Don’t optimize too early — Kelford Labs Daily

“Notice that you’re already optimizing.”

I was on a call with a newsletter subscriber the other day, and we were riffing on some marketing content he’s producing.

Over the course of a few weeks and a couple calls, he was able to go from, “I don’t even know where to start” to having four pieces of high quality content ready to be edited, polished, and published.

But as we were wrapping up our chat, he asked me, “Okay, so do I post these every week? What if I run out of content? Should I post these on LinkedIn, my website, or both? Should they be different for each platform?”

I politely interrupted and said, “Notice you’re already optimizing. Nothing’s been published yet, and you’re already trying to make it perfect.”

He chuckled and acknowledged the tendency to think too far into the future, to start predicting problems or issues before even getting started on the path.

And that kills inspiration, motivation, and focus. It gets us thinking about everything that could be inconvenient or confusing in the future, instead of focusing on what we’re working on now.

Instead of getting our work out into the world.

So we talked about a publishing cadence he could manage and how to tackle posting on each platform. We talked about how he’ll know it’s time to adjust and optimize.

But that time is not now.

Not for him, and potentially not for you.

My experience, and what I’ve witnessed from my clients, is that if you’re just getting started, it’s way too early to start thinking about making things perfect.

Perfectionism kills more marketing than it perfects. Optimizing too soon slams the brakes on just when we need momentum.

The point is to do marketing, not to convince ourselves not to.

So, notice if you’re already optimizing, and give yourself the space and the freedom and the flexibility to just get started.

Get it out there.

And then make it better once you’re on your way.

Reply to this email to tell me what you think, or ask any questions!

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