5 reasons to practice done is better than perfect as a mompreneur

So why is the Get Stuff Done Workshop called the Get Stuff Done Workshop? It’s because my intention with this workshop is to actually help you accomplish things in your business, finish them, get them done.

As I have worked with lots of Latter-day Saint women over the last couple of years, I’ve realized we all have a common struggle, myself included, we struggle to get things done.

2 main reasons we struggle to get it done

We’re constantly being interrupted by other priorities in our life; by our husbands, kids, callings, school and PTA. All of that is constantly interrupting our life.

One way in which the Get Stuff Done workshop solves this problem is by pulling you out of your life for an entire week, Monday through Saturday. We work six, 12 hour days, where all we do is get stuff done. That’s the whole point – no interruptions. We take some occasional breaks, we don’t burn out, but that’s the purpose – to get stuff done.

But, the bigger reason is perfection.

As Latter-day Saint women, so many of us struggle with this. We always want to offer our absolute best. We are worried about how we will be perceived by others. And we struggle to put things out there in the world because we are afraid that there is someone who could do it better than us.

This is a common thread. If this sounds familiar to you, it’s because it is. Many of your sisters feel the same way. I don’t know that I have worked with anyone over the last couple of years who has not struggled with this. It’s hard to put ourselves out there, but the fact is that we must. 

There are so many prophecies and promises about how we as Latter-day Saint women, not just in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, although specifically there are promises about us, but all women and the effect that we will have for good in these last days. But that will not happen if we don’t get stuff done, it will not happen if we get stuck in perfectionism. Which is exactly where Satan wants us – stuck, because then our goodness doesn’t make it out into the world. It doesn’t have the effect that it is meant to have.

The solution to perfectionism

So what is the solution to this perfectionism that we all struggle with? Well, it  is to start to accept, to purposefully work to accept, C+/B- level work.

If we’re grading on a scale from F to A, we’re looking at C+ as 77-78% of it is done. And then we’re somewhere between C+/B-, that’s 77-82%. That is still way more than half. And I promise you it is enough.

I‘m going to give you seven compelling, attractive reasons why you need to do this. Why you need to start practicing producing C+ and B- level work.

Now this is going to be really hard for many of you. It is really hard for me. It has been very hard for every single attendee of the Get Stuff Done workshop. As we have gone through our pre-work, this has been the norm. It is difficult. I understand that.

1 super simple tip to get it done

My number one tip for how to force yourself to do this is to set a timer. Decide “I am going to spend 90 minutes writing this email and no more,” commit, set the timer and then write the dang email.

If you only have 90 minutes, you’re going to get it done. If you do not have a timer set, you will continue to try and improve it and make it better and make it better. Setting that timer is going to force you to do C+/B- level work. I promise, you’re not capable of F level work. You simply aren’t.

But you will get the most important things into that email, or whatever project it is you’re working on, if you set a timer your brain will naturally do this. It will naturally filter out the things that are less important and draw your attention to the things that are.

You’ve seen this any time that you are up against a deadline. I have seen this even with the Get Stuff Done workshop. I have about 30 hours more work that I had planned on getting done before the workshop started. I’m going to have to put that off until after the workshop or I have let some of it go entirely. It’s not going to be part of the workshop because I’m up against a deadline and I’ve only got a week left.

My brain is naturally filtering out the things that are less important and making sure I get the essential things done. I believe this is also a gift from our Heavenly Father. As you commit to putting your work out there into the world, to bringing goodness into the world, and you do so by setting that dang timer for yourself and committing to C+/B- level work, I believe He’ll have your back and He will help you focus on the most important things.

Remember, if your business is successful it’s not because you’re better than anybody else. It’s not because you did everything perfectly. It’s because God supported you.

The compelling reasons why Done is better than Perfect

I know as you hear me say, “focus on C+ level work,” you’re kind of feeling a little sick. I get it, but there are reasons why and I want to help you understand these so that hopefully you are more motivated to set that timer for yourself.

