Give yourself permission to suck When I was in fourth grade in Marin County, California in the 1970's, we had a new age "rap" group where students discussed their feelings with each other and a teacher facilitator. One day, I got a piece of feedback from a fellow 10-year old that stabbed me in the heart: "You always try to be "Perfect Pam" and do everything right. It really bugs me." Ouch! But my short comrade was totally right and nailed a belief that would plague me through most of my adult life: in order to be liked, respected and valued I had to do everything perfectly. I have learned through trial and error that this is not only unrealistic, it is extremely unproductive. Do you share any of these common perfectionist tendencies? You continually tweak a new product or service to make sure it is "just right" before bringing it to market You have thought about starting a blog or newsletter but can't decide the exact topic or focus, so you put it off. Besides, you may worry that no one will care what you have to say. You want to get feedback on a business idea, but don't want to share it with anyone until it is perfect You want to start working independently in a new field but fear that you don't have enough experience so you take training class after training class to get yourself prepared You have written a book but are afraid to share it with a book agent or publisher for fear that they will think it is terrible All of these situations require that you do what I learned from master coach Andrea Lee: Give yourself permission to suck. You have limited time, money and resources. If you wait to share your work until everything is completed to your satisfaction, it may never get done. In order to get your business ideas out there for people to see and experience, you must get comfortable with imperfection. So how do you do that? If you have been in business for awhile and want to offer something new to your clients without making it free, call your first offering a "pilot" program and give participants a discount in exchange for some feedback. If they know that they are participating in something that is still under development, they are more likely to be very helpful with feedback and not critical of your program. Identify a "mastermind partner" who is in a similar place as you are and offer to exchange feedback on each other's work in progress. Just knowing that a peer that you respect struggles with similar issues will help you break out of paralysis. Join a business forum for your industry and participate in a discussion board. I see this all the time in many industries from coaching to software development, and I am amazed at how thoughtful and detailed peer feedback can be. Identify a group of test users to give feedback before you release a product for sale. Invite some friends or clients to participate in a pilot or trial. Give them the final version for free as thanks for their feedback. (An added bonus: if they enjoy the product, they can offer you a testimonial to use in your marketing materials) Let people know that you are releasing a product or service in stages, and set expectations for eventual upgrades. As an example, I recently started a podcast and knew that I didn't have everything I wanted in place for the ultimate product. But I wanted to start it, so every two weeks when I record a new one, I upgrade one part of the program. The first show I used recording software that was not my ultimate choice. But it was good enough. The next time I used the right software. Then I moved the programs to the correct hosting platform and provided subscription information. Next I will include a professionally recorded introduction and music. Because I keep my listeners informed of my progress along the way (and share information with them about how I am doing it in case they want to do the same thing) I don't worry about having to have everything in place before starting the new project. I am not advocating being completely sloppy or unprofessional. There is a line between "ready enough for primetime" and "sloppy." Here are some examples of this distinction: Written materials: Ready enough: Ideas that are 80% formed Sloppy: Typos or blatant grammatical errors Web materials: Ready enough: Basic design without stylish graphics Sloppy: Broken links, or programs that don't work Training programs: Ready enough: Exercises that need a bit of testing Sloppy: Lack of preparation or disorganization Live presentation: Ready enough: Good basic information that you have practiced at least 3 times alone Sloppy: Unrehearsed, unorganized material The more comfortable you get with thinking about your business as a work in progress, the more productive you will become. Your version of the ten year old perfectionist may still plagues you at times, but not so much that you will be afraid to take risks. Do you have common experiences with perfectionism? Please come share them at the blog. In Escape from Cubicle Nation, I write about 5 entries a week on topics related to helping people in corporate jobs break out and start their own business. Here are some recent posts from the month of September: Is it crazy to feel guilty about success? 5 ways to get out of "job" mentality when starting a business Another one makes the leap! Gloria Steinem says that Ms. Magazine was a "blogging culture" with 19th century technology Extrasensory customer experience If you want to be notified of new posts, you can sign up in the box in upper right corner that says "Sign up here - and I'll let you know when I post." Or if you are savvy about RSS, just click on my feed button right below the sign-up box. Not a Get a Life Subscriber yet? Click here to subscribe. Welcome new subscribers! I am so happy that you have joined the Get a Life subscriber list. You are in good company! Get a Life readers are smart, funny, ambitious, compassionate and interested in the world around them. If you know any like-minded individuals who would benefit from this eZine, please send them an invitation to join via the Get a Life Referral Page. All the best, -Pam Pamela Slim Ganas Consulting 7744 E. Albany Street Mesa, AZ 85207 480-663-3252 pcs@ganas.com www.ganas.com To View Past Issues of Get a Life click here ©  Pamela Slim, All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Get a Life eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution. Please also notify me.