Podcast

Episode 352: Why Imperfect Marketing Works

Episode 352 - Why Imperfect Marketing Works

As perfectionists, we want our marketing to be perfect before we release it into the world. But the truth is that our best marketing for our clients won’t feel perfect to us. In this episode I share with you why this is the case and how imperfect marketing has helped me grow my business.

Tune in to learn why imperfect marketing works, and how your marketing can feel easy and intentional.

In This Episode You’ll Learn:

  • Why your best marketing won’t feel perfect to you
  • What your customers and clients are thinking about when deciding to buy
  • How I’ve made over $1M over the lifetime of my business with imperfect marketing

PGSD is opening to new students on 26 October 2022:
The PGSD Process will have you getting out of your own way in your business and planning properly as a perfectionist. The doors to Perfectionists Getting Shit Done will be opening at 6am New York time on 26 October and closing at 11:59pm New York time on 1 November 2022. To find out more about the program and be the first to know when the doors open, join the waitlist here: samlaurabrown.com/pgsd.

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In this episode, I share why imperfect marketing works and how it’s helped me make over $1M over the lifetime of my business.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Hi, and welcome to another episode of The Perfectionism Project. A podcast full of perfectionism advice for entrepreneurs. My name is Sam Laura Brown, I help entrepreneurs release their perfectionism handbrake, so they can get out of their own way and build a fulfilling and profitable business. I’m the founder of the perfectionist getting shit done group coaching program, which is otherwise known as PGSD. And for even more perfectionism advice to help you with your business, you can follow me on Instagram @perfectionismproject.

In this episode, let’s chat about why imperfect marketing works. I know that when our perfectionism handbrake is on, we want to make sure that our offer our niche, our messaging, all the different things are perfect. And we’re very all or nothing in thinking that they need to be perfect in order to make any money in order to have any success in our business. And sometimes this way of thinking can lead us to spending a lot of times perfecting, and tweaking and procrasti-working behind the scenes, so that we can make this grand entrance once everything is just right.

In my experience, the best way to figure out any of those things I mentioned, like offer pricing niche, any of that is through your marketing through the act of showing up and giving it a go, trying to figure out who you’re talking to, by saying things and reflecting on them and then saying them again, or saying them in a different way.

That that is a process of really developing your marketing and your skills when it comes to selling. And that it also works. Something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, I’ve probably said this in a few of the different podcast episodes that have gone out recently is that something can be a work in progress and work at the same time. And that is definitely true when it comes to marketing.

So in this episode, I just want to chat to you a bit about this in case you have been perfecting things behind the scenes, in order to maybe come back out, maybe you have been rebranding or spending a lot of time working on your messaging in your niche or doing all these different things where you’re kind of putting, marketing and selling, and then figuring out certain things at as being these opposing things, they aren’t really and you’re therefore telling yourself that you can’t market until you have perfected.

And then you might be finding yourself getting very stuck with the perfecting and very overwhelmed with that. And that’s disheartening knew about the marketing and that whole thing. And so I just really hope with this episode, to give you permission that you might not have yet given yourself to imperfectly market your business. And that includes imperfectly marketing, an imperfect product or service. And that that is not out of integrity, that that is not out of alignment with the values that you have.

And if you ask me, for example, like for me with PGSD, it’s a work in progress, the PGSD process that I teach in that, and the way that we deliver it, it’s a work in progress. And it works. And the way that I market PGSD, which is primarily through this podcast, also through emails, also through Instagram, that is imperfect, it’s a work in progress, and it works at the same time. So let’s talk about this idea of there being perfect marketing that could look like there being this perfect Instagram strategy, and the perfect way to post in the perfect way to show up on stories, or it could look like the perfect podcast, or it could look like the perfect ecommerce website with the most beautiful images.

Or maybe you’re selling art and it’s having the most perfect art that’s completely flawless that no one could ever criticize or not like and that you are like that’s part of your marketing. And also you then need to have this perfect Instagram strategy and website and other things and maybe a YouTube channel to to show yourself drawing or painting or whatever it is you’re doing. Maybe it is having if you are emailing people to get new business and you are networking, maybe it is having the perfect emails that you are writing.

