Perfectionists, you know, always trying to be perfect!! Examining every single detail and not able to move on unless there are no flaws, even a speck of dust. I’m sure you know of someone like this, or maybe you are this person. Fear not, being a perfectionist doesn’t mean you’re a bad person, maybe just a bad entrepreneur.
Why It Doesn’t Work
Simply put, entrepreneurs cannot be perfectionists. Being an entrepreneur in its true form is about building up a business and then letting someone else run the day to day tasks. In my opinion, once a business has been established for a certain period of time you stop being an entrepreneur and start being a small business owner (not that being that is a bad thing, in fact, it’s great). Being a small business owner requires doing day to day tasks that keep the business solid, running, and even growing. That’s when it’s alright to be a perfectionist, after the business is established. If you become hung up on every detail as your building a business, it will never make it over that hump where it can be established and start to flow on its own.
Don’t Think, Do
In my mind, this trait really holds entrepreneurs back, especially young ones. Growing up today is a lot of stress and more pressure is put on kids now than ever to do things perfectly. Over-analyzing and correcting/fixing everything in your business before you even launch isn’t going to work. You just have to launch it and fix as you go. And only focus on the big things at first. If you launch a nationwide online mortgage brokerage, don’t worry about having a license in every state before you put up your website. Throw up the entire website for every state and then start getting licenses for each one.
Takeaways
Remember, starting a business is about being able to follow your passion, but if you get hung up on all the details in the beginning and delay your launch, you are losing out not only on money, but also, the initial drive you have when starting the business.
