The Mistake of Waiting for Your Start-Up to Be Perfect
It’s almost perfect. Just a few more tweaks and it’ll be all ready to go.
Perfectionism as procrastination — it’s one of the easiest to justify and hardest to see.
When you’re getting your new home-based business ready to launch, it can be difficult to know when to stop “getting ready.”
Like a painter who never finishes a painting, trying to make sure that everything is perfect can paralyze you.
There comes a point when it’s good enough. Not sloppy, or half-baked — but to a point where it:
- Appears professional
- Provides measurable value
- Is easily understood
- Has a recognizable brand
- Clearly represents you and what you have to offer
Waiting for everything to be perfect before you launch is a mistake. First, it will never be perfect. True perfection is rarely achievable and is highly subjective.
Second, perfection is not a prerequisite for success. If it were, there would be a lot fewer successful entrepreneurs out there.
The best way to know if you’re ready is to start now.
The great thing about being a home-based entrepreneur is your ability to react and adapt quickly. If something isn’t working, change it. Allow the marketplace and your customers to help shape your new venture to better meet their needs.
Let your customers be the ones to help you reach perfection. It may not be an achievable goal, but working to reach it will guarantee you’re serving your customers well.
This will make you perfect in the only place it really matters — the eyes of your customers.
Ain’t it the truth Tony? Perfectionism is the perfect cover for procrastination. And, as you said, it’s such a subjective notion. Better to let the customer make the subjective assessment and turn our energies to serving their needs objectively.
Hey Tony,
You have hit the nail in my head. Hard. Ouch.
Perfectionism and procrastination – two demons that are close to my heart – too close!
This is something we have to realize every day. Although we all (the three of us) decided we would keep this in mind all the time, we didn’t do so throughout the process. So, now we’re still not live because we were doing things that were not 100% necessary, but more “nice-to-have”. Since a week or two we decided to only implement the features we *really* need to have and leave the rest for a later date. This means we might even launch some day…
Carolyn – You summed it up nicely with “serving their needs objectively.” You can’t go wrong with that approach.
Kian Ann – Feel the burn, my friend
. It keeps those muscles in shape.
Char – I think we all have been there. Being aware of it puts you leaps ahead of most.
Martijn – I know exactly what you mean. I struggle with the same things in many projects.
Tony,
When you do the magazine meme for Andy Beal, can you do the following:
Ev Nucci (http://evnucci.wordpress.com) tagged me in a magazine meme http://www.andybeal.com/2007/0.....-read.html that was started by Andy Beal (http://www.andybeal.com/) and make sure everyone you tagged does the same? Its the only way his meme counts and you are forever enshrined as is everyone else in the magazine meme hall of fame! Thanks a million. I just got my hands spanked for not following directions! (joking)
I agree with you. Perfectionism leads to procrastination. It is impossible to stop worrying because it’s in our nature to worry. We just have to make sure that we don’t worry too much.
Hi Tony
Interesting insight and linkage between perfectionism and procrastination… never would have thought of it myself
However, with your post and upon self-reflection, can’t help but agree with your comments. instead ok a wake-up call, this is a wake-up post
Watched the Secret DVD 2 weeks ago the Law of Attraction concept really inspired me. Then came across a report of a recent interview given by Bob Proctor that Awareness is everything.
With you post, and applying Bob Proctor’s comments, I now became aware that perfectionism is just another excuse of procrastination… I’m going to make a change in my thinking… to take action even if not perfect and learn from mistakes, and then make it better.
Once again, Tony, thank you for this post
Cheers
Janice
Tony, could you come and visit my head everyday? Pathetic perfectionist in recovery!
I don’t suffer from perfectionism. In fact, I’ll usually look and assess something as “just fine” and then dive. I can’t know if something is working until I can see it in action and then let it evolve organically.The down side to this is more failure than someone who processes decisions more.
This method makes hearing negative feedback TOUGH. I assume I’m hearing something because I’m not methodical. Even though I know I’m new at being an entrepreneur and still have a lot to learn it is very difficult to hear that something I’m doing doesn’t quite work.
Pamela – Worry is often a symptom of another root cause — perfectionism being one of them.
Janice – Glad I got you thinking — and awakening
Ev – The “in recovery” is the important part
Sherry – Don’t look at it as failure. There are a lot of projects where you have to get it out there and get feedback. Often, the first batch can be negative. But the idea is to let the feedback make your product or service better by listening and incorporating the feedback.
Tony, I like the idea of partnering with customers to help make you perfect. It’s something like partnering with other bloggers when your ideas can be strengthened by using theirs, too, by using links. And, by the way, thanks for the link to my site!
This should be a good reminder to all of us. Most of us are probably not a perfectionist but there are times when certain situations like important presentations which makes us serious about making it perfect.
I think you’re totally right. I wonder if subconsciously this has something to do with fear of success? If we find success, we have to live up to it and more people will be exposed to our mistakes.
Great advice and wisdom. The metaphor i like is the mortar team from WWI. Some teams spent hours, calculating windage, etc…whereas another just let fire, then made ajustments. That is what these companies are like,
Fire, then make adjustments.
~Best,
GL HOFFMAN, Jobdig, Minneapolis
http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds
what would dad say
Waiting to get going befor you launch is not a great idea. Think of all the things you can teach yourself on the way. There is so much to learn when it comes to having your own home business. Depending on your learning curve and the company you are with, it can be easy or quite a challenge. I myself quit my job as soon as I started my home business. This gave me plenty of time to research and get familiar with the business.