Perfectionist Design
The world of business and design is a wonderful thing. Whether you’re providing design services or acquiring design services there are limitless iterations and design considerations that can be tried if you are unlucky enough to get caught in the trap. Seriously! Countless projects have been derailed due to a vision or desire to be so successful which is realistically unattainable especially within constraints like time or budget. A logo, website, business card, etc., is a reflection of your business but not the be-all end-all. Whether you realise it now or not your business image will change over time. Whether it’s your colour scheme, logo etc., as your business grows and changes so will everything else. It’s called evolution! Even companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi have changed their logos over the years.
Modernise and adapt.
By no means am I saying spend thousands rebranding every few years. It could be a tweak in your logo, changing a colouror the way you greet your customers. Find out what works for your business as you go on. You may want to get feedback from your customers, but always remember, your product or service is why your customers choose you and keep coming back. Focus more on what you can do for your customer because without them you won’t have a business. Perfection is a matter of opinion and there will always be someone who doesn’t agree and doesn’t like whatever your trying to make perfect anyway.
The truth is, no design or business is perfect. We all know that things could be done better or changed but it serves the purpose it was created for.
You can’t always play it safe.
From a young age we start to choose things that we know we will succeed in because we know it will bring praise and external accolade. But in a competitive world where it’s all about standing out, failing fast can be the quickest way to find success. How? In order to stand out you need to do something different. Most people won’t get it right the first time, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t continue trying. As a natural personality trait, perfectionists will avoid entrepreneurship because it means taking risks where the odds of failing can be higher than success.
But this person I know did it! Can’t be that hard.
The last words of so many failed businesses and advertising campaigns. Simply because someone else succeeded doesn’t mean you will. Yes there can be elements of ‘luck’ in business but that is usually because they are putting in the effort and building the networks so when external factors line up in their favour it seems like ‘luck’. Unless you know exactly what happened behind the scenes I would forget about trying to copy other businesses and create methodologies that are successful for your business. This could be anything from how you get the customer to through the door/website to making a sale. Keep the common activities familiar and simple like payment processes, no one likes complicated forms and re-filling fields over and over. Try to make the administration part of the sales process as customer friendly as possible. Next, focus on reducing your residual costs such as shipping. For many customers this will be the make or break of concluding a sale. If it isn’t impossible to reduce the cost for the customer then throw in a freebie. Keep them on the hook, would you rather give away a $2 item or loose a $100 sale?