This is something we need to remind ourselves of from time to time. We naturally want our business to be the best it can possibly be; you probably feel the same way. But, it is easy to fall into the perfectionist’s trap of never launching because your business is never good enough.
Why Perfectionism Is a Startup Killer
Perfectionism is a great procrastination technique. Starting a business is daunting, so it is natural to want to feel like everything is perfect before you launch. But, things are rarely perfect in business. There is a huge learning curve, but you can’t learn any of the things you need until you have launched.
It is better to just launch and work things out as you go along than fret over having your website perfect before you launch. Depending on your circumstances, you may not have the money to get your website perfectly designed or even hire a copywriter until you’ve made a few sales. That is fine. If all you have is a one-page website or a social media page and Etsy listings, it is better than nothing. You can always update your website, graphics, and copy later when you have the time and money to do so.
By just starting, you are already so much further ahead than everyone else that wants to start a business. You are now a business owner. Fear of failure is often what has people focusing on getting everything perfect before they launch. This is quite common amongst new business owners, but you need to push past it and launch your business.
Comparison Trap
If you follow business coaches or other business owners on social media, you may be falling into the trap of comparing yourself to established businesses. Very few people start their first business to £10k months. No matter how many business books you read or how many entrepreneurship experts you follow, you need to try and fail at things for lessons to click into place.
It can be demotivating when you first launch your business and hear crickets. The people you follow on social media make it seem like just having a business means you’ll be rolling in dough. But the thing is, they have 15k followers. When they start a new business, they make sales because people want to buy from them. They also know the strategy behind a successful launch and have a team in place to implement their strategy. You don’t have any of those things, so of course, your launch won’t be as successful.
Polish Comes Later
When you first start a business, your priority should be bringing in money and adhering to legal requirements. Everything else is secondary. Once you have money coming in, you have something called proof of concept. In simple terms, this means that people are willing to pay for what you’re selling.
Once you have proof of concept, it is then a matter of polishing everything to increase profitability. Let’s say you start an e-commerce store selling dog jackets. You launch your store and create a Facebook ad promoting your dog jackets. From that ad, you make 5 sales. It doesn’t quite break even, but you have proof of concept. 5 people were willing to pay for a dog jacket no matter what the ad or website looked like.
Now that you have proof of concept, you can begin refining the process. You can start by improving your landing page to increase the conversion rates when people click on your ad. Facebook ads are pay per click, so you want to convert as many of those clicks as possible. You might start by reaching out to the 5 who bought your product to ask for a review and photos of their pooch in your jackets. You might hire a copywriter to write a more compelling landing page (and perhaps ad).
Once you are happy with your landing page, you can start AB testing on your Facebook ads to find out what type of ad is more successful. You might be torn between showing pictures of dogs wearing your jackets or if a video ad would be more successful. Try both and let the market tell you which works best.
Take This As Your Sign to Start Today
If you are letting your fear and doubt hold you back from starting your business, take this as your sign to start today. Look for ways to make it less daunting to start your own business. Start it as a side hustle so you can keep the security of a full-time job. Look for ways to start it with less capital, so you’re not putting all your savings on the line. Do what you need to do, but just start.