What are you sitting on that you haven’t put out into the world?
Yeah, you. I’m talking to you. 🤨
Maybe it’s the book you keep editing, the project you keep talking about starting, or something you’ve already created but barely told anyone exists because you don’t want to keep banging on about it.
You mentioned it once. Surely talking about it again would be a bit pushy?
Maybe you’re waiting until you’re further along or feel more confident. Maybe you’re worried someone will criticise it, nobody will buy it, or you’ll announce this thing you’re so excited about and then have to let everyone watch you fail.
I get it. I’ve screwed up businesses because I could suddenly see everything wrong with the products I’d created. I’ve talked myself out of promoting work I’d spent months on, including courses I knew were bloody good.
I could always find a reason, and at the time, every one of those reasons made sense to me.
But how much longer are we going to let fear make these decisions for us?
We’re over 50. We’ve got things we want to do, and I don’t want us having this same conversation in another 10 years, still talking about the things we never got round to trying.
My friend, action is the answer. We need to get out there and do the shit we keep saying we want to do.
Are you finding faults, or losing your nerve?
One of the easiest ways to avoid putting yourself out there is to find something else that needs fixing.
And you’ll find it, because it’s your work. You know where you rushed a bit, which chapter could be stronger or what you’d change if you started again.
But sometimes you need to look at why those things have suddenly become such a problem.
I did this with a range of journals Rhett and I launched a couple of years ago. It was my idea, he got involved because I wanted to do it, and almost as soon as they went on sale, I started picking them apart.
I didn’t like the layout. I wanted to change the inside pages. I wasn’t happy putting my name behind them, so I stopped helping him sell them.
I’m not proud of that. The poor bloke was left trying to shift products he hadn’t wanted to launch in the first place, and we eventually sold through the stock and called it a day.
I could have kept selling them, asked customers what they thought and used that feedback to make a better journal. Instead, I let my opinion of my own work kill the business before we’d given it a proper chance.
But of course, the journals weren’t the problem.
The problem was my confidence. I didn’t feel good enough to get behind what I’d made, and picking holes in the design gave me a reason to pull back.
I know this because they’re now in my plans to relaunch under This Big World.
So the question you have to ask yourself is, would fixing those things make you happy to go out and sell what you’ve made, or would you find something else wrong?
With my travel challenge cards, I nearly went down the same road. As I shared earlier this week, I had a massive wobble when they launched, but this time I kept selling. They’ve now made over $22,000 in sales.
I still see things I could change. Of course, everything we ever create can and should be improved. But when you’re starting out, good enough is good enough. That’s why it’s called a minimum viable product.
So before you disappear into another round of changes, ask yourself what you’re actually fixing.
Is it a problem that stops someone getting value, or have you found another way to put off asking them to buy it?
When did you decide you weren’t good enough?
Perhaps you’ve already done the thing, done it well, and still find a reason why you’re no longer qualified to talk about it.
I managed to do that with my courses.