Or it might be for example that you are wanting to feel like you look perfect before you do your marketing. So you are wanting to be at your ideal weight and have your ideal wardrobe and beautiful makeup or whatever that looks like for you that we can be thinking that to build a successful business. Our marketing needs to be perfect. And then we spend a lot of time tweaking, perfecting, procrastinate working in order to try and build a successful business. And we spend a lot of time doing that. That isn’t really us spending time on a needle mover.

So when we’re planning properly, we’ve got our growth goal, we’re doing our power planning, we are focusing on needle movers. And when it comes to procrastinate working, there are three types busy work, overworking and under working. So busy work is when you’re working on a non needle mover. Overworking is when you spend more time than is necessary on a needle mover. So it might be something that will actually help you build your business and make a significant impact. But you were spending all this extra time, tweaking, perfecting, redoing, editing, all these different things.

Or maybe you’re under working, so you are working on a needle moveer. But when it gets about 80% done, you then jump to another one. And that gets about 80% done and you jump to another one. So you’re spending a lot of time on these marketing tasks. But they’re not actually building your business because you aren’t getting them complete. And therefore they aren’t able to do the work for you. So when we think about perfect marketing, what I think we are thinking about in that is ourselves, that it’s all about how we will be perceived.

And I will just speak from my own personal experience that anytime I am feeling, say with a podcast episode, I’m feeling like it’s not going to help the people that I wanted to help. It’s not going to do the marketing that I want it to do. Or the same with Instagram, for example. I am thinking about myself and how I am being perceived by you. I am not thinking when I’m thinking about it being perfect marketing. I’m not thinking about you, and your life and your transformation and your work to do as a perfectionist entrepreneur, and how I can help you with that.

And it’s very tempting when we’re thinking about perfect marketing, that it’s kind of wrapped up in this disguise of like, well, no, I really just want to make sure that I’m producing high quality work and that I’m really helping people with my business and I don’t want it to be sloppy or reckless or anything like that. And when we are perfecting we are thinking about ourselves. We’re thinking about ourselves and how we are perceived. And we are trying to perfect in order to compensate for the inadequacies that we believe we have. When we are thinking about the person on the other end. That’s when we can really release our perfectionism handbrake more easily.

That whole cliche thing as well of the Tony Robbins quote about you know, when you’re suffering, it’s because you’re thinking about yourself. And I think that is so true in so many ways. And it doesn’t mean not to think about ourselves, and that we’re selfish, if we’re thinking about ourselves, it is the human condition, to think about ourselves, that is how we survive by thinking about ourselves and how we are perceived by the tribe, and whether we fit in or not.

And whether we are going to be left out by ourselves to die if we were thinking back to way earlier in the timeline where we needed to really be included in that tribe to survive, and to make sure that we were saved from all the animals or whatever it was out there, that it’s so human to think about ourselves and want to make sure that we’re not thinking that if we are finding ourselves, thinking about ourselves, thinking about our bills, or thinking about anything like that, that we are, therefore someone who doesn’t care about the people that we’re helping, and that we should be selfless all the time.

And this is something that I’ve talked about before, but when it has come to my journey with business, especially in the earlier years, where I was really just trying to figure out how to get the business standing up on its own legs, and actually be something that can sustain itself and all of that, that I was spending a lot of time thinking about myself and my personal goals that I had, and the money that the business was making. And that I felt a lot of shame about that because I heard so many people on podcast talking about how much they want to help other people and that they don’t care about the money and that it’s all about helping others for them. And I wanted that to be true for me too.

And thankfully the way it often works is that if we are feeling ashamed about that it’s a pretty good sign that we do actually care about other people. And that we had just been super harsh on ourselves. And also when I was focused on my own goals and getting by myself. It also through me sharing that journey and all of that there was so many benefits for so many other people so it just it wasn’t true. I If it wasn’t helping other people, but I felt a lot of shame, about being more focused on myself than I had other people were being.

And that, you know, when people say just, for example, with a podcast, just publish it because think of like, if it could just help one person, then it’s worth it, it’s worth the emotional risk, it’s worth the courage it took, it’s worth the time it took. And intellectually, I got it. And intellectually, I wanted that to be me to be the person that could get out of my own way, just at the thought of it helping one other person, or 10 other people or 100 other people, but often people will say you just think about helping, if this helps one other person, it’ll all be worth it. And while that is true, to me, that wasn’t motivation enough to get out of my own way.

