Our school system trains us to get the right answer. “Being wrong” is a bad thing and leads to lower grades, disapproval, and feeling inadequate or like a failure.   As children growing up in this society, our self-esteem and confidence is shaped to large extent by how well we do in school.  For anyone who does not learn in the usual way, who has creative abilities that do not fit the mold, or has some kind of learning disability, this can be very damaging to that person’s self esteem—unless they are lucky enough to have understanding parents, a teacher or other mentoring adult to encourage them and acknowledge their unique gifts.

How does that translate to business, or especially self-employment?

The pressure to get it right, and only feeling valuable or successful when you do is a disaster.  Why? The biggest reason is because there is never one right way to create a successful  business, there is never one right answer, there are always multiple paths to success.   The only requirement–and there are as many ways to do this as there are unique individuals–is to make sure your income exceeds your expenses, ie, make a profit, in order to continue to stay in business and support yourself and your family.

Trying to be right can lead to several major time and energy drains.  One is perfectionism…where you can’t get started unless it’s perfect.  The perfect website, logo, mission statement, etc.  Or you get started but keep correcting, tweaking and revising because again, it’s not perfect.  How do you even know if it’s “right” “good” or “perfect?”

A cousin to that is analysis paralysis—over analyzing your statistics, strategies, or competition and not taking action.  Also in the family is the “Impostor Syndrome”—where you never feel like you know enough and somehow you are just ‘faking’ your expertise.  That in turn leads to “BSO” syndrome—chasing the latest bright shiny object.  The latest social media tool, the latest information product, course or coach.  And you know what that leads to, right?–the dreaded Information Overwhelm.

Bottom line is you can really get bogged down, even stuck in place by trying to be right.

Yes, there are proven business models, of how to run a profitable business, that will work better in particular industries. Even within those models, there are many ways to ‘get it right’.  That’s where our creative genius, our fresh perspectives along with sound advice from mentors and those who’ve already succeeded, and listening to our intuitive and body based knowing, all of this comes in handy.  

To get the most useful answers, start with a useful question.  That question is NOT ”what’s the right way?” but “what is the best service or product to focus on, what is the optimal business model, and way of operating that works for me and my clients? What makes sense and gives me a sense of “YES” or green light, GO, given my current resources of time, money and energy, my personal style and strengths, and the type of business and client I serve, at this point in time?”

I’m certainly NOT saying that you should not spend time learning from others, analyzing your market and looking at how you can best attract and serve your customers or clients. But some of the best learning you will do is by learning in action.  Staying in your head or planning a business on paper won’t actually provide the feedback you need to grow and maintain a successful business. 

Look at the different areas of your business and see if you are stuck anywhere on ‘getting it right”..and what do you need to get unstuck? Is it really more research, information or coaching? Or is it just letting go, letting things be good enough, and sending the arrow off into space?

I invite you to let go of the rigid chains of being right and having to be perfect, and enjoy the playground of creative ambiguity and trusting your gut!