Last night my 6 year old daughter asked me if I thought she was perfect.
Between you and I, hells yeah, I think she’s as “perfect” as can possibly be. But that’s not what I told her.
As soon as she asked me if I thought she was perfect, I paused. I wanted to ponder and choose my words carefully before I said anything.
Her response to my pause was “What? You don’t love me?”
When she said that, I was gutted.
I immediately said “No, sweetie, I LOVE YOU so much. I think you’re amazing, I think you’re a sweet heart. You’re so kind. You’re such a good friend. You’re clever, creative, and curious. You’re a naturally born leader. I think you are gorgeous and beautiful inside and out. And you’re my absolute favorite person in this entire universe.”
She said, “so you think I’m perfect?”
I said, “No, sweetie. I don’t think anything or anyone is perfect. Perfectionism is something that can be strived for, but it can never be reached. Its an impossible idea and the thought of it holds us back.”
She thought for a minute and asked “well then why does the word ‘perfect’ exist?”
I said, “Exactly. I don’t know why the word exists, but let’s try not to put so much meaning behind it. I’m not perfect. But if you think I’m fabulous or amazeballs, I will absolutely take it!”
She proceeded to laugh at the word “amazeballs” (apparently, it was her first time hearing it – I didn’t realize that it was a very much 2010 thing to say. She was born in 2015). And then she said, “Mama I think you’re perfect. But I also think you’re fabulous. “
I said “thank you sweetie. I’m definitely not perfect. But I appreciate that you think I’m fabulous. Thank you for that.”
I tend to overuse the word perfect. I’m a perfectionist and always have been. Its my one character flaw that is also my superpower. But I feel that is has done more harm than good.
I’m super aware of my perfectionism and it tends to get the best of me especially when I’m extra busy.
But it also allows me to create amazing, high quality work that many people get value out of.
I wanted to have this conversation with my 6-year old about the idea of perfect, because I wanted to nip any budding perfectionism that might be brewing now. I don’t want it to hold her back, like it used to hold me back. So I will also teach her about effort, working hard and what high-quality output means. Practice means progress in my house.
So how does all of this relate to websites not being perfect?
Your website will never be perfect. It might come close, but it is and always will be a work in progress. You can fiddle with it, change it, upgrade it, redesign it until you think its perfect. But the next day you might change your mind.
I see it all of the time with my web design clients. Its always as close to “perfect” as it can get the day we launch it. Until its time for a change, no matter how small. Which could be the next day.
So my message is to give you permission to launch your website already (as I point to myself and look in the mirror) because there is no such thing as a perfect website.
This message is for you, but its also for me.
After months of “perfecting” it and including everything I wanted to include, I’ve finally launched LikeCake.co (hence you reading this blog post).
I fully recorded and edited my course FROM SCRATCH twice before I felt it was good enough to release to the world.
I launched it twice in 2021! And just this past month, I finally finished it to the point where I can finally take a breathe and say, here you go, world.
Is it perfect? Absolutely not, but I’m very happy with it.
Will I edit it in the future? Absolutely, yes. As I get feedback from students, I will be able to make it better and better.
But I know its never going to be perfect, according to my own (very high) standards. Is it an amazing course that will help people. Hell Yeah!
The whole reason why I created FROM SCRATCH is because of this idea that your website will never be perfect. I literally give you the tools, framework and knowledge to create and recreate your fabulous (albeit not perfect) website over and over. So you don’t need to waste thousands of dollars or your precious time recreating the wheel every few months or every few years.
Design your own website with your own vision. Launch it now. Then you’ll be free to focus on your sales strategy, create your funnel. Write your emails, post on social media. Make those calls. Do all the things you need to in your business to create sales and make money, knowing that your website is up and doing its job today.
You can always update and tweak it tomorrow.
