Today I want to talk about something that holds a lot of sellers back. And that’s perfectionism. My motto is done is better than perfect. Here’s why.
I have 18000 sales on Etsy at this time. And my shop still isn’t perfect. I look at my stuff and can pick dozens of things that I need to change or fix or improve. If I would have waited until everything was perfect or even just closer to perfect to launch my shop I would be months, if not years, behind where I’m at right now in my business.
And this doesn’t just apply to starting your Etsy shop. Because when you make quick decisions and take quick action steps, you make quicker progress. You learn along the way.
Social media is another really common example. I have a ton of students who just aren’t posting on social media at all. Because they don’t know what to say. They want to take new photos. They’re not sure what hashtags to use. They just don’t feel ready to commit yet. So they don’t post anything. And you know what happens?
Nothing.
You obviously don’t make any Etsy sales. But you also don’t gain that one extra follower that will turn into your best and most loyal customer. You don’t get to know your audience at all and learn what they enjoy hearing from you. You don’t get any practice in increasing that engagement rate or making reels or taking new photos.
So I really encourage you to adopt this done is better than perfect motto right now. And let me tell you a little about what I do and don’t mean when I say done is better than perfect.
I don’t mean…
– Listing 40 new products with blurry / dark photos
– Posting 5 times per day on instagram with boring captions
– I do not mean quantity
Here’s what I do mean.
Listing one product this week that you genuinely love. But not doing 2 hours of unneeded keyword research to find the “perfect” keywords when really 5 minutes will do.
Taking one hour this week to schedule your social media for the entire week even though you don’t think it’s 100% instead of not posting anything at all because you haven’t decided on the perfect long term strategy and photos.
I mean quality. In everything. But only up to 90%.
Look. In an ideal world, we would all have hours and hours of free time each week to make things perfect. In reality, we don’t. Whether you’re full time in your business or part time. We have to prioritize and do our best…but we also just have to get stuff done. And 90% perfect is better than 0% done.
So today I encourage you to pick one thing that you’re procrastinating on because it’s not perfect yet. Then make a timeline to get it out there whether it’s perfect or not.
If you need help with this, I know there are a lot of you out there who do because I talk to sellers every day who I can see this perfectionism is holding them back, I want you to make sure you sign up to watch my free masterclass at dailyetsysales.com.
This is something that I work on with my students all the time and I want to help you too! See you there!
-Sarah
