I heard a great line from an acquaintance recently who had to write off losing some money on a client who demanded something urgent, got it without paying down, then refused to pay:
"It was relatively cheap tuition."
Fact is, most things you attempt in business the first time go haywire. That means, if you're outlaying cash, there's a really decent cash you're going to get negative returns on the first round of advertising or expansion you try. Of course, that speaks for going in somewhat methodically and doing some due diligence beforehand, but mentally classifying your first run at something as "tuition" isn't a bad strategy at all.
We just put up some ads to hire some specific types of outsourcing help because time is a real bottleneck for us right now. We've never done this particular kind of outsourcing, so I've mentally resigned myself to the first few people we try out costing us some cash and providing no useful production while we get our act together and identify someone good.
When you do that, instead of coming in expecting the best (or even, expecting just a positive outcome), you're ready for things to go a little sideways at first. If it doesn't, so much the better -- but if it does, then you're ready to deal with it and keep moving forwards.