Reason #1 is that you simply cannot create A+ work the first time around. It’s impossible. Once you accept this fact, it will be a lot easier to just be okay with C+/B- level work.

So let’s talk about why you can’t create A+ level work. The first time around it’s called the curse of knowledge. You know far more about your topic than you think you know. You have been learning about it for quite some time and you really can’t fully remember what it felt like on the other side, right before you gained all the knowledge that you have.

I can remember some of the feelings I had when tech things didn’t work for me really well, or when I had been working on my website for three years and hadn’t made a penny. I remember the feelings, but I don’t really remember exactly what would have made it better. I have some ideas, but on a really concrete, detailed level, I simply can not remember that. So the way you create A+ work is to talk to somebody who was in the position you were before you had this knowledge.

So if I could go back to Misty of 2008, that’s who I want to talk to. And there are people out there like you who are in that exact situation, and the only way for me to get your feedback and learn exactly what you need is by creating a product for you, you use the product and you give me feedback and then I can improve it.

But what happens when we get stuck in perfectionism and we want to create A+ level work, all we do is create multiple versions of C+ level work. So we create the first one and we think, “oh, I should change this.” So we change that, but that might not have been a change that your ideal client really wanted.

So it’s another C+ level option. Then you think, “Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. I should do it this way. This would be way better.” And guess what? It’s just a B- level option because you don’t yet know exactly what your ideal client, your ideal customer, needs and wants and how they need and want it, the format, the style.

I have experienced that with this workshop, I have been working with you women for a couple of years now. You think I’d know. You think that I would know exactly what you need, but as we’ve gone through this workshop, I have taken three pages of notes of things that I will do differently the second time.

That doesn’t mean that this time is a failure. Every single woman who is attending this workshop has told me multiple times that this workshop has exceeded their expectations, that it is worth far, far more than what they’ve paid for it. They don’t know much at all about this topic. So when I give them a C + of what they need to know and do, and it’s structured 78%, they’re still grateful for it. It is still way more than they could have done on their own.

But guess what? I can’t make it A+ level without their feedback. So now, when I go the second round and we have the next workshop, which will be happening twice a year, by the way, it’ll probably be B+ level. And then we’ll get more feedback and it’ll be A- level. I will get feedback and it will be A level and then we’ll get feedback and it will be A+ level.

Pretty awesome. Right? So stop trying to create A+ level work right out of the gate because you are simply wasting your time and recreating a different version of C+/B- level.

I’ll tell you this, you’re in good company. There are a lot of highly successful people who have done exactly this. They’ve created something that wasn’t good enough. Walt Disney, Colonel Sanders from KFC, Einstein, JK Rowling of Harry Potter, President Lincoln, Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Seinfeld, all of these people failed multiple times, but they learned over and over and over again how to improve because they put C+ level work out there, sometimes even F level work.

Walt Disney was told he completely lacked imagination and would never succeed. That’s pretty much F level work, but he kept pushing forward and he started to create better and better and better work.

One of my very favorite quotes of all time comes from Thomas Edison. Speaking about the light bulb, he said, “I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.”

I love that perspective. He wouldn’t have ever figured out what did work until he first figured out what didn’t. So do it. You can not create A+ level work the first time around. You must accept that it will always be C+/B- level work, no matter what you do.

Reason #2 is because you will gain the trust of your followers.

I know that we feel like the opposite is true. That if we put out C+ level work, and one of our followers finds a typo or can’t get the product that they were trying to purchase. If the download doesn’t work or whatever the problem, we feel like we’re going to lose their trust. But I promise you, you’ll gain it.

And here’s why, because you will become a real person to them instead of just a faceless company. You will become real and people want to connect, they want to be understood and they don’t feel understood by large corporations. But if they know that you were real and that you’re trying hard and you’re messing up, sometimes that is going to actually build trust.

Let me give you an example. When I released my website templates, I had worked really hard on them. I had spent many, many, many hours, on the templates themselves and on the  marketing of them and the tech of actually delivering them and making them work.

