The phrase âdone is better than perfectâ is famously recognized as a Facebook company mantra. Personally, I think that if a mentality such as this is good enough for a company as successful as Facebook ⌠well then, itâs certainly good enough for me!
Itâs the middle of the first month of the New Year; Iâm sure you have some goals - whether they are in your head or written down somewhere is an entirely other topic (see my latest book, âThe Written Goalâ). For now, letâs focus on the taking action part of your goals.
Stop Making Excuses
In the fall of 2016, I decided I wanted to start a podcast. I didnât know what it would be about, nor did I know anything about how to launch a podcast. I saw my peers getting into video via YouTube as well as Podcasting and the itch to become a content creator myself wasnât something I could ignore anymore.
For months (literally almost 3 months) I pitched two of my friends to join me on this journey. The problem was I didnât have a plan to get started. None of us had experience in the field so the other two were quite hesitant to jump onboard.
skucon 2017
I never had a goal of launching a podcast - going back to the fall of 2016 and even up until the time I published my first podcast on January 17th, 2017 - there was never an actual goal to get started. It was just a âwantâ.
In January of 2017, I saw Bill Petrie & Kirby Hasseman do a live podcast at skucon for the first time (which has since become a commonsku event tradition). I took out my iPhone and recorded a quick video demonstrating to my two friends back home just how easy it would be to launch a podcast. I remember this vividly. I sent my friends (Sergio & Palvinder) a text saying âthis is how easy podcasting can be and when I get back from my trip weâre going to start oneâ.
Our very first podcast was published on January 17th of 2017 and it had to be within a week or two since I got back home from skucon (you can listen to it here).
Progress over Perfection
If you listened to even a second of our Pilot podcast (linked above) youâll notice right away how amateur we sound. Everything from our cadence to our sound quality - itâs bad.
We literally talked into my computer (not even using a mic, headset or anything at all). We then created a SoundCloud account and uploaded the file. If youâve ever seen the hit film âZoolanderâ youâll remember the scene where Owen Wilson and Ben Stillerâs character say to themselves âitâs in the computer?â with a puzzled face not knowing how to access simple files. Well, that was pretty much us at the time. We had no idea what we were doing, but we just got started and did the damn thing.
Over time, I became addicted and when I say âover timeâ I mean literally week after week I started studying and becoming a student of podcasting. That summer I even went to the national podcasting conference to learn more.
Where Weâre at Now
Iâm proud to say that our small little podcast that we started two years ago is still running and has transformed itself into a podcast network as we host a total of 5 different pods on the network. Not only that, but weâve expanded into a video show called âEatUp Silicon Valleyâ in which we feature some of the best eateries in the Bay Area.
This little thought of mine to start a podcast now has a team of 5 people that meet quite frequently to mastermind together on how we can use podcasting to enhance our businesses and itâs because of the âdone is better than perfectâ mentality.
Done is Better Than Perfect
The point of this quick story is simple. Just get started.
Whatever excuse youâre using to not take action is keeping you from pursuing your dreams. It doesnât have to be perfect when you start. Yes, of course, itâs always better to learn before you dive in and have a plan of action. But, sometimes we as humans overthink and plan ourselves to nausea so that action will never occur.
If you can relate to the feeling of wanting to do something, but you just havenât taken action yet⌠Then, I urge you to please try out the âdone is better than perfectâ mantra.
Itâs good enough for facebook...
Swag On,
SwagSam
Sam Kabert is the creative director of ValueBP Marketing Group and the creator and co-host of the podcast âWhatUp Silicon Valley!â A risk taker who embraces permanent beta, Sam is leading the transformation of his family-run office supplies business into a promotional products powerhouse. Sam can be reached at Sam@ValueBP.com