This episode looks at a marketing campaign and my lack of paying based on key performance indicators or KPIs. This was a slightly costly mistake and, thus, one that sticks in my memory. The mistakes that cause us some level of pain are also the easiest to remember. However, that is not the only lesson to learn from this past mistake.

KPI - Key Performance Indicators

Any form of sales or marketing campaign can be a black box when we do not set KPI values. There must be a way to measure success (or failure), and our metrics are the key performance indicators. For example, most advertising campaigns focus on clicks or leads for a measure of potential additional sales. Likewise, there is a KPI referred to as impressions that is to measure how many people see the ad.

Pay On Delivery

The most significant challenge in any transaction is matching delivery and payment. You can see this on e-bay and Etsy sales, among other similar sites. We want to ensure that we get what we pay for or are paid for our product/service. However, we can take a "trust them" stance and pay upfront or provide a service before payment. Those options allow us to get burned, and I was in this case. Trust is something to be earned. Therefore, we should avoid cash upfront situations unless we have reason to trust the other party.

If you like this season, you will probably like Scott Adams' book, "How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life."

Key Performance Indicators - Measure Your Spending