How many projects do you have almost completed that need just that last little tweak or addition and it would be finished? The vast majority of entrepreneurs complete projects and products to around 97% completion, and then put them aside – never to be fully completed.
Why do we do this? What stops us putting in that last 3% of work and having another product or service to sell that brings in income? It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? We do 97% of the work and then put it aside with only 3% left to go – and we never make a cent off all that work because it’s never completed. It’s because we’re looking for perfection. We compare our work against everything else out there, and find it wanting. We wonder if it’s good enough, if our competitors have done it better, if it’s overpriced, underpriced, if there’s a market there for it – we get scared that it’s not perfect and so we never finish it.
And that’s for the products that actually make it to 97% completion – even more of them never get past the planning stage! Now that can be a good thing, if in the planning stages you realise there’s no market, or the market is saturated, or you can’t manufacture the product with a decent profit. However, what about those products that are shown to be feasible and marketable after your market research and planning – and still don’t move ahead?
It’s time to put the fear to one side and complete those projects.
No money is ever made in a business until you do something, finish it and market it. How much more could you be making if you completed those products that are so close to finished now? And what would happen if you sent them out even if they weren’t absolutely 100% perfect?
Completion – not perfection.
I’m not saying to produce sloppy work that shows you haven’t put effort into it. I’m talking about leaving off the endless tweaking, the proof-reading and minor changes that are never totally finished. The re-designing to add just one more feature. The striving for the perfect website with which to promote your business.
You can research endlessly, make alterations and changes, discuss wording and grammar ad infinitum. Or you can take a deep breath, step up to the plate and put it out there. If you’ve done your market research and can see there is a need and market for your product, then it needs to be out there and selling in that market. Not still on your workbench or computer.
It is more important to have something completed than to have it 100% perfect. Completion will sell. Perfection will sit uselessly and never bring in a cent. Get that product out there. The perfection can come later, and the great plus is that you’ll have feedback from users who have bought the product.
Remember, Completion not perfection.
Melinda is a Business Coach who specialises in working with at-home mums. Her areas of expertise include developing business plans that really work, finding clarity and direction amongst the chaos of working at home, streamlining systems and processes for greater efficiency and effectiveness and developing profits. You can find her at WAHM Biz Builder
Sun, Jul 5, 2009
Working at Home