Are you a planner?
Would you call yourself a perfectionist?
Do you like to learn?
I’m a yes to all three of those questions. I don’t like to wing things, I don’t like to deliver an unpolished product, and I’m always ready to learn something new. So this conversation is as much for me as it is for you. If you answered yes to even one of those three questions – chances, are you might struggle with execution.
I’m Jennifer Roberts, the owner of Back Porch Communications, and this is the final week of my video series on how to Be the Boss of Your Brand. We are right smack up against the start of 2022, so I wanted to end the series with two topics – executing with confidence and planning for the New Year.
If you are interested in goal setting for 2022 – stay tuned at the end, and I’ll tell you about a local course I’m co-teaching with my colleague, leadership coach, and friend Teresa Rand. It’s a great way to help you set the course you want to chart for the new year. More on that at the end.
If you like to plan for every eventuality – like you have plan A all mapped out – but if you hit a pothole and plan A doesn’t work, you have plan B, C, D, E…waiting in the wings, all ready to be rolled out – just in case. I am right there with you. The things I worry about the most are the ones I plan for – again and again. Having a plan is good – heck, my business is based on helping people plan their Marketing, Public Relations, and Communications strategies. I love a good plan. But here is the problem – if you spend so much time planning – you don’t actually get down to executing the plans you made. Execution is key to any plan. You have to get the work done.
Let’s move on to being a perfectionist. I bet you can already see where I’m going with this one. When the product has to be perfect – exactly right – that delays execution. You’ve probably heard that saying good is better than perfect or its cousin – done is better than perfect. Getting the task you are working on out into the world is better than endless revisions in the pursuit of perfection. This isn’t to say you want to produce mediocre work – perfect is a state we may never experience. So put your genius in the world and modify as needed.
Where are my learners?! I love to learn new things. I am constantly curious. It’s probably the journalist in me. Learning is wonderful – except when it comes at the expense of action. It’s easy to get trapped into the space of learning more things and not being “ready” to take action. We need to learn to be a little more to be sure of ourselves BEFORE taking action. Again, learning for too long before acting is just delaying the execution.
Planning, Perfectionism, and Learning can all be barriers to taking action. Small business owners need to act to be successful. While you are planning, perfecting, and learning your craft, I want to challenge you to consider along the way – Am I ready to move forward? Are the planning, perfecting, and learning holding me back from taking action? Am I using those activities as an excuse not to take action because I just don’t feel ready?
So much of what we do in small business takes us outside of our comfort zone. When you are uncomfortable – you might just be doing something amazing!
Earlier I mentioned a goal-setting course that I’m co-teaching with my colleague Teresa Rand. If you are good at planning, perfecting, and learning, but then not taking action – this is the course for you! It is called GPS – Goal, Planning, and Strategy. It’s a four-hour in-person session from 9 a.m.-noon held at Daytona State College on Friday, Jan. 14.
We will help you set goals for your business or personal life and map out the actions you need to take to get you there! Plus – there is an accountability Facebook group and quarterly check-ins to ensure you stay on track. The course is under $50 and is jam-packed with value.
Join Teresa Rand and me with a group of like-minded individuals who want to kick 2022 off with a bang – and stay on course.
I hope you have enjoyed my series on how to Be the Boss of Your Brand. I’m currently looking to fill a couple of slots for 1:1 and corporate/nonprofit clients. Please connect with me via email at Jen@backporchcom.com or book time on my calendar if you are interested.
If you missed any of the amazing content over the past few weeks, there are several ways you can back and get all the great nuggets!
· Join the PR and Marketing for Small Business Owners and Nonprofits Facebook group to find a community of others who want to share their passion with the world just like you.