“You see? I knew we still had them.”
More than three years ago our twin boys arrived, about 8 weeks premature. One of the big projects we hadn’t quite gotten to yet was cleaning out the basement.
Now, with extra hours from our nanny and the pressure of an impending grandparent visit, we finally cleared out all the stuff that accumulates when you (1) have a basement and (2) have lived above that basement for ten years.
One of the discoveries was in a box of books: the first four Harry Potter books that we bought when they were first published. Holly had sworn they were loaned out and lost; I was sure we still had them.
For fun, I started to re-read the first book. And there it was, on page 55. It was terrible. Horrible. I’m sure J.K. Rowling has lost much sleep over it.
Rubeus Hagrid, groundskeeper at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was telling Harry about his parents. “Now, yer mum an’ dad were as good a witch an’ wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an’ girl at Hogwarts in their day!”
Really? Call me a geek, but I don’t think the character of James Potter, who was later developed as a bit of a rebel and trouble-maker, would have been Head Boy.
Why am I going on about all of this?
Huge Client Success Discarded
I was interviewing a past client as a case study for our Alumni Community because of her incredible success. The year she worked with us her company had a 550% increase in net revenue.
She told me that although they worked tremendously hard on their core marketing message that year, they have a different message now.
Okay, so let’s get this straight. She and her business partner worked super-hard on their message, it worked to the tune of a 550% increase, and yet they discarded it.
Why?
She had gotten clearer both on what they were doing and what they weren’t doing. The business had continue to evolve.
The Myth. It’s a Myth. Really, It’s a Myth.
It’s easy to fall prey to the idea that if you don’t get things exactly right they won’t work. I remember making a cold call in another business years ago, and leaving a stuttering message into a voicemail. “Well, that was a waste,” I told myself.
An hour later I received a phone call from someone who told me, “I had called this woman for X, and she referred me to you. She said she had just received a message from you, and it sounded like what I needed.”
I had been so thrown by the bad message I had left I had moved on to other tasks, ignoring the list of calls I was supposed to be making. So that’s how I knew it was that miserable message that had created a referral.
Somehow, the imperfection had still worked. And for our client, too, to the tune of a 550% increase.
Do a J.K. Rowling and Give Yourself Some Slack
I have no idea what J.K. Rowling’s work habits are, but I’m going t guess that she hasn’t really lost much sleep over that line of Hagrid’s. And I know that our client isn’t worried about all those clients of hers who heard the earlier “wrong” marketing message.
Looking back on your life now, how many things have you done “wrong” and it’s still worked to some extent? How much compassion can you have for your younger self?
Well, here’s a radical idea. How about using some of that compassion right now for you and what you’re working on this week? Whatever part of your business you may be developing, what if it didn’t have to be “done.” What if you knew that it was going to continue to change and evolve over the next year or three?
That’s right. Maybe what you’ve got is good enough to go with, and you can improve it later. Maybe it’s time to finally step out with what you have.
What are you currently working on that could use some “good enough” compassion? How does it feel to relax into that? Tell us about it or ask questions about where you are challenged.
p.s. Needing some hands-on help?
Sometimes a course or group program just isn’t quite the right thing. Sometimes you want something very custom, with the focus totally on you and your business, on your timeline, your agenda, you.
We have three of us here who work with clients individually. Yollana Shore, Jason Stein, and myself. Yollana and Jason are incredible, have years of experience as healers and coaches, and have chalked up tremendous successes with their clients. To learn more about working with them, click here.
Personally, I work with very few clients these days. Between running the company and teaching our courses, I can only care for a small handful of individual clients. But, if you’re the right person, I’d love to work with you. Click here to learn more.
21 Responses
You are right on the money, Mark! This is exactly what I was working on today. I recognized that I hated marketing, and some part of me is furious that I push her to do marketing activities. Finally, it came down to the fact that every marketing activity feels like a test: if it doesn’t “work,” then I am not good enough, don’t deserve success, and don’t deserve God’s Love. Wow! We finally got around that by remembering “mistakes” or challenges that with persistence turned out well. So we decided that maybe we could have FUN doing marketing. Trying that on for size.
