The Daily Lessons of Being Human: Reflections on Our Recent Auction Experience

At Joe Ollis Real Estate & Auction, LLC, we're no strangers to the daily reminders of our humanity. Whether it's a small clerical error or a miscommunication, we're constantly learning and growing. However, our recent auction experience brought this lesson into sharp focus in a way we hadn't experienced before.

Our July 18th auction seemed like business as usual. Yet, in the aftermath, we discovered a significant oversight in our payment processing that affected 33 of our 151 buyers. This wasn't just our typical daily hiccup - it was a wake-up call.

The truth is, we're reminded of our humanity on a weekly, sometimes even daily basis. It might be a typo in an email, a misplaced file, or a moment of forgetfulness. These small incidents keep us humble and push us to improve continuously.

But this recent experience? It was on a different scale altogether.

Here's what we've been reminded of:

No matter how experienced we are, we're never above making mistakes - even big ones.
Our processes, no matter how well-established, always have room for improvement.
The importance of our response to errors, big or small, cannot be overstated.
Our clients' understanding and trust are invaluable, and we must continually work to maintain them.
Every mistake, regardless of its size, is an opportunity to learn and grow.

We're addressing this situation with the same dedication and transparency we apply to our smaller, daily challenges. But it's served as a powerful reminder that being human isn't just about the small daily slip-ups - it's also about how we handle the bigger stumbles.

We're grateful for this experience, as difficult as it has been. It's pushed us to reevaluate our processes, strengthen our checks and balances, and recommit to our values of transparency and continuous improvement.

To our clients: thank you for your patience and understanding. We may learn we're human on a daily or weekly basis, but it's your support that allows us to turn these lessons into positive change.

We're not perfect - far from it. But we're perfectly committed to learning from every experience, big or small, and using those lessons to serve you better.

Here's to embracing our humanity, in all its imperfect glory, and to the growth that comes from facing our mistakes head-on.