I was set to go on vacation with my family down to Southern Utah for Spring break, right after the launch. And as soon as I launched them, I realized that one small piece of tech (that I thought was going to work a certain way and make things easier for me) wasn’t working, but the fix was going to take me hours, probably a couple of days, and I simply didn’t have time to do it. People were buying these templates and they weren’t going to work for them. They were spending hundreds of dollars and I felt sick, even though I know these principles, even though I’ve been doing this since 2008, I still felt sick.

I didn’t want to let my people down. And I was afraid that they would be frustrated and angry and ask for refunds and then never buy anything from me again. But that didn’t happen. Not with one person. I put a notification up on my website and I sent out an email and I just said, “Hey, this is what’s going on. I’ve got to go on vacation and I’m not really able to fix it for a week and a half. Thanks for your patience.” I was just very open about the fact that I had made a mistake and that I took accountability and responsibility for it. And I told them when the solution would be.

Not one person complained, not one person asked for a refund. In fact, over half of the people who bought a template, emailed me back and told me how much they appreciated that I was honest, that I was real. It helped them like themselves better when they knew that I make mistakes, we all make mistakes, but we think that the people we follow on social media don’t for some reason. And when we learn that they do, we like them all the more.

It also allows you to give great customer service. So I was able to give discounts to people who experienced this problem and show them I take responsibility. And now they have learned that they’ll always be taken care of by me in the future. That if I mess up, or if there’s an issue, that I’ve got their back and that I will provide the best possible customer service I can. It’s good that they experienced that. They now have more trust and a better relationship with me.

Reason #3 is balance. Your family is important. Your calling is important. Your husband is important. I know you have other important priorities in your life but sometimes, and I know this because I’ve done this, when we’re in the public eye, when we’re on social media, when we have an email list, for some reason our natural inclination is to want to give the best to those people.

Our perfectionism starts to focus in on our business. We’re going to make sure business is amazing. And oftentimes at the cost of our time with our family or our other priorities, I’ve done this. If you haven’t listened to the very first episode of The Goodness Squad podcast, go back and listen, because I talk about my journey and about how I put my family second for years. I put my business over them because I was so worried about showing my very, very best in the public way and my private life suffered. 

I won’t completely say that I regret it because I learned a lot of really good things from that lesson. I want you to be smarter than I was and learn from my mistake, allow yourself C plus and B minus level work so that you can have the balance that you need in your life.

Reason #4 – you will make more money. So that seems counterintuitive, right? I know it does, but it’s true. Having anything at all to sell is going to make you more money than having nothing to sell. And when you’re focused on perfectionism, it takes you a really, really, really long time to be willing to put any product out there into the world.

I promise you, you will make more money if you accept C+/B- level work, and guess what else? You’ll get to the A+ product quicker. This goes back to number one. You simply can’t produce the A-plus product. You think you’re getting there, but you’re just running around in circles, completing different versions of a C plus or B minus level product.

So the quickest way to get to that A-plus level product that you really want to give to your people is by creating a C plus or B minus level one, getting their feedback, updating it, getting their feedback again, updating it, getting their feedback again and updating it. And you will increase the price of that product every time you do that.

So when you release a C plus B minus level product, you don’t charge as much for it as you would for an A+ level product. That’s the benefit of the people who get in early and purchase your C+ level product. They pay less. The benefit of the A+ people, they pay more, but it’s an A-plus level product and that’s how you get there. You will make more money by quickly releasing a C+/B- level product. 

The alternative is perfectionism, where you’re going to spend hours and hours and hours recreating a different version of your C+ level product without being paid for it. I did this. I spent years creating my very, very first product. It’s a product that I could create, now, in days and I spent years. Some of that is because I have more skills and more knowledge. I understand better how to get it out there. But if I had been accepting , C plus B minus level work, I probably could have created it in a month or two back then. And instead I spent years, so. Wasted time, so much wasted money and I wasn’t able to help as many people, which is sad.

