Wedding Business Solutions

Well, that didn't go according to plan!

• Alan Berg, CSP, Global Speaking Fellow

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What have you tried lately that didn’t turn out as you hoped? Are you holding back on a new idea because you fear it won’t work? In this episode, I share my own story about taking chances, learning from things that didn’t work, and why the real failure is not trying at all. What could happen if you stopped waiting and started taking action—even if you don’t have all the answers?

Listen to this new 5-minute episode for a dose of encouragement to try something new, embrace detours, and take the first step toward the results you want—even if they’re not guaranteed.

If you have any questions about anything in this, or any of my podcasts, or have a suggestion for a topic or guest, please reach out directly to me at Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or visit my website Podcast.AlanBerg.com 

Please be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave a review (thanks, it really does make a difference). If you want to get notifications of new episodes and upcoming workshops and webinars, you can sign up at www.ConnectWithAlanBerg.com  

View the full transcript on Alan’s site: https://alanberg.com/blog/



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I'm Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you'd like to suggest other topics for "The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast" please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.

Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:

©2025 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com

Well, that didn't go according to plan. Listen to this episode. See where I'm going. Hey, it's Alan Burr. Welcome back to another episode of the Wedding Business Solutions podcast. I was looking back over last year and looking at things that we had done and tried, and, man, there were a few things that did not go according to plan. Does that sound familiar with you for last year? I hope it does. And the reason that I hope it does is because if that's true, that means you tried some new things.

Some things you weren't sure about how they were going to end up. Hopefully you had a good picture of where you wanted them to end up, because that's a whole different story there. It's like if you, you know, head out and just get in the car and start driving with no map and no plan of where you're heading, you don't know where you're going to end up. Right. But sometimes when you do, you might have to take a detour to get there. And then sometimes you might not get there at all.

The other day I was driving to an appointment and I'm going down a street and all of a sudden there is a tree across the road. Well, I had to find a different way to get there.

I did get there, but I had to find a different way. And that's kind of a life metaphor for business. There was something that I tried last year. A friend had an idea for me and I thought it was a great idea. And I spent a few thousand dollars trying to make this a reality. And it wasn't exactly the way I wanted, but it was pretty darn close. And we're very excited to try it out. And you could have heard a pin drop.

It just didn't go the way we wanted it to. I don't know. Still, we're still trying to figure out. We're doing the post mortem. Why didn't it work the way that we wanted it to? We thought it was going to make it easier for clients at a trade show and it just didn't work.

So we're looking back, but am I upset that it didn't work? Sure, we wanted it to work. Am I upset that I spent some money that didn't end up the way I wanted? Yeah. But not terribly upset.

And the reason is I did it because I thought it was the right idea. I did it because we thought we're going to get the outcome that we wanted and we didn't. So what?

Okay, so what did you do last year that didn't go according to plan. You're still here talking about it, right? So what did you try? Or better yet, what have you been putting off trying because you're afraid of what might happen, right? You're afraid of what the result might be or you might not get the result that you want.

That's really the failure. The failure is not trying. The failure is not taking any steps, any action towards a goal because you're unsure of the outcome or you're afraid that it might not work. The failure is not that things don't work.

The failure is never trying in the first place because they never had a chance.

It's kind of like for my 40th birthday, my wife asked me what I had wanted and I said at the time, I want private golf lessons. I've been playing since I'm 16 and I really should be better by now than I am and I'm not. So I want to figure this out. And I spent two days with a pro and a few things stuck with me.

One is if you're putting a short putt, it never had a chance. Never had a chance, right? So when he was teaching me about putting, anytime I putted short, I had to finish the putt because it didn't have a chance. If it went past, but not that far past, he might not make me finish it because he knew I could make that little tap-in putt.

But if it never made it to the hole, it never had a chance. And again, another great metaphor for life.

You can exceed, right? You can try more and you can spend more and it doesn't end up the way you want it to, but you tried. Or you can never try or give it a half-hearted try and it never really had a chance.

So pick one thing. Just pick one thing that you're working on now, that you've been thinking about now, that you wanted to try now, and make some tangible steps towards that. Maybe it'll end up the way you want, maybe it won't, maybe it'll end up better.

I hope that gives you some little inspiration there. Thanks for listening.


I’m Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you’d like to suggest other topics for “The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast” please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or you can  text, use the short form on this page, or call +1.732.422.6362, international 001 732 422 6362. I look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.

Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:

©2026 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com


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Alan Berg, CSP, Global Speaking Fellow

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