Then you just finished your new logo and suddenly you come across "The Ultimate Logo Design Guide" or a free webinar telling you how to do it. In it, you are told very different things that you have done.
Well, you've just finished and it turns out you've done it all wrong. So don't you dare publish that new logo, because it has to be completely tip-top to pass muster first. No one must know that you have failed here.
But hey, who says you're doing it "wrong"? Fuck that insecurity and hatred of failure and mistakes. Why failing and making mistakes only makes you stronger.
Grab your ginger tea, double espresso or glass of Verdejo, because here comes a delicious pep talk. Especially for you!
Trying is better than not trying
Entrepreneurship is a learning experience. If you don't try, you won't learn. That includes mistakes. Learn all about "getting out of your comfort zone"; it's where the magic happens! Maybe your very first social media post won't be perfect, but it's better to start with your socials and get better at it little by little. After a year you will have figured out what works and what doesn't, you will be more efficient and you can look back with pride on the learning path you took. That's much better than after six months (or longer, because six months flies by) still sitting around dithering because you really want a perfect feed. Kick those perfectionist and super-critical little voices out of your mastermind and just start trying.
Take A/B testing on websites, for example, where you see a different website in two groups. For example, one group sees a green button and the other group sees a black one. So which one gets more clicks? That button is then implemented for all groups. So is it a "fail" that you tried it with that other button? No, because you had your reasons and now know which button does work. This way is also widely used when creating advertisements or SEO-proofing websites or texts. You can have such wonderful theories and extremely expensive courses, if you don't put them to work, you will never have measurable results to learn from.
Theory is also just theory
So I have a cum laude Bachelor of Arts and a cum laude Master of Arts. Super nice to be able to put on my LinkedIn and resume, but for the most part, I have no use for it. With a specialization in Media Entrepreneurship and a minor in Design and Development (with lots of projects), I thought I was ready for entrepreneurship. That backfired for a while. There were an awful lot of things we hadn't learned.
For example, what should be included on an invoice? How can I draft legal terms and conditions and when is this important? What if a customer doesn't pay?
How much time should I schedule for my own social media management? Is it better to build my website myself or outsource it? When is it at all convenient to outsource something and when is it better to do it myself?
Really nice that we had learned how to make a SWOT analysis, but I would have preferred to learn how to speak to nagging customers better. Very interesting those STARR forms with 360 degree feedback, but receiving and giving feedback was a little different in real life.
Would I now say that my bachelor's and master's degrees were worthless? No, not that either - I did learn practical skills that I apply in my business. Knowing how to deal with groupmates who don't meet their deadlines taught me how to deal with different types of people.
But what I want to say: theory is worth nothing if you don't apply it. A lot of things come at you when you become an entrepreneur. Don't let that intimidate you. You don't have to be able to do everything well from day 1. With that, I come back to the first point again: better to try and learn from it than to put it off because you're afraid of not doing it quite right. Then you don't learn. Those very lessons are what you need to become a better entrepreneur and achieve your goals.
Think of it as a process
To summarize everything in one sentence: see your entrepreneurial path as a learning process, where mistakes and failures actually help you move forward. After all, everyone fails. That's part of it and makes you stronger. Now when I look back on certain things I did at the beginning, I don't understand how I was able to do that. But anyway, I did what I thought was right at the time and eventually learned from it. If I had never taken those steps, I wouldn't be where I am today.
The bottom line? Follow your heart and find out what you do best (+ love best!). Take it step by step and stick to yourself. Then you'll be fine, really.
In a future blog, I will take you through my learning journey and the mindshift change I experienced.
