5 Business Lessons from Lindsay Lohan

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

So what’s the latest on LiLo? Unless you’ve avoided all television news, hot trending stories or any social media, you probably know our darling redhead has again screwed up, gone back to court and this time accepted a plea deal, pleading no contest to reckless driving and lying to authorities. Just when we thought we’ve heard the last of her, LiLo makes another appearance as the top news hour. You have to hand it to her—she really knows how to get her name and photo in the public realm. I mean, the girl is in the Urban Dictionary. Her definition is less than desirable, but she’s in there! So what can we learn from Loca Lohan? I offer you these five small bits of counsel:

1. Take responsibility for your actions. As we can learn from LiLo’s latest caper, don’t do something wrong and then try and blame someone else. If you messed up, say so, apologize, pay your dues and move on. Especially if you’ve wronged a customer. With social media, not fessing up to a mistake can lose you future customers as well as the wronged customer.
2. Don’t make the same mistakes over and over. This really goes without saying. And if you can’t figure out where you went wrong ask an employee or a customer. Someone is sure to tell you how to avoid the same mistakes. If it’s a case of your being overwhelmed as an entrepreneur, maybe it’s time to call for some help.
3. Keep control of what people say about you on social media. There are plenty of ways business owners can keep track of their brand on social media. 48ers is a search engine just for social media and Postling offers an online “clipping service” that lets you know when you or your company is being talked about on social media.
4. Divorce your parents. OK, maybe not your parents, but if your business has some bad employees, don’t wait to get rid of them. Remember, negativity spreads quickly and can infect the whole office.
5. Turning public opinion around. Obviously, Lohan hasn’t accomplished this feat in any shape or form, but if you’ve been badly portrayed and have a bad reputation in the community, you do have some options. Start by making amends to whatever wrong gave you the bad reputation, then address the bad reviews on Yelp or wherever the source of the gossip. If you need help you can also hire a service like InternetManagementReputation.com which can help you repair your reputation by neutralizing harmful search results and burying the negative content.