4 Tips for Taking Great Risks for Great Rewards
A friend recently posted this picture on social media and I immediately snatched it up and saved it as my desktop for my laptop. You see, it’s taken me a while to learn this very valuable life lesson. As one of my mentors once told me, “Build the plane while it’s flying,”….meaning, don’t wait until it’s perfect. Just go. Try it. Take off. Figure out the details later.
This is EXACTLY what I did with Luly B, Inc. I launched this company about 12 months ago and went against every fiber in my being to let it go and let it flow. I’m a checklist-make it perfect-don’t settle for less kinda girl. But, I learned a very big lesson by building my plane while it was flying.
I would like to share with you the four things I did that helped me enjoy the HUGE success I enjoy today and have the immense clarity I feel.
Try and tweak. Before spending a ton of money on marketing, test your message, test your audience, test your promotions. Try it and tweak it. Try it and tweak it. And then try it and tweak it again. But all while you’re doing it!
Surround yourself with badasses. Forget doing it all and figuring it all out all by yourself. Surround yourself with experts who specialize at things you’re not good at. Participate in masterminds, hire a coach, and get involved in groups where the people you admire are involved.
Ask questions. Ask your audience what they think. It’s nice to get praise, but it’s the “what can be done better” kind of feedback that’s crucial. Find out what their pains are and how you can be a part of the solution. What’s missing in the industry? How can you be of service?
Forget Perfection. Perfection is super overrated! I have done NOTHING perfectly in the last 12 months, and it’s still landed me partnership opportunities and speaking engagements with high-profile brands, including Procter & Gamble, Macy’s, and Dell. They appreciate my authenticity, my vulnerability,and my message more than my perfection.
If I had strived for perfection these last 12 months, I would definitely not have the clarity and success I have today. I surely built the plane while it was flying! By doing these 4 things, it helped me drastically shift my focus from being afraid of the “what ifs” to being okay with the “oh wells.”