It happens. You try your best and prepare your hardest for a big presentation, but something goes awry. Nothing deflates your self-esteem faster than a missed opportunity. Disappointing as it may it be, remember everyone has off days — look at Adele during the Grammy Awards. Adding resilience to the mixture of talent, opportunity and luck tends to separate success from failure. Here are five ways to bounce back higher from a rough outing:

Those recognized this month by Comstock’s as prominent women in leadership would likely attest to this. Each of them share one book that has impacted their professional thinking and life journey.

I am an inside sales representative for a medical device company. I work hard to build relationships over the phone to sell and consult on products. When I was hired, the president specifically told me this was not a telemarketing job. Recently, I caught the president introducing our team as “the telemarketers.” Is this a sign I should go back to school asap or find another job?

The intersection of parenthood, motherhood particularly, and the workplace is not a space without landmines. Next time you’re at a party, ask who has it tougher — then, run.

Public speaking routinely tops the list of common phobias. Butterflies in the stomach, sweaty palms, anxiety are all typical manifestations of the discomfort, which is often much less noticeable to the audience than to the one doing the speaking. However, unlike being trapped in a dark room with snakes, glossophobia (fear of public speaking) affects the ability to do something much more common.

Freelance burnout hits the best of us; I don’t think I know one freelancer who at some point thought to him or herself, “Well shoot, this just isn’t working anymore,” when they hit those crossroads. Trust your instinct and, at the end of the day, do what’s best for you and your business by adding more flow to the freelance hustle.

Studies have shown that the only thing worse than bad customer service is inconsistent service, which leaves a consumer confused and wary about what to expect when they walk into a store, call the help desk or send an email. With more choices available than ever before, we all want consistency and to know what to expect in a given situation.

The single biggest strategic advantage you have when it comes to outperforming your competitors is a highly effective team. A great team wins. Now let’s examine what teams look like when they are not working well:

Freedom and flexibility is what this career path is all about. While we’re blazing our own trail as freelancers and solo entrepreneurs (I like to call us “solopreneurs”), we’re still running a business. And like any business owner will tell you, you need a plan of attack.

We spend a large portion of our lives at the office, so whether it’s having multiple evacuation routes out of your building or routinely checking cords and heaters, office safety is not something we should take for granted.