The Best Small Business Advice I Ever Received

The comment came at the end of my first soap show. And it came from my husband.

“If I were you, I never would of done this. You have the basics covered, but there is so much to do…  you need to add signs for your soap… create something that draw people in…”

Anger began to rise.  You’ve got to be kidding me. I retaliated,

“I‘m sorry, what?  We just had our first show.  It was successful. People liked our product. I made my booth fee times 2.  So for “testing out the market,” I think we should really make this a “thing.”  What are you talking about?”

“Slow done cowboy. Let me try this again.” He replied. “If I were you, I never would have done this because it’s not perfect.  I would have waited for the perfect moment or waited for a sign before I would do this.  Which means, I never would have done it. …  What I’m trying to say is, I’m proud of you. You got your first booth, and you did it yourself!  It wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough. Most importantly, you found out you want to do this as a business.”

I often think back to this moment when I’m struggling to do things.  I often put off tasks because it’s not the right time.  But it’s never the right time.  Either you do it or you don’t.  Blogging is a perfect example of that.  I can write and write until I’m blue in the face, but I can’t hit the publish button because it’s not perfect.  Or, I can’t think of anything to write, so that when I finally do write, I don’t think it’s worthy enough to publish.  Either way, the blog doesn’t happen. 

My husband’s comments remind me that there is no perfect moment, and there is no “sign” to tell us when to act. There is just you. And by doing, by takings risks that are ‘good enough’, you learn. You may fall on your face, but you get back up, dust yourself off and revise. Be proud of that imperfect action because it may lead you on a path you least expected. 

And so, this post is good enough.  I’ll push the publish button!