Also, because I had so many thoughts about what it would mean about myself, if I put something out in the world that was imperfect, how I would be judged, and how that meant others in my personal life would perceive me and how it meant that you would perceive me and all that, that it felt like, yes, it would help one person, but I can’t even really be sure of that, because of the self doubt and the imposter syndrome and those kinds of beliefs. And so yes, I want to help people. But also I am thinking about myself, I am thinking about my career goals and business goals, I am thinking about making money. And I say this all the time. And I think it bears repeating.

Without growth goals, we are always and I am proud of myself that I’ve always pursued that in a way that’s in alignment with my values in a way that’s in everyone involved their best interest in integrity with that, it’s not that, okay, we think you might yourself, so you make money at any expense, and you do all these things you don’t want to do, there’s a reason I don’t run an ad like I don’t have, I mean, not running ads, I have run days run, Facebook ads, Instagram ads, that kind of thing in the business.

But I mean, in terms of like ads on the podcast, or sponsored content, and that kind of thing I’ve chosen not to do that even I could do that. And it would get me closer, quote, unquote, to my growth goal, that I would argue that me choosing to put my energy into other things will get me to go faster. But anyway, it’s not about the speed. And it’s not about that being like, you know, it’s better for it to be organic marketing, versus paid marketing, any of that kind of stuff. It is really about pursuing and achieving your growth goals in a way that’s in alignment with your values.

And if you are someone who has been thinking about yourself, you have been thinking about your business goals, your career trajectory, within that you have been thinking about the bills you need to pay, you have been thinking about supporting yourself and supporting your family, you have been thinking about how getting a new customer or client and achieving those goals is going to validate you and help you with any insecurities you might have another that’s really an effective strategy for that. But if you have been thinking that way, just want to share that’s totally okay. And I have been there too. And I think that it’s so important to share that.

And it feels like I think the first time I share that on the podcast a while ago, like I’d never admitted that, because it felt so shameful to say that I have been thinking about myself heavily. And that even though like it’s just like I say before that the business and the way that I’ve built it, it has benefited, impacted the lives positively of 1000s and 1000s of 1000s of people. And yet, I still felt ashamed to say that, you know, hearing people say things like, if it just helps one person, then it’s worth it.

And that’s enough to just, you know, get you out of your own way that that didn’t work for me thinking of it that way. And again, I think a lot of that self doubt and that side of things. And the self image, particularly, I think when we talk about self doubt and impostor syndrome that’s really about self image. And that’s an important part of the PGSD process that we work on once you’ve mastered or you’ve started learning how to plan properly perfectionist, then later on your work on your self image specifically.

And it’s so important to just let it this I mean is is a little rant at this point, but just let it be okay, if that has been you, like it has been me and and that doesn’t mean that you aren’t helping people. And it doesn’t mean that you’re not as altruistic as others that are out there. And I think that if more people were honest about it, there will be other people, many, many other people who would share that yes, that’s true for them. Like it’s true for me that I want to help people And I want to get you out of your own way and all of that.

And at the same time, it can be true that you are also sometimes wrapped up in your own life, because we’re the main character in our own life. And it’s so human to think about ourselves. So to just hear other people say, like, Hey, I also have been thinking about myself, so I share that I hope to just give you some permission to let it be okay, that whatever you’ve been doing, when it comes to that is fine is okay is normal, is human, there’s nothing wrong with you.

And if you haven’t been able to get out of your own way, just by thinking about the people, you’ll help when you do so, it didn’t work for me either to do it that way. And that’s why the PGSD process exists, and why we focus on things the way we do in terms of having your growth goal, power planning, clean rest, and then the remaining steps in the process. And it’s really about plan properly as perfectionist, follow through 80% of the time, rest without guilt and repeat.

And there are certain things we focus on, as we’re doing that, to help us do that. And that you can do that and get out of your own way and help those people but it’s okay, if the intellectual idea of helping people hasn’t been enough to motivate you the same way that hearing. And this is why I don’t say this kind of thing about like, you know, just repeat like I am enough, or things about just, you know, progress over perfection, and just those little mantras that there’s nothing like wrong with them as such, but they never helped me.

