Marketing professionals aren't immune to making classic business mistakes, especially when personal projects cloud professional judgment. Our guest Katie Tucker, a Customer Insight Strategist, and Author of Do Penguins Eat Peaches, shares how her family gap year adventure led her to create a course without proper market validation, only to be unexpectedly saved by the COVID pandemic's timely intervention.

1. World tour with family generated Instagram following and many questions about how to plan family gap years
2. Created a comprehensive course teaching practical and psychological preparation for family travel
3. Secured impressive media coverage in The Times money section
4. Failed to properly validate the business idea beyond supportive friends and family
5. COVID pandemic intervened before full launch, preventing potential business failure
6. Working in market research didn't prevent making the same mistakes she warns clients about
7. Personal connection to the project made objective assessment more difficult
8. Sometimes you need to make mistakes to learn valuable business lessons

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