Struggling with perfectionism as a web designer? 6 reasons done is better than perfect
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Tell me…has your website been stuck on a “coming soon” page for months while you get it just right?
Or maybe you’ve got a half-written blog post that’s been hanging out in your drafts for longer than you’d care to admit…
Perhaps you’ve already hit launch, but can’t stop yourself from making the one millionth tweak to your services page because maybe, just maybe…moving that image block a few pixels to the left will land you more clients.
Or it’s possible you have yet to even start telling people “I’m a web designer” because you know you don’t measure up to ‘so-and-so super talented designer’ you just finished low-key stalking online.
If perfectionism is causing you to procrastinate in your business, I totally feel your pain!
And that’s why today’s video was (imperfectly) created just for you! 👇
Why done is always better than perfect when building a successful web design business
Reason #1
You can stop wasting time on things that don’t move the needle
When those perfectionist doubts start to settle in and you feel the need to tweak something for the millionth time before putting it out into the world, I want you to remember one very important thing....
The only tweaks you should spend time making in your business are ones that can actually be measured!
What do I mean by that?
If you don’t have a way to legitimately track the effect of a change you are making, then changing it for the 57th time isn’t really going to benefit you, and therefore probably isn’t a good use of your time!
So how do you track the effect of a change you’ve made?
By having something to compare it to in the first place!
And in order to have something to compare it to, you need to hit publish!
Once the original design is up and running, you can decide which data you want to be consistently tracking (ie. how many inquiries you receive each week).
After you’ve tested the original design and have a few weeks of data, then you can start implementing design or copy tweaks one at a time to see if changing that button color or swapping out that banner image really had an impact!
The same is true for pretty much anything else you do in your business from marketing, to content creation, to testing client inquiry workflows.
You need to get your idea out there so you can start collecting data on it! The same data you’ll need to make informed decisions about your business, rather than constant impulsive tweaks fueled by FOMO and perfectionism.
Reason #2
Your version of perfect might actually be plagiarism
“Perfect” can sometimes mean you just looked a little too long and hard at what someone else is doing and now you can’t unsee it.
This is especially easy to do when planning aesthetic-related decisions for your business…
No matter how many tweaks you make, it will never look like that other person’s without straight up copying which you obviously know is a no-no.
So you’re stuck trying to make it look exactly like theirs, without actually looking anything like theirs. Not exactly a recipe for moving forward, right?
Want to ditch this feeling that you’ll never measure up?
Stop looking around at what everyone else is doing and just sit down and get the important stuff on the page.
Whether you’re designing or blogging, or drafting a caption. Whatever it is, don’t try to edit yourself or perfect it as you go.
Get those ideas down in jot note form first, rearrange them so they make sense and flow together, then worry about filling out all the details.
There’s nothing wrong with gathering up a little inspiration here and there, but be mindful of how much time you spend looking at other people’s work before you commit to just getting started.
Reason #3
Your clients can’t book something they can’t see
If there’s anything I’m 100% certain about in this life...it’s that your client is never coming back to your “coming soon” page.
Just like you, your client is super busy.
This giant, overwhelming task of finding a designer and finally getting a legit website up and running for their business has been on their to-do list for months now.
It’s highly possible that they are also procrastinating out of fear of getting it wrong! 🤷♀️
So if they have finally worked up the courage to research designers and book the thing, they are going to want to get that over with TODAY...
Not 3 weeks from now when you promise your site will be live. 🤞
So if you’re currently hiding behind a coming soon page, this is your sign to hit launch on what you have so that your client actually has something to book when they show up on your site!
Deciding to hit publish will force you to focus on the big picture features and functionality of your project instead of allowing yourself to stay stuck fiddling with the same tiny details over and over for 6+ more weeks.
Reason #4
You can’t improve something you haven’t practiced IRL (in real life)
Have yet to tell anyone you’re a web designer because you don’t know if you’re any good yet?
Well, you won’t know until you actually try designing for a client and putting what you do know to good use!
And if you discover there’s something you don’t know?
Great! Everything is figure-outable.
Use your perfectionism to your advantage by being determined to figure it out, rather than letting it keep you from starting at all.
The hardest part of getting started is that you just don’t know what you don’t know.
But the only way to improve is to just start and do the best with what you do know. Then, just by doing, you’ll discover all the little holes that need filling, and you’ll know all the ways you can instantly level up the next time you go to do that thing!
Oh, and all those seemingly perfect designers out there?
They learned what they learned by feeling hella-under-qualified and trying it anyway! Which brings me to my next reason!
Reason #5
Your client doesn’t view your business through the same lenses you do
Think your client is watching your every move, waiting for you to royally ‘F’ things up 👸 and expose yourself for the fraud you are?
Let me let you in on a little secret…
Your client only cares about themselves.
I’m serious.
They are too busy worrying about whether someone will notice they THEY felt like an imposter or that THEY won’t measure up somehow to notice all the little things that are currently causing you to stress-sweat in your business
They do not have a front row seat to all the little BTS mess ups or meltdowns like you do.
The sheer fact that you have a website up and running and they don’t makes you the expert and someone to look up to in their eyes.
So yeah, strive to be the best you can be and keep learning and growing and developing your skills along the way…but don’t feel like your website, or your blog, or whatever thing has to be perfect before it’s ready for the public eye.
If you can genuinely help your client or audience in some way, they aren’t going to notice or care if it was perfect!
But again, you can’t help them if your ideas stay hidden in a folder on your desktop, or if your site redesign is always one tweak away from going live.
Reason #6
Being scared and doing it anyway is the ultimate motivator in business 💪
Pressing publish before you feel 100% ready is scary… 😬
But proving to yourself you are brave enough to do it anyway is an instant confidence boost and the best possible motivator for accomplishing pretty much everything else you’ve been putting off in the name of perfectionism.
You just showed yourself you are committed to doing what it takes to grow this business, even if it means putting yourself out there in somewhat uncomfortable, less-than-perfect ways.
And when your audience starts to resonate and respond to what you’re doing, you’ll realize they aren’t after robot levels of perfection after all. 🤖
They are actually looking for signs of humanness when they show up to your site! They want to know that someone out there cares enough to meet them exactly where they are at, not tower over them like some sort of untouchable idol!
It’s possible to strive to create truly dreamy work, while still inspiring your clients with an example of someone who isn’t perfect but is out there pursuing their goals anyway!
So rather than trying to prove to yourself and the world that you are perfect (which we all know isn’t even possible) why not prove to yourself you are brave and adaptable instead!
Deciding to check off something that’s been weighing on you for weeks and months is guaranteed to give you newfound confidence, free up your creativity, andddd light a fire under your own butt for tackling all the other things you previously felt less than qualified for in your business!
If I waited to hit publish until I felt 100% qualified and things were 100% perfect, I would have exactly zero blog posts on my blog, and less than zero videos on this channel.
But instead I have 500+ pieces of free, in depth content that have helped over 2 million people to date! (All imperfectly created doing the best I knew how at the time.)
I made the decision early on in my business to choose progress over perfectionism, and I hope today’s video will help you do the same!
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