And so I think it’s more important to just talk about the things that actually help and doing the work to get in the growth mindset rather than these intellectual platitudes. And that kind of thing, one of which is, you know, if it just helped one person, then that’s enough in whatever, it’s full of that to say that when we are thinking about our marketing having to be perfect, we are in the all or nothing mentality of imperfect marketing works.

And imperfect marketing doesn’t work, which isn’t the case. And we’re thinking about ourselves, and being more concerned with our fears that we have and our beliefs about ourselves, our self image than we are about who we’re helping. And therefore, it means that we aren’t even the best judge of what is perfect marketing and what isn’t. And that the perfect marketing for your people, isn’t going to feel perfect to you, because you’re too close to the value of what you’re creating, you’re too involved in it, you’re too in it.

So it’s not going to feel for example, if you do something that similar to what I do, when you’re sharing stuff, it’s not going to feel mind blowing or profound to you, it’s actually going to feel pretty repetitive and basic and common knowledge to be sharing the stuff that you’re sharing, just because it feels that way to you, doesn’t mean it feels that way to someone else. And if you have artwork, for example, that you might be feeling like, well, this doesn’t look perfect to me. And this is like, especially when our perfectionism handbrake is on, we can be so critical of ourselves.

And so for example, if you are creative in terms of maybe you are selling art, like a lot of are PGSDers are that you are thinking something that needs to be perfect in your eyes for the buyer to want to buy it for the you know your customer, and then not going to be looking at the same things that you were looking at when you were judging whether or not that’s something you want, they’re going to be thinking about how they feel, and what it represents to them. And that’s going to be influenced by the beliefs they have about themselves and the stage of life they’re in and their self image and all these other things.

And they’re not going to be saying like oh, this bit like in your mind, you’re thinking about what it could have been and how it failed to measure up to that. And the consumer like when where the person on the other end. We’re not thinking about that we’re thinking about ourselves and how it fits into our life. And this is like, the ironic thing of it all, that when we’re wanting to create perfect marketing, we’re thinking about ourselves, and yet our customer isn’t really thinking about us at all.

They are thinking about themselves and how our product, our service, whatever it is that we are offering, how that fits into their life. Whether that is something that is worth them investing there money in, there time in, whether it’s the right time for them to do it, like all those different questions, they’re not thinking about us and whether we are good enough. And so that’s why another reason, it’s not helpful to be even thinking about how we are perceived in terms of there being this perfect marketing, because that’s not even a question that is entering the minds of our best customers and clients, they’re focused on themselves and what they’re up to, and what they have got going on.

So just a reminder with that, as I said, it’s not going to feel perfect to you, the perfect marketing for your people. And also, I just want to say too, there is so much permission giving, when you as a business are marketing imperfectly, that there will be people regardless of the kind of business you have, and whether or not you help people with other businesses, that by showing up imperfectly, you will be giving them permission to do the same in their career in their relationships, in their health and fitness journey, you will be being an example of what it looks like to be out of your own way.

And to be showing up, even though it might not feel perfect to you though that might not always be the case. Because to them, they might think like this is all incredible, and they must have all their shit together, because look how good this is. But when we are sharing, imperfectly, and putting ourselves out there and risking their objection, risking all of those other things that we are permission giving. And that is so so, so powerful.

And I know for myself that hearing other people market their businesses, and this is even before I have my own business, but hearing other people just showing up and share in a way that I’m sure felt imperfect and oftentimes inadequate to them, changed my life because of what they were creating. And the same is true in your personal life, just by showing up and getting out of your own way, even just a little bit in your business and putting yourself out there, there’ll be so many people in your community personally, who have been wanting to go for it who’ve been wanting to actually do something they really want to do.

But who are feeling like, well, no one else in my life is going to get it because everyone else in my life is just going through the motions and ticking the boxes, and I’m going to be the weird one, by going first, by leading the way. It is so transformative for those around us. And I know in my own story, that by me, showing up for this business in my imperfect way, and doing the work to get out of my own way, a journey that I’m still very much on.

