Done vs Perfect.
I hear this a lot in my space, particularly in the online space. It has been whirling around in various LinkedIn conversations I have been having in the last month and it’s a problem.
A real one. Especially for women.
I tend to be someone who lives very much on the ‘done’ side of the spectrum. Not in terms of the work that I produce for clients, but more in terms of how I work and encourage my clients to approach how we get our unique message out to our marketplace.
People are often so worried about achieving perfection that all they end up creating in their business is inertia in their online marketing efforts. Email campaigns don’t get sent, blog posts are left half finished and profile shots are from years ago. Not to mention the stress that all these unfinished little projects create in our minds.
Are you guilty of any of these?
- So worried about how you look that you won’t experiment with Facebook Live or LinkedIn video?
- Put off new profile shots for your social channels or website until you lose weight?
- Spend hours fussing over image creation inside CANVA or Photoshop trying to be creative
- Stall so much on that email campaign content that you miss your launch deadline
- Agonise too much over spelling and grammar in your blog post and give up in despair.
These are common problems that are preventing you from reaching your target customers. These fears are holding you back from getting your message to your market.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that we cease to be professional, that we do not care about what we produce or that we give anything less than our best effort.
But this is the thing.
We need to let go of perfection and focus on the fact that we gave it our best effort. This is what you can control and this is where your focus should be. Acknowledge that today this is my best effort and next time will be better.
Your clients worry less about how you look online than you think and if they do, maybe they’re not really your kind of people anyway.
You don’t worry so much about how you talk to clients face to face. Treat Facebook Live or LinkedIn Video the same way, as just as a face to face conversation and just accept that you will get better.
Don’t try to be too creative in your posts in social media. Use templates to get started, stick to your branding colours and focus on consistency rather than creativity. We are not all graphic designers and don’t need to be. Focus on the value in your message.
And in regards to that content writing, remember that you are an expert in your field. Focus on being generous in your knowledge, share widely and freely. This is what people remember, not whether you spelt, split or spilt in a blog post shared to 10000 people like I did today (whoops!)
In a world of carefully curated online images, Instagram selfies and the cult of celebrity, focus on the value and uniqueness of you in your messaging and practice letting go of perfection.
Often this is the biggest handbrake you can have in your business.
It’s time to let it go.
