Waiting until it's perfect...

You are telling the truth! The best website design in the world doesn't matter if no one ever sees it.

Great post, I agree, but damn, it is so hard sometimes to release something when you know it isn't perfect.

Thanks John,
I realized that when I noticed I still don't have
a Sig yet. At least not a very effective one.
I am going to use your advice and couple that with my own.
I will set a Launch Date and Pull The Trigger Period.

Love that thought!

We should strive for high quality services, products & content. However, perfectionism can keep you paralyzed with no action taking place. It's good for us to keep reminding ourselves that everything doesn't have to be so perfect...and to get moving forward!

Absolutely true. I started coaching a few guys last year and one of them was
actually driving me nuts.

He was like me when I started out. He was constantly tweaking things on his
new product, the sales letter, the emails.... it became like an obsession

I told him that I had the same problem and that he needs to go over it since
we were already working on this thing for 8 months. He paid me to coach him
5 months but I don't know, I just couldn't leave him all alone. But after 7 1/2
months I told him:

"Look, you will launch this da** product to your list this week or I will kick you out
of my email list, I won't reply to your emails and you will never make
money on the internet, never. You can leave now. Go check the classified ads
and find a job and work for somebody else instead of wasting my time"

And this is a true story.

What did he do? I really hoped that he would continue. He did.

9 days later (14th February) he launched his product and made almost
17.000$ on his first launch.

HA! What you think about that.

He finally realised how stupid he was. I was even more stupid when I
started out

GET OUT THERE!!!

Well... if that's how you have to rationalise putting out an unfinished product ......

I remember when I first started I used to wait until something was "perfect" before I unleashed it to the world. Thankfully I have learned that for the most part IM is a learning process.

Each launch, whether it be websites or products, you are going to run into new problems and situations. For example when I recently launched a content site with the goal of earning revenue through advertising. Every other site I've done was always selling something and my writing reflected that.

Had I just waited until my content site was "perfect" I would still be waiting and would probably be doing so for a long time.

Does it bother me that those first posts are utter crap? Yes it does. But I look at everything after that and go "Damn... now thats perfect!"

Every time I look back at stuff I wrote years ago, I think to myself "What friggin garbage this is!" Yet I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread when I wrote it back then. And I worked a lot more meticulously years ago.

I learned though. Plus I don't have as much time to nit-pick over minor details.

My new philosophy is quite simple: Work fast, fail fast, learn fast, get rich fast, amen.

its about believeing and doing isnt it?

I've been working on project for a while now and I think of something I can do better everytime I work on it. Heck, I think of things to do better on it when I'm not working on it.The truth is there will always be something I can do add to make it better. Actually, I think its good right now. After reading your post I realize its just anaysis paralysis...dare I say maybe even fear? The quest for perfection is actually holding me back. I need to follow Nike's lead and "Just Do It". There's no rule that says I can't change/tweak things after its out there.
Great Post John. I needed that.

Tell me about it! This is just a CLEAR example of ONE experience I had, etc.... HECK, I have seen a LOT of failings in packages in the past. One such failing is COMMISSIONS! I could do that in my sleep! I didn't, because writing the system AROUND it would be VERY complicated. Well, I specialize now in data conversions, interfaces, and data warehouses and GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!

I once supposedly got a job doing an interface for a company's customer. It fell through, and the company failed to notify anyone. I ended up actually writing a MANUAL for that product. It only does COMISSIONS! REMEMBER, I was originally going to write the INTERFACE for it. Stand alone, it is WORTHLESS!

They were in business FIVE years and thought they knew everything! WOW, FIVE WHOLE YEARS!?!?!?!? And to THINK, I only had a measly maybe 40 years under my belt at the time. Even when I was a little kid I heard about this stuff. My mother and father BOTH worked on it! My mother manually as an accountant, and my father as a programmer for computers. I had only been actually working in the industry doing this stuff for people for a measly 20 years!

I asked them how to do something that seemed impossible, with their product. and they told me in their "infinite"(sarc) wisdom that NOBODY would do that, that they can't, and they have 5 years experience! I heard of MANY companies that DID! I think amazon does, and Barnes and noble told me that very morning that THEY do! The question?

THEY supported:

0-10000 @4%=400
-20000 @5%= 900
-30000 @6%= 1500

They did NOT support

0-10000 @4%=400
20000 @5%= 1000
30000 @6%= 1800

CRAZY, huh?

What surprises me is that I STILL hear about those guys! Where I work NOW, they use them! Their customer list reads like the forbes 500, and they are NOT cheap! It is ASTOUNDING what companies pay them. And they get a product that basically requires someone like me to integrate it.

Steve

Economics:"the efficient use of resources"
-think of how you are using your resources(Capital, Entrepreneurial ability, and labor) to do well online and make the most money possible.
-Think of the Pareto Effect: 20 percent of actions yield 80 percent of the results so dont waste time with the 80 percent that produces 20 percent results