There have been so many people in my personal life who have told me that just by me showing up for myself, they were inspired to show up for themselves in whatever that looks like for them. It wasn’t like they like okay, well, I’m also going to talk to people about perfectionism and do coaching, like zero of them have done that. But they have had the permission, just by having an example, to actually do what they really wanted to do.

So I think it’s so important that regardless of the kind of business you have, if you are an e-commerce store owner, you’re an artist, you are a graphic designer and interior designer, a stylist, a coach, all the things that just by you getting out of your own way and showing up more fully for yourself and for your business, that you will inspire others around you to do the same. And going back to what I was saying in the beginning, maybe you hear that you’re like, Yeah, I get it. But it’s not enough to get me out of my own way to hear that. And that’s okay, if that’s the case.

But for me, like, that felt different to me when I really recognize that kind of thing compared with if you show up and it will just help one person like with the content you’re creating, or your product or service or whatever that I was like, I’m not so sure it’s actually going to help people. But what I really had been framed as I’m being an example of actually doing with your life, what you want to be doing and giving it a go, that that gave me permission to show up. And to really, I want to say get out of my own way in the sense that I had, I guess, and this is what gets us in the growth mindset is having more emphasis on the process, rather than the results.

So when I’m thinking about the example, I said, for those that know me personally, and now also for those who are seeing me be an entrepreneur in terms of clients, that by me focusing on showing up imperfectly, that that is giving them the permission rather than it having to be my content creates a certain result, my coaching creates a certain result, my program creates a certain result. And so I just am saying the same thing in a whole lot of different ways in the hopes that something at least one thing will really land with you. And just give you that permission, you haven’t yet given yourself to market imperfectly to create imperfectly.

And I have been helped by so many first iterations, or second or third iterations of products, and services. And pretty much like any program that I’ve invested in, I am sure that at this point in time, it is better than when I did it. And yet it was life changing for me. And so it’s, again, about it being a work in progress. And at working at the same time, that both of those things can be true. Because I also want to talk about it being safe, to be in flow for your marketing content to be easy, and that it doesn’t need to be over thought.

And this is something I’ve really been exploring lately that to me, it felt unsafe to just do what I’m doing right now pick up the microphone chat from like three very brief bullet point notes about things and that, if I’m doing that, especially if I’m doing that with every episode, that I’m going to miss saying things that I need to say, like there’s this puzzle, and you need to get every piece like all or nothing, you need every piece of the puzzle, to be able to get the result.

And just starting to recognize myself that when I am in flow, that that is the most beneficial, and it’s going to feel easy to me, it still feels very vulnerable. Like yesterday, I recorded a couple of episodes. And I was just chatting. And after it, I just felt like this kind of vulnerability hangover, Oh, I feel like the same things over and over again, and it wouldn’t have been helpful.

And I’ve just at this point, I’ve said this many times, I’ve just learned to trust, as I’ve said, that the marketing, the podcast episode, all that it doesn’t need to be perfect, that you’re going to hear exactly what you need to hear when you need to hear it. And every word I say doesn’t need to be golden also that some of the things that have been most profound for our PGSDers that they’ve heard on the podcast, they have been the things that felt so basic to me, because they were things that I had fully embodied already, or that I had, you know, learned a few years prior.

So at that point, it felt very normalized to me and like, well, everyone knows that. And to really get that I’m just not the best judge of whether something is going to be helpful. And there we’ll be, you know, podcast episodes that I think will be incredible. And people have so many breakthroughs from and I don’t really hear much feedback about them. And then there are other ones that I think I really shouldn’t have published that.

And people refer to them for years to come. So again, the marketing doesn’t need to be perfect for it to work, not going to feel perfect to you pretty much regardless, because we’re so like we love growing and our brains will naturally focus on the bits that need improving rather than the bits that are actually working. And we’re really thinking about ourselves as a creator, and that we’re kind of imagining to say, with a podcast, we’re kind of imagining that the other person is there listening, like they’re sitting down, they’re doing nothing else whatsoever.

And they’re just thinking about like, I wonder if you know, Sam is good enough as a creator, let me have a listen to this and judge her and see. And it’s not like that. It’s like you’ll probably grocery shopping or driving or whatever. I know when I’m listening to episodes, I kind of zone in and then I zone out like a here’s something that was really helpful or thought provoking or whatever, then I’ll kind of zone out and my brain will be thinking about that. And then I’ll zoom back in and I’ll hear something else.

