With all the serious blog posts about resumes and interviewing tips lately, today I decided to share a personal story. I have a feeling many young entrepreneurs have experienced something similar.
I had a bit of an emotional melt-down this week. It was one of those weird mid-twenties moments where you feel the need to evaluate your life from every aspect. Your career. Your relationship. Your financial situation. Not sure where the hell this came from, but it came and hit me hard.
So I called my two most influential personal advisers: my parents. And I made them take me out to dinner because it is way cheaper than therapy.
My parents are very successful entrepreneurs. They’ve worked together as a couple their whole career. Somehow they are still very happily married after 27 years. They are the masters at “making shit happen.”
My Dad provided me one very clear takeaway which was so simple, yet so huge:
Stop getting so caught up in all the details.
Huh? !
So then I’m like, “Yeah whatever Dad. Anyways, here’s an idea I want to put into play in my business…(enter detail, after detail, after detail).” And he kept interrupting. And I was annoyed. And then after interruption 179, I started to see what he meant.
He broke everything down into SIMPLE action steps. He’d say, “Write this down!” and tell me 3 things to do this week, instead of the 50 on my list.
My Dad was lucky enough to graduate high school. Yet I’d bet money that he is a better business man than most MBA’s out there. Why? Because he keeps it simple. Now I see why they say that people who get C’s rule the world. They don’t overthink everything.
His advice?
- Not sure how much to charge for a product or service? Pick a number and adjust from there.
- Want to start making freelance income? Then do it, don’t just read about it.
- Not sure about all the details of what your clients might need? Ask the 100’s people that email you every week- they’re right in front of you! Then start taking on clients and adjust from there.
- You are already in business but you’re too busy thinking about it to notice it.
Perfectionism is an entrepreneur’s death sentence.
Shit. This must be why I’ve started several projects but rarely finish them because I always find something to improve, analyze or change. Um hello- have you ever heard of version 1? You can always make version 2, 3 and 4 of your product or service later.
My “entrepreneurial perfectionism syndrome” theory is seconded in this awesome post about perfectionsim on Zen Habits.
What do you think?
- Are psychological barriers holding you back from your entrepreneurial aspirations?
- Is it really a lack of education or is it a lack of simplicity?
- Are you trying to re-invent the wheel rather than trying something simple and seeing how it goes?
- One of my trusted advisors (@mattchevy) recently taught me, “start small, think big.” What order are you thinking in? Big or small first?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post Nicole.
It’s advice I’ve started taking recently. The most important thing for an aspiring entrepreneur, blogger, freelancer, pretty much anyone who has goals or is seeking change, is just to start.
Planning and strategy definitely has its place, but all the planning and dreaming doesn’t get you anywhere unless you take action. I really liked your point about “version 1.” Give it your best shot, then adapt and improve as time goes on.
Excellent ideas Nicole. Your dad sounds like a smart man. I think one of the things that we all tend to do is wait to pull the trigger. But, if we just start doing it then things always move faster. Sure you are going to make mistakes. I think for the most part, people are not praising is for the elegant design of BlogcastFM. But,we had to pull the trigger. We knew that we could always go back and make changes down the road. Lack of simplicity is definitely a big part of this problem for anybody experiencing it.
Hey Nicole,
I’m a fairly new reader and first time commenter. I’ve got to this post makes a lot of sense. I always get so bogged down in working out all the tiny details that sometimes I never get around to putting the idea into action.
Great advice from your dad. I’ll have to keep it in mind.
I seem to not have a problem “ignoring the details” and thinking simply in my professional life, but when it comes to my personal relationships, I could really use this advice! Thanks Nicole!
{you are brilliant}
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{this is *just* what I needed to hear}
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I <3 you.
For us perfectionist entrepreneurs, the perfectionism is not only a severe strike against simplicity, but often also a strike against time, energy, and seeing the big picture. Your parents sound like amazing role models. Great stuff!
Dads words of wisdom. His frank honesty is sometimes just what we need to get back on track.
This is great advice – and it’s awesome that you have such a good source to go to for this type of information
I definitely have psychological barriers to success sometimes – much of it attributing (like many) to being overwhelmed by the “need to do” and then wind up doing less than I could.
Great post