41 | Perfect Schmerfect: Launch Now, Improve Later

Can the chase for perfection be the reason you're stuck in a rut? Welcome to another vibrant episode of the Annoyingly Optimistic Show! Today, we explore the often overlooked pitfalls of striving for flawlessness and how it might be the reason you're procrastinating. Through the adventures of Tim, a small business owner in need of a morale boost, I share my own journey and how letting go of perfectionism has transformed my approach to projects and ideas. This episode promises a fresh perspective on embracing imperfection and pushing forward, even when things aren't picture-perfect.

You'll hear about the power of taking action over endless planning and how launching something, even if it's not perfect, can lead to amazing opportunities. Using real-life examples, including my current project launch, I illustrate the importance of putting your ideas out there and refining them along the way. This isn't just advice for Tim—it's a call to action for anyone feeling paralyzed by the need to get everything just right. Tune in for your daily dose of optimism, actionable tips, and a bit of friendly banter to get you moving towards your goals with newfound confidence.

If you are self-employed or run a small business and feel more like you're self-annoyed then get in touch, visit the website www.theannoyinglyoptimisticshow.com where you can submit a question or problem and start your journey to becoming self-enjoyed! 

The majority of 'business advice' out there isn't aimed at self-employed or micro businesses, following it leaves you frustrated and chasing quick fixes. I specialise in tools, systems, techniques, inspiration and help specifically designed for YOU, the person who has to do it all, who doesn't have a team of people, unlimited resources or the time to spend months learning complicated techniques. 

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

Hey there, listeners, it's your annoyingly optimistic host here bringing you another season of the Annoyingly Optimistic Show. Welcome to Season 2, voicemails to Tim. Now let's meet Tim. He's been running his own small business for almost three years now and let's just say he's hit a bit of a rough patch. You know how it is Sometimes you get so stuck, you make yourself busy and just avoid finding the real problems. Well, that's Tim.

Speaker 1 0:23

So, as a good friend, I decide to leave him a daily voicemail, if I can't get hold of him, filled with nuggets of inspiration, insight and wisdom and downright brilliant ideas to help get him unstuck Every day. In just under 10 minutes, I'll share some tips, tricks and a healthy dose of optimism to get Tim, and maybe even you, back on track, because, let's face it, we're all a little tired, in need of help and muddling through. So here we go. Re, oh wait, never mind Tim's being busy. Here's the voicemail I left him today. Hola, tim, I think it was bonjour, um. The other day, when I spoke to you or left a message for you, um, I was just trying to mix it up a bit, so hope you will, tim and um, thanks for the message you sent me the other day, um, and you're away for a couple of days, I'm still going to leave you some voicemails anyway. So, um, yeah, hope you find them useful on your return well-earned break. I wanted to talk today and there's been a number of times I've left these voicemails for you where I've kind of, oh, I wish I'd said that, I wish I'd said that and, and I could have, you know, gone back and deleted the voicemail or stopped it and rung you back or whatever, or sent you six messages afterwards to add some more things.

Speaker 1 1:34

But it's always more important for me, when I get the ideas to, to share them with you and share, hopefully, the energy and the passion and give you enough to make you ask a question or, you know, just basically inspire you or give you some insight or just some ideas or whatever. And that's what I wanted to talk about today is not chasing perfection. These aren't perfect, you know, and invariably I will ramble on sometimes and I will say the same thing multiple times in slightly different ways, but it's about getting it out there and this chasing perfection is, I think it's one of the things, personally, that I've seen. Anyway, it's one of those things that, even though many people won't say they're chasing perfection. I think it's something which causes procrastination and it does really stop people in their tracks. Because if deep down, you've got a, you know within you there is this perfectionist. The easiest thing in the world is not to start, because if you don't start you never have to worry about making it perfect, and so those tasks get put off. You know those things that might stretch you, that become difficult at the end, and things like that. And and this is where you know, I've talked before about taking action rather than just kind of planning it's, it's in that same kind of thing. Planning is important, but not to the point of all you ever do is plan, and perfection is, is, is a kind of a nuance of that. You know, oh, I really want to put this new product out or put this new service out, but oh, there's so many moving parts and I want to get it just right and perfect and all the rest of it. And guess what? Perfection rarely.