And even just from an episode of I just hear one sentence that was thought provoking that that was beneficial. And there are some times I’ve listened to episodes and I just want to hear a comforting, familiar voice chatting to me. And that is value enough even if what is being said might not be helpful though it often is that even that alone there’s value in that and the same is true for your marketing and for what you’re doing and it doesn’t need to be perfect.

And I don’t like this, I guess I don’t say the whole cliche thing of this or such thing is perfect marketing. I think the perfect marketing is the imperfect marketing that we put out there and really showing up and doing it and put it in your power planning and just been onto yourself when you’re doing your weekly review, are you move in your marketing tasks from week to week to week. If you are self coaching, or get coaching inside PGSD, submit for a call. And just knowing that it’s gonna take courage, we do courageous work in PGSD, it’s gonna take courage, you might not sometimes often have a vulnerability hangover from it.

But the best way to figure out your messaging your niche to figure out how you share the things you share, like, for example, for me, for me to figure out how I talk about perfectionism, how I talk about business, the tools I share, and creating those tools, like I have pretty much everything that I have created in terms of tools and things to help with releasing your perfectionism handbrake, I’ve like learned all these different bits and pieces from elsewhere, I have practiced them myself, I have then morph them into something that works for a perfectionist.

I have worked on them with my clients and use them there. And I have also developed a lot of those ideas through talking about them on the podcast, or initially, it was writing blog posts about things. So the first blog post that I wrote, I had zero ideas on my own, I was just sharing, like, Hey, I like this blog, and I like this YouTube channel, oh, this YouTube video, and I like this quote, and I had no original content to share.

But in the beginning, it was just like, Oh, these are the things I like. And then over time, I developed an opinion and a process through doing my own work. And if I was just like sitting in my bedroom waiting to have the perfect news, perfect messaging, the perfect podcast, even like the perfect name for things like this podcast was called the Smart 20s podcast when it first started because my blog was called smart 20s. The one I started in 2013.

So it’s like I would never have even figured out, I was a perfectionist, like, when I started Smart 20s, I didn’t even know I was a perfectionist. But through sharing what I was sharing and showing up, I figured that out, and I was able to adjust and iterate and adapt the business accordingly. And if I was just waiting to have this perfect marketing, so I could then go out and announce it. And like this whole idea of not wanting to create a bad first impression. It’s like, if the first impression was bad, it’s not memorable. And therefore you can just create another first impression again.

So knowing that if you have been in this mindset of wanting to have your a good example is with the niche, and the messaging, that you or branding, like the colors of things, and the fonts that you need that to be just right. So that when you do launch, whatever it is, when it’s whether it’s a new project, or whether it’s the business itself, that it can then be perfect, because we’re in this mindset of like it needs have a perfect start for things to be perfect after that, instead of the growth minded approach, which is what we’re working towards in PGSD, where it’s really seeing like the beginning is going to be the worst.

And then you’re iterating and we all get that intellectually, but really getting in your bones, that it’s okay for that to be the case. And it’s designed to be that way, we want the beginning that to be the worst and to improve instead of thinking that the beginning has to be perfect for anything else to be. So anyway, this is all just been a way to remind you that imperfect marketing, can make you a lot of money can help a hell of a lot of people can give a hell of a lot of people permission to get out of their own way. Whatever it is, they have been avoided.

And it’s just I know I said this before, but the number of like random people I’ve talked to like acquaintances, and things like that, that I’ve said, like, oh, you know, I have this business. And that’s been whole journey for me to actually tell people I have a business. Anyway, I now do that. So telling people like I have a business and I help people. I’ll say it different ways, depending who I’m talking to, and what I think that knowledge is of the personal development world and that kind of thing. But it’s just so fascinating.

A lot of times people will know a lot more about the business and personally businesses than I assume, because maybe they like me have been kind of in the closet about it and not really sharing it. But almost everyone will be like, I have a business idea that I’ve been thinking about for years and I haven’t tried yet I’d be too scared to start. And some of the people who said this, I have been you know how you think no one else has fears and doubts, and it’s just yourself, at least I tend to think that way even though I help so many people get out of their own way, it’s still shocking to me that I’m not the only one in my own way sometimes.