Meg- thanks! And yes- have fun with marketing. Woo-hoo!
Sometimes it’s not even about what we say or do, but how that’s perceived and interpreted by someone else. What matters is the effect, the action and the consequence. (Incidentally, you wrote ‘massage’ once in your post, which made me smile!)
So true, Derek- and thanks! Fixed.
I’m a huge proponent of the power of 85% is good enough. I think our people forgive and even miss huge pieces of what we publish and create. Instead, they tune into who we are and what we’re about. The specifics of what we create are incidental.
Recently I had a sales conversation with a potential client and she didn’t want the program I was offering, but she wanted to work with me. She emailed me and told me exactly what she was looking for. She didn’t care that my program wasn’t right–she wanted me and what I’m about and could do for her.
Yes, Sarah! So true! Such a great and inspiring story.
I’m often impressed by people putting out newsletters, blogs, websites, etc. that have typos, mistakes, etc., because at least they are getting their word and offerings out there, thereby helping themselves and others, and much quicker than if they were waiting for “perfect.”
I recently had a “breakthrough” on this myself. My very pregnant client was so happy with the results of our work together that she suggested putting a video testimonial on-line, but said she only had one short time to be interviewed, before the baby was due. So, we shot the video – because of the timing the lighting wasn’t perfect (it was, when we were setting the camera up), but the content worked. And rather than waiting for months if not years before she would be available again, I put the imperfect video on-line. And have been getting great feedback and interest from it! It also inspired me to do another video just a week later, after a training with a new organizational client. So stretching into imperfection inspired a ripple effect…
(here it is: How to Use Deep Relaxation & Visualization to Get the Results You Want:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ru4ZmLCXuQ
Zoe- that is so cool and inspiring. Celebrating with you!
Hey Mark – spot on with this one.
There’s a saying that “if you want to be more successful, get out there and make more mistakes”.
I don’t know anyone who gets everything right every time. But I do know of a lot of people who get out there and do something, then revise what they’ve done in the light of experience, ad infinitum …
with kindness,
Leo
I love this post (and not just because it has Harry Potter in it!!) My experience with imperfect marketing and delivery supports what you’re saying here. In fact, I have been surprised the class where I made that (to me) glaring error wound up being the breakthrough class for my students. Or when I pressed publish on a blog post that was, to me, kind of obvious and got more comments than ever before. I think that our students come to us ready to learn and eager to support us in our work and, like the slubs in a silk blouse, the small imperfections only make that work feel more authentic.
Excellent Mark. Reminds me of what my college advisor said to me before writing my final paper for my master’s degree. He said, Tom this will be the best paper you have ever written, but not the best you’ll ever write.
I love that, Thomas. What a great bit of inspiration. Best now, and better to come.
Yes Mark. You can’t do better than your best, but your best can get better.
I think J. K. Rowling would give a thumbs up to this post. Here’s a link to her 2008 Harvard commencement address in which she celebrates failure (and imagination) in a most charming and humble way.
http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/06/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination
I loved this reminder! I’ve been wound up lately around whether I am presenting one of my offerings “right”. Whew, I can just relax with it!
I was at a mixer two weeks ago and just thought I was dreadful there. It was after a long day at work, I had zero energy, and I mostly spent my time talking to people I already knew. I chalked it up as a waste of time and was pretty down on myself for not stepping up to the plate. Then last Monday I got a call from a guy who spent about 2 minutes that night talking to and I’m meeting him tomorrow to discuss some fairly lucrative deals. Sometimes just doing is good enough. Your post reminded me of that.
It seems to me that it’s about being authentic in our interactions with people – whether that’s personally or professionally (or both!). Then those who truly need what we have to offer can appreciate how we can be of service to them.
Such an interesting post! i enjoyed reading this.. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Every business I have been involved with in the last 12 years has evolved and changed sometimes in ways I never could have predicted. Being adaptable, flexible and willing to push the venture in whatever direction works best is so important and key to success.
Nice Article.Thanks for sharing.
Impressed by the title and then click it open to read. Really an interesting post. Thanks for sharing.