Speaker 1 3:23

But equally, you've got to get it out there. You've got to put something out there. Case in point I'm launching something in a couple of weeks time and when I launch it I'm not going to have the shiny super. You know workflows and websites behind it. I will have a single page there and I will put it out there and I will be able to explain it and people will be able to see what it is and they'll be able to go yes, that's something I really, really want and they'll be able to pay money. Fantastic. It achieves that, that basic aim.

Speaker 1 3:57

But it's not the all singing, all dancing, as if I'm, you know, been going for 10 years with this particular thing, because if no one's interested in it, then great. I've saved myself a big chunk of time and a big chunk of, you know, money by develop not developing something to absolute perfection, but I've just launched it, I've got it out there and I've got it in front of people and the customers will tell me whether this is amazing, I want this or not. That worried, you know. So, chasing perfection, you're better to get it out there and test, get it out there and get feedback. Get it out there and tweak it and adapt it, because that way you end up with a better product, a better service, but also you're not stifling yourself, you're not getting yourself stuck by chasing something which invariably is is unattainable. You know, nothing was ever perfect. I'm gonna give a potentially bad example.

Speaker 1 4:58

But if you, if you go with me with this one, the iPhone, you know each iPhone and and take the first ten iPhones, seven or eight iPhones where they were developing more than they are now, you know each one of those was not perfect. Each one there was technology around which would have made that one that's just been launched a little bit better. But because it takes so long to get to that point, they have to make a choice of going. Well, this is the best one we can launch right now, now. Now again, there is a business and a financial pressure on there to you know, well, we can save some of these features to kind of future.

Speaker 1 5:38

But if what they were, if the phone that they first launched on version one and then the 2g and the 3g version, if they were awful, they wouldn't have sold, you know. So they were good enough, they were great, they weren't perfect, they didn't have all the features and the rest of it. Because if you were chasing a perfect iPhone or chasing a perfect MacBook or whatever, they wouldn't exist because they would be constantly in development and go oh well, if we just wait six months, we'll have that next feature, and oh, we're almost at six months. We'll have that next feature, and oh, we're almost at six months. But we can almost do that now and they'd never release anything, because there would always be something slightly better just further down the line, and that's the trap that we can get into on a business.

Speaker 1 6:22

It's always I want it to be that version of perfect or that version of amazing, and well, there's just that, and if I just had a bit more time there, I could make that a bit better, get it out there, get it in front of people and then spend that extra time because guess what? The feedback might come back that they're not interested in that thing. You were going to polish and polish and polish. They're interested in something over here and it's more important to tweak that, develop that and evolve that than the thing that you're originally focusing on. So it's important to get things good, get things even potentially great, but it's not a case of getting them to perfection. It's not a case of trying to get everything completely sewn up, because there will be things that you miss, things that you hadn't spotted, things that will develop in different ways and potentially things that just customers aren't interested in. So don't waste your time on those things. Get it good enough, get it good, get it as good, if not better, than your competitors, but then get it out there, get it in front of people, get that feedback. Don't chase this unobtainable perfection if it's something that's slowing you down time and time and time again. If you're really worried about call the thing a test, call it a beta, call it an alpha, call it a pilot, because in that very nature, a you will get people interested. But also it changes people's perceptions of what they're buying, what they're investing into, because you're already prefacing it with the fact that I'm just testing this out and therefore it changes those expectations. And if they go, oh my God, this is amazing, you've got to do this, fantastic. That's the feedback you want. If you're going to go yeah, I can see you're testing it out, it's not really there yet. Then cool, ask them feedback and why, where is it? Where is it lacking? And continue developing. And again, it's change. It's you know that, that energy, um, but it's not trying to be perfect, because perfect generally doesn't doesn't do any good when you chase that. So I hope that helps, tim, and I shall catch up with you soon. Bye for now, and that's it for today.

Speaker 1 8:29

Episode episode of Voicemails to Tim on the Annoyingly Optimistic Show. Now, remember, tim might be busy, but we're all in this together. Whether you're tired, in need of help or just muddling through, tim is here for you because, well, tim is you. Yes, you heard that right. Tim isn't just my friend. He's a reflection of all of us who are struggling to make it work. T-i-m stands for tired, in need of help and muddling through. So if you're feeling like a Tim, you're not alone For all those ambitious listeners. If you've got a burning business question, a quirky thought or just want to see if you can leave an even weirder voicemail, head over to the website voicemailstotimcom. Submit your question and maybe, just maybe, you'll hear your idea in a future Voicemail to Tim. So until then, stay annoyingly optimistic, keep pushing forward and remember, if life gives you lemons, leave a voicemail about it.