Anyway, these people will be like, oh, you know, I’ve had this idea, and I just haven’t had the courage to do it, or it hasn’t felt like the right timing, which really isn’t a timing thing. It’s a confidence kind ofthing. Anyway. And often, almost always, like when I tell people I help perfectionist, they are like, I’m a perfectionist, like, I Oh, I know someone who is or, anyway, all of that, to tell you that you’re not alone, it’s normal to have these feelings, and that it is going to take courage. And it is going to work and be a work in progress at the same time.

And the best way to figure out your niche, your Instagram strategy, your pricing your product, like if even looking at PGSD, itself, it has gone through so many iterations from when I launched it in June 2019. Like it is unrecognizable, in a lot of ways. Some ways are similar. And for example, having the coaching calls and things like that, like some things have remained consistent. Other things have changed the pricing and the way that works, it’d be like a monthly membership to being a lifetime access program that you can sign up to. And like that’s completely changed. And the way that we launch and all of that there’s been so many changes.

But if I was just waiting to have all of this perfect content, and perfect coaching and perfect teaching, then I like wouldn’t have ever started, I would still be waiting to get started. And I’m so glad that so when I first started learning about creating, so for me for my business model, it’s having an online program, like when I first started learning about that in 2016, which is more about learning in the form, of course, rather than coaching. But the teaching was really about you launch it, and then you create it so that you don’t spend all this time like perfecting things that people might not actually want.

And also so that they can spend time learning how to market instead of just like, you know, I’m working on this course, the program for years and years and years, and you never launch because it’s never perfect. And I’m so glad that I came across that way of doing things. And I really learned that can be so in integrity, like you never laugh and say, Oh, I’ve already created this whole thing. And it’s they do. It’s like, hey, there are so many people who want to sign up for things when they’re not yet created. It’s like, okay, so with PGSD, for example, I had the idea for it, they’ll be like I knew certain things about it.

There’ll be a coaching call each week. And there would be we had at the beginning, like a theme per month and that kind of thing. But I wasn’t pretending that I’d already created everything. And still hundreds of people sign up for that. And I’m so glad that I gave myself permission to start. Before I had all the answers before I had all the knowledge. And it’s so easy to be thinking that, you know, if I just had this perfect product service, whatever it is, then I would feel more confident. So I need to spend my time tinkering behind the scenes so I can get the confidence to then go and market it.

And I have really found particularly in the last year, I’ve been really focusing on this, because I have had instead of me focusing on all the amazing testimonials and everything like that for PGSD, there have been times where I’ve been focusing on like, in my like I said, with the artists, I can see what could be better about it. And there are many things always like hundreds of things that could be better about it. And so my brain was focusing on that. And then that was impacting the way that I talked about PGSD, which then impacted the number of people we could help and all of that. And instead just recognizing that it can be a work in progress.

And it can work in terms of helping perfectionist entrepreneurs get out of their own way that can be true at the same time. That gave me so much freedom in the sense that I was able to actually then my brain was able to see what was working. And all of the amazing results that have come from PGSDers doing the PGSD process and all of that. And then like with that, that I’m developing these podcast episodes and all that like more things. And it’s not about quantity, but like refining the ideas and doing all of that so that our PGSDers get even better result.

And it’s just this like positive upward cycle, rather than our brain focusing on what isn’t working and what could be improved. And then we don’t have the confidence to sell. And then we meet that means all sorts of things about ourselves and the product and that whole thing. It’s like this upward cycle, spiral, whatever you want to call it, of seeing that it can be a work in progress and it can work and our brain focusing on that and then we’re leaning in and we’re doing the work to make it better, learn better and better. And it’s all of that.

So, all of that to say imperfect marketing works. Best way to figure it out is to do it. And it’s going to take courage and it’s going to be worth it. So with that said, I hope you enjoyed this. If you have, please take a screenshot and tag me on Instagram, I’m @perfectionismproject. I hope you are having a beautiful day and I’ll talk to you in the next episode.

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Author: Sam Brown