What Are You Waiting For?

Google.com on November 11, 1998

Maybe you’re waiting for the perfect image before you put up your next blog post… and have been waiting and waiting and waiting. Maybe you play with your tweet wordings for so long that you miss conversations entirely.

Maybe you’re afraid of making mistakes, so you’re waiting to jump into social media until you know you have everything perfect.

Well… stop it!

This doesn’t mean that you should do shoddy work or not think about what you post online.  It doesn’t mean you jump into social media simply because someone said “you should do it.”

Rather, ask yourself if you’re making excuses and creating delays. Ask if you wouldn’t be better off taking one step forward than not moving at all.

Know What You Want

If you’re launching a major campaign, you want to make sure you’ve got the look you want, the style you want, and the bells and whistles you want. Major brands do this all the time.

But if you’re a writer, illustrator or someone who wants to become more visible and start joining in the conversations in social media, you don’t need to have everything perfect before jumping in (or continuing on!).

Similarly, with an individual post or a tweet or a status update, you need to do the same “math” – is it better to wait or are you better served by moving forward one more step?

Know what you’re hoping to accomplish with what you’re doing online, and judge accordingly. If you have a goal that requires something nearer perfection, act that way. But if not… know it and move forward.

Mistakes. I’ve Made a Few.

We all worry about making mistakes online in full view of everyone. And guess what? We all make mistakes.  We’ve all put up blog posts with bad links. We’ve probably all said “I’ll write about xxxx soon” and then not done it. We’ve all put up blah Facebook updates.

Guess what? Most people don’t care. They forgive. And when you actually make a technical error, they often help you fix the mistake.

You don’t want to make a habit of mistakes, of course. You want to learn and get better.  Study what gets a response on Facebook. Try to understand how to make your posts look better. But you have to learn somehow… and most of us learn by doing.

But What About…

There’s often fear of another type of mistake – doing something that hurts our career. It can happen, but I think if you follow these two guidelines, your odds are slim:

• Treat others with respect.

Don’t attack, don’t disparage, don’t hurt. This doesn’t mean you can’t be critical, but it does mean you need to be aware that other people have feelings, too. Be professional, be kind, and be courteous. And treat yourself and your business the same way as you treat others.

• Assume that everyone in your business will see your blog/tweet/update.

If you wouldn’t say something in person, don’t say it online. If you think that what you’re saying is going to make you look bad in some way, get a second opinion or just don’t post. Editors and other employers are going to Google you. You need to be YOU online, but just remember that it’s a public YOU.

And if you still do somehow say something that offends or upsets, don’t be afraid to apologize.

10 years ago, as the image at the top of this post makes clear, Google was not quite the site or company it is today. Obviously, they’ve come a long way, but they did it just like all of us – one step at a time.

Imagine if they’d waited until everything was perfect before launching?

Tagged as: goals, onestep