Reason #5 – you will price your product better. One of the most common questions I get from people is what should my product cost? Now, how you price your product should not be based on how long it took you to create. It should be based on one thing and one thing only.

What it is worth to the person purchasing it?

There is a saying out there that says cutting one wire costs $1. But knowing which wire to cut cost $999. This is what we get hung up on as entrepreneurs. We’re thinking ‘what I’m doing is cutting a wire. It doesn’t take me any time.’ Okay. True. But you did spend a lot of time gaining the knowledge to know which wire to cut and that is something that your customer doesn’t have. They don’t have that knowledge.

I will easily pay $1000 for somebody to come cut the right wire in my house because I don’t have the time to learn. And if I cut the wrong one, the damage could be astronomical. It could be huge – way more than $1000.

So price your products based on what they’re worth to the people you’re giving them to and guess what? Your product becomes worth more the closer it gets to an A+ level product, but you’re never going to get there without creating the C+ level product. So you create a C plus level product and you price it way under what you want your eventual A+ level product to be. And then as you create better and better versions of that product, you increase the price based on the feedback you’re getting from people directly and indirectly through your analytics, you learn how much it’s actually worth. 

Reason #6 – You will have the money you need to create an A+ level product. I promise you to create a true A+ level product. It is going to cost you money, either in hiring people to do the things that you can’t do tech wise or design wise, or in finding the right tools, tech tools, things like that to help you create it, but you will have to spend money. And when you can release  C+ level version of that product that doesn’t look as pretty, but the content is there, people will pay for it simply because they want the content.

The content is life-changing, it’s going to help solve a problem for them. They’ll deal with the less pretty design or the semi-functioning tech they’ll deal with those things because they get the lower price. But that money that they’re paying for you is going to allow you to then go hire people to help you with the things you can’t do yourself. That’s how you create the A+ level product, from the money you get from the C+/B-/B level product.

Reason #7 – you will actually get it done. When you get it done, you earn money. When you get it done, you learn the wrong way to do it so you can make it better. When you get it done, you find balance for your family. When you get it done, you make more money. When you get it done, you’ll price your product better. When you get it done, you’ll have the money you need to create the A-plus level product.

But there’s another reason why it’s really important for you to get stuff done, and that is momentum. When you accomplish something, when you finish that product and you put it out there into the world. Yeah, it’s scary, but it is also exhilarating. And that is a huge motivation to keep going.

The alternative is perfectionism, where you simply keep recreating C+/B- level products and you burn out and you give up. This is the reason so many of them have given up on yourself. It’s not because you cannot have a successful business. It’s because you were insisting on A+ level of work that you can’t actually create, and you were exhausting yourself and burning out.

So when you accept that you’re going to create C+/B- level work the first time, you are going to create momentum and motivation for yourself. You’re going to create accountability as well. People are now purchasing that product from you. You better listen to them and improve it the next time. That is powerful.

What you get at the Get Stuff Done Workshop

This is what we focus on at the Get Stuff Done Workshop, there are limits and things set up. We have a timer during the entire workshop, all week, for different sections of what we’re working on. You’re only allowed to ask me questions on that day’s topic because the purpose is not to create a perfect product or website or freemium or email. The purpose is to get it done. 

Those who attend the workshop will leave with an effective freemium, a tripwire (which is your very first, low priced digital product), a plan for what their higher price products will be, and the ability to prelaunch those products, a welcome series for their email list and their website finished.

That is a lot to get done in six days. And it is because of the way it is structured. It is because I truly believe that creating C+/B- level work is the best possible thing you can do for your business. If you want to know more about the Get Stuff Done Workshop, you can follow along with us on stories. You could also go back and find the story highlight and listen to it there on my Instagram profile. Or you can DM me on Instagram and I will make sure that you are on the waiting list for the next Get Stuff Done workshop, which will be in early Spring of 2022.

I hope to see you there.