september that work had dried up and he finished working for them in the october . . . since then he's had only 5 months' work over the past 2 years.
BUT
Things can only get better! :lol:

 

[smartypantz]

I lived in Northern Spain for 7 years, decided to buy my own bar, so relocated down south. For the first year it was good, took between 300/500 euro a day, mind you kept spending it in the shops, (still have my Jimmy Choos!) Then the recession hit, takings went down to about 35euros a day! Continued to pour money into it, eventually got rid of it, losing about 35 grand on the business. However I believe every cloud has a silver lining, and it brought me into the nail industry, spent money I didn't have on some training and products that were perhaps not the best, but discovered SalonGeek and you put me straight:hug:. Now for me it is very early days and the silver has yet to come through:lol:. But I love the business and given time and experience things will pick up, as long as my enthusiasm shines through, oh and being able to do a damn good set of nails lol