The Constant Battle Between Done and Perfect (and why done will ALWAYS win!)

If you have been around the Unicorn world for a while, you've probably heard me say the words “done is better than perfect” many times

Because it's so true! It's one of those lines that you hear all the time!

Usually, when I suggest this to others, and even sometimes to myself, I get the response "yeah yeah, I know" with a bit of an eye roll.

What if instead of approaching the idea of perfection as something to strive for, how about you embrace the cheesy saying and do it imperfectly - make it just good enough!

The impact that getting something out there for your business that you're not totally happy with could be bigger than you imagined.

Whether it's your website, blog, a sales page for your online course, or even a digital product you wanted to release but haven't quite got there yet… Get it up imperfectly, and fix it later! 

Just a heads up

Blog Posts from at The Unicorn Advisory may contain affiliate links, but I’m a no-bullshit affiliate kinda gal, as you can read about in my affiliate disclaimer.

I only share products and services we use and love and would recommend, if there was an affiliate program or not.

The few $$ we make from affiliate income, costs you absolutely nothing and goes straight to our family holiday fund ✈️ so my kids and I thank you 💗

What is most harmful to your business?

The #1 thing that will harm your business progress - much more than an imperfect colour pallette, wonky logo, copy not set up for ideal optimisation, or emails that don't sound exactly how you want them to - is not having your website, opt in, course or the important aspects of running an online business done AT ALL!

You can't grow your list, engage with your audience (or even grow an audience) or sell your passion and expertise, if you don't have a way for people to join your list. If people have no way to learn what your business is about or have a way to buy your digital products, you are missing a huge piece of the puzzle!

That freebie optin you created, but decided would look better if it was all beautifully branded (and then you went down the rabbit hole of finding templates on Creative Market and you couldn't decide which one you liked best and now it's weeks (or even months later and you still don't have your PDF finished?) 

Or maybe it's the email sequence you've only written the first two emails for, so you haven't put it live yet because you read that welcome sequences need 7 emails so you don't think what you've done is good enough?

Whatever your mission is, move your focus to done.

Don't worry if the spacing isn't quite how you want it on the website, or the buttons don't match your brand colour guide, or the images don't line up perfectly, or you want the copy to sound better… 

Whatever it is that you're holding back on, just get it out there in whatever state it's in.

Give yourself a time limit (and make it a short timeframe - like a day) to do whatever you can to spruce it up, then do it - get it published/available.

Just do it! Imperfectly, but DONE.

 The thing is - yes - there will ALWAYS be ways to optimise and improve every aspect of your business. 

Getting it "right" isn't an end destination.

There isn't some magic internet fairy who is going to mark your work and say OK, it's good enough for you to release it to the public now. This is why it is so important that you stop over analysing your work, preventing it from getting out to the public!

You can make it happen right now and it will be good enough (as most importantly, it will be done!) You can always improve it/optimise it/add to it later.

Regardless if you are going at it alone, or even if you have the best and most intelligent people in the world working with you - you will always continue changing and improving.

Business changes going forward should become a result of responding to feedback, learning and trying new things, and seeing what works best (for your audience and your business), that is all a part of growing a business!

However, putting too big of a priority on those improvements before release can stop you from getting your business up and running in the first place! Sure, you can test and change colours, wording, images and everything to IMPROVE sales and list growth and engagement and all the things...

But, you can't improve until you have a starting point, a baseline to work from.

In order to get a starting point, you need to start! You need to get your stuff out there.

Does your inner perfectionist tell you lies like...

"no-one will buy it unless it looks more professional"

"you need to remake those videos and put makeup on/do your hair/fix the sound/have better lighting/insert imperfect reason here"

"you can't get people to sign up for your freebie until you have a 7 email sequence plus tripwire plus product to sell, all set up first"

"you need to create a fancy sales page if you want to sell a course"

If you answered yes to any of these, I'm here to tell you that none of it is true.

Sure, you may be able to sell your course for more in the future if you updated lessons, reorganised content or hired a conversion copywriter/designer for your sales page, but it doesn't mean you can't sell it right now, as it is.

Yes, your videos could be better if you had a better camera/microphone/personal stylist/fancy Airbnb or studio to shoot in, but it doesn't mean they aren't OK and good enough right now.

You absolutely can get your freebie up on your site in a super simple Kajabi pipeline with just 1 email to thank them for downloading (and add all the other optimisation/extra emails/fancier thank you pages later).

You can even start building your list with NO freebie, just a simple form inviting people to get your emails.

Yes, you see many courses with fancy sales pages, but you can also sell your course from a simple Kajabi checkout - no sales page needed! In fact, to make it even easier, you could sell your course with a google doc and a paypal/stripe link and people will buy.

You can start where you are... today!

The funny thing is though, once you get your work out there on the interwebs, you might even find you don't need to improve it as much as you thought you did while your inner perfectionist was running the show.

You may decide what you have is perfectly good enough right now, just how it is.

Need proof?

If you are looking for an example, take a look at Sharon Chelman, from Little River Kitchen who teaches amazing online cooking and baking classes! She is a member of B-You Collective, our coaching program for digital product creators, and has been on Kajabi for just over a year now. 

Sharon recently hit her $50k Kajabi hero status (YAY, go Shaz ) and shared some of the things she learned along the way, including putting the done is better than perfect mantra into place.

Isn't it awesome that she is now making $3.5k each month, from a course she didn't think was good enough to sell as it was and she was going to remake it!

It's a perfect example of done is better than perfect (and simple is even better) in action! If she wouldn’t have taken that leap of faith, she might not be where she is today with her courses! But because she didn’t let imperfection get in her way, she is doing better than she even thought possible in just over a year! 

What if this was you?

Do you have some helpful resources like templates/graphics/resource guides etc, that would save someone else time and could be a quick and easy digital product package you could start selling right away?

Are there resources you have that you've wondered if you could sell, but have put off because you wanted to make them better?

Have you got a course you created but never sold gathering dust on your computer?

Maybe a coaching program you wanted to launch, but didn't because you felt you had to set it up "properly"?

Or Maybe even a zoom or FB live training you've already made, that could easily be repurposed into a mini-course?

I challenge you to think about what you could do immediately (or this month), that will help you make massive (imperfect but DONE) progress in your business.

Maybe you can get that freebie up so you can start growing your list (and tell everyone about it!) Or even start selling the course you thought needed to be re-done in its current state! 

Rather than rolling your eyes at the saying, what can you do to ensure "done is better than perfect" becomes something you're actively doing?

Keep working towards your goals, you never know when you are going to cross that line and turn your goals into reality! 

Cheers, Sue x