My Biggest Mistake

We humans will never avoid mistakes, and the pop culture vernacular has expanded to accommodate our myriad blunders with terms such as "epic fail" and "face palm." Admitting the error is often the first step toward learning, and it is in that spirit that education becomes most powerful.

If you talk to a consultant long enough, you realize quickly that there are no "mistakes" in the land of corporate speak, only "learning opportunities." By the same token, there are no "problems," only "challenges."

HME owners toiling in the school of hard knocks know better. Mistakes happen, and they can be costly.

Cindy Ciardo did not anticipate a five-year headache when a local hospital approached her about opening a women's health specialty shop. After all, as CEO of Milwaukee-based Knueppel HealthCare Services, Ciardo knew how to run a business — and her reputation for outstanding women's health services was well earned.

A shop in one of the hospital's outpatient clinics seemed like a great idea. Women's services performed onsite at the clinic would surely add up to a good referral stream, and only two people would be needed to staff the store. What could possibly go wrong?

Ciardo signed a five-year lease and began coordinating marketing efforts with the hospital system. "It started out beautifully," says Ciardo, who also serves as director of vendor relations for Essentially Women, a group purchasing organization. "However, before the first year came to a close, the hospital system discontinued the women's health specialty programs at that location. So there we were, in a location I did not need, with no easy referral base."

There wasn't enough room to expand product offerings, and decor was extremely feminine. "For five years, no matter how hard we tried, we could not get that location in the black," laments Ciardo. "We celebrated the end of that lease. My colossal mistake was not anticipating the sudden loss of referrals and preparing for that contingency by adding language to the lease that would have allowed my company to get out of the lease should something like that happen."

Advises Ciardo, "Always think of the worst-case scenario and prepare — no matter how good the prospects."

Opening a new store with a familiar product line proved perilous for Ciardo, but Black Bear Medical's Jim Greatorex found that carrying a new product within the walls of an existing shop can also have its pitfalls. The Maine-based provider decided to add uniforms to his retail mix, a move he viewed as a "can't miss" opportunity.