Good Morning,
Yesterday, a client sent me an e-mail saying she is desparate to be doing what she is good at and needs me and my network to take care of writing content and setting up a web site for her.
The first thing on my mind was “I know how she feels.” Sometimes there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the month – let alone a day. To make it worse, all the advertising we read tells us we’re doomed without a site. We just have to get our internet business up and running.
You know what makes me feel better? Knowing that everyone else is feeling just like me – at least some of the time.
And here’s the truth about getting your web site up and running, setting up your business, and every other project you plan:
You can afford to use the time you need to do it correctly.
“Okay,” you say, “but what about sloppy success being better than perfect mediocrity?”
I’m glad you asked.
Doing a thing correctly means the links work, your shopping cart is working, and the product/service you are supplying is ready to go.
“Sloppy success” means your web copy might be a little off, there is a spelling mistake in your address label, or your autoresponder is sending everything twice.
My clients hear two things from me all the time:
1. Daily, consistent effort is what you need.
2. Anything you can hire someone else to do better, faster and for less than it will cost you to do it yourself – outsource it.
And these aren’t original “Conrad’s.” #1 is from Michael Masterson. #2 is from Terry Dean.
In my opinion, the best thing you can do to ensure your own success – and your sanity – is to get a mentor. Someone who can tell you when you’re worrying and don’t need to. Someone who has been “there” before you and can warn you about the pitfalls.
So now we can all relax. It isn’t quite as bad or urgent as we thought.
Tomorrow we can go back to being our usual harried and self-tortured selves until the next time someone reminds us to take life a little less seriously.
Conrad
Hi Conrad,
I heartily agree.
A single entrepeneur, a freelancer and even a small business can be overwelmed with the tasks needed to get a business online today.
It is amazing how far you can go with small steps taken every day consistently over time.
And after several months of doing this you will want to outsource whatever you can.
I also think you learn more through sloppy success rather than waiting for the right budget or waiting to read up on everything before doing anything.
Even so, I find it a challenge to make decent estimates on how long you need to give yourself to do something online. Seems like I always grossly underestimate the time needed to do something.
My time estimates used to be at least 10 times too short, now it seems I still underestimate how long I need to do something by about 4 times. Learning curves and all that. 😉
Good luck on your ebook project!
It’s fun to watch what you are doing.