Don’t Try to Be Perfect. Just Get Started.

Online Business

One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn over the years in online business or even entrepreneurship in general, is the ability to get in front of people before I’m “ready” to. The ability to just get started.

No, I’m not talking about half-assing projects or spewing garbage with the intention to make a quick buck on the Internet.

I’m talking about doing research quickly and making a minimal viable product or service and running with it.

It turns out it’s way more beneficial to build an audience, gather data, and ultimately serve that audience than it is to get the spacing right or have the perfect colored submit buttons on a webpage. I’m exaggerating a bit but you get the point.

I’ve sunk hundreds of hours into several websites over the last decade+ that will never see the light of day again. These were amazing websites that never saw any action beyond probing hackers and vulnerability scanners.

I spent time making the website look awesome by learning the premium theme I was using at the time, by learning and implementing all kinds of custom WordPress tricks, and coming up with a ton of content.

End result for each website – 60 to 300 hours spent grinding away getting everything right with no audience. No one benefited from the materials. It felt like it was all just a hamster wheel run.

Now don’t start feeling sorry for me. It wasn’t a total waste.

WordPress powers a quarter of all websites on the Internet (depending on which study you find it may possibly be more). That means knowing how to use and customize WordPress will present valuable opportunities.

Not only that, I now know what I need to do to be successful in online business and have already started taking steps in the right direction.

I made important strides in 2016 that reframed my thinking and made me start taking the right action.

I’ve made a commitment to blow off the blast doors in 2017.

I’m not a successful entrepreneur yet. But I will be. And if this post resonates with you, I want you to ride along with me.

I’ll be posting free content, resources, and updates.

This website, at least at the time of writing this, doesn’t look nearly as good as other websites I’ve done. It doesn’t have a whole lot of content either. The goal is to make little, continuous progress.

Big things can happen when you implement tiny habits.

If you have a goal this year and you’re on the fence about it, whether you want to start a business or develop a website that puts additional monthly side income in your pocket, stop thinking about it and just get started. Don’t waste any more time. I don’t want you to be at the same spot in 2018.

If you want to be an action taker, don’t try to be perfect. I can tell you with 100% certainty that spending 200 hours on a website before anyone can see it is a waste of time.

Ditch those old wantrepreneur habits and get in front of people.

How to Get Out of Your Perfection Rut

I know you want things to look awesome. I also know you want the website to work perfectly.

The next time you’re working on something on your website ask yourself one or all of these questions:

  1. Is this task important to the reader or just me? Does it actually benefit the reader?
  2. Can I scale down this task to make it good enough for now?
  3. What will happen if I don’t do this task right now? Can I work on it later?
  4. Have I created content yet today? Is this task more important than delicious content?
    • Side note: you can also use a specific goal like “Have I written 1,000 words yet today?”

Content is king. If you’re anything like me, you love the sysadmin stuff of a website. You also love the design, the coding, and the settings optimization.

You spent more time on these things so it’s naturally easier for you. Spend some time on creating and promoting content. It’s hard, uncomfortable, and sometimes scary.

But you know what, you begin building a following and it will be worth it then. If you’re not like me. That’s ok too. There are things you are better at all the same.

In the comments below, tell me what’s one of the hardest things you’ve had to learn in online business, freelancing, or entrepreneurship?