Perfection feels safe, but it’s also the biggest reason your brand isn’t moving forward. In this episode of The Hayley Osborne Show, I’m sharing why taking imperfect action will always outpace waiting for perfect, and how “done” creates the momentum you need to grow faster.

My aim is to help you understand the hidden cost of perfectionism in business, why “done” builds trust, visibility, and opportunities so much faster and some very simple ways to start embracing “done” in your marketing and brand building.

There’s lots of mindset shifts in this baby as well that will help you let go of perfect, for good. This is where it starts.

If you’ve been sitting on a piece of content, a project, or an idea because it’s not 100% ready, this is your sign to hit publish. Imperfect action will always beat perfect inaction.

SUMMARY

0:00:00 Introduction

0:02:30 Origin of “Done is Better Than Perfect” Mantra

0:05:00 Personal Business Journey

0:08:54 Shift in Brand Growth

0:11:20 The Problem with Perfectionism

0:14:30 Why Done Builds Faster

0:17:05 How to Put “Done is Better Than Perfect” into Action

0:20:00 Mindset Shifts to Support the Approach

0:22:30 Final Thoughts and Challenge

0:25:00 Closing Remarks

0:26:30 Episode Conclusion

Hayley Osborne 

Hello and welcome to another episode of The Hayley Osborne show. We are at episode 168 and I almost forgot to put my microphone in front of my face. What an amateur move. But here we are. I’m so glad to have you here today listening to me. I wanted to talk today about why done will grow your business faster than perfect ever will.

And that is a classic example of that right there, my friends, if you are watching on YouTube, because I forgot to put the microphone in front of my face button, here we are. Anyway. Okay, so let’s paint this little picture of today where we are at. It is Saturday afternoon, and if you are watching on YouTube. So this episode is on my YouTube channel for you to go and check out if you like, and snippets of it does get posted across my social media, which is awesome, but I am here in my office. It is Saturday afternoon. I am ready to go out.

So I thought, why not just record a podcast episode? Because I am looking nice, so my hair is slicked all the way back. It is there is a part down the middle. So painting the picture for those of you that are multitasking, as this episode comes out on Tuesday, the hair has a treatment in it, but it isn’t a tight bond. It is tight low bun at the back with the middle part, so it’s very sleek, so there’s no curls in sight, which kind of feels really light and good.

But then after a while, I can’t have my hair like pulled back tight for too long, because otherwise I get a bit of a headache. So look, it is so much better when it is curly, and I love it so much more. Anyway, we digress. So I don’t really straighten my hair too often. So you probably would have seen me with straight hair, like once across my socials, if you are a follower. But otherwise, you know, we love it, like free flowing and just nice and wild.

But today, I think I wanted to talk a lot about the catchphrase that I say all the time, which is done is better than perfect. And it’s not really a catchphrase. It’s more my mantra, and it’s a way of doing business. And so it’s on, it’s everywhere. It’s on postcards I send my clients. It’s on welcome packs when you join in my membership, superhero marketing. It is on every month I create a content plan inside the membership. So that consists of Instagram, story, I Well, story, ideas, caption, ideas, video, ideas, lots of different things, and there’s always a mantra of Done is better than perfect.

And I say it in the master classes that I teach, and it’s honestly becoming one of the most important principles, yeah, that I pretty much live by in in business and personally, right? It is a little bit harder personally, because, you know, when you do wash perfect, it kind of has to be perfect done. Can’t be better than perfect when you do your washing.

But you know, in in your world, as a business owner, I do believe that we get so caught up in perfection that sometimes it stops us from getting things done and getting things out into the world. And most of the time, too, when you get things out into the world as you see them, they don’t always end up that way. So we end up changing and evolving based on, you know, how you start is never where you finish.

And I think that it’s really important that we get it done and not get it perfect, because perfect will happen, okay? Because where you start is never where you end. And that’s definitely been the case in my business journey. So if I had never shown up in the first place, I never would have been in this position. And by showing up, showing up in the first place, it I most definitely was not perfect. I still make mistakes, and that’s fine, but I think that show up, you become confident, and then your kind of that just grows and grows and grows and grows and then you end up in this beautiful place. And I think that it’s this is a phrase that I absolutely live by and a lot of my clients.

And if you have a look back on a couple of weeks ago, I interviewed my client, Anne, and she definitely said that, you know, you just said to me, Hayley, just do it. And it actually makes sense, you know, like that Nike catchphrase, just do it. Because you know, when you stop comparing yourself to other people and you just do it, you learn very quickly who you are and what you stand for by just by showing up simply. And I know you’re like, oh. Hayley, it’s so easy for you know, it wasn’t easy for me to begin with, but I’ve been doing this for a really long time, and it becomes easier, and you can too. So Done is better than perfect, guys.

And now I know some of you might be cringing at the idea, because you’ve been taught to aim for perfection, like for everything, and you want everything to be just right before it goes out into the world. But here’s the thing, perfection is the fastest way to store your growth. Done is the fastest way that you can possibly build it. So how did this actually become my mantra? Well, for me, Done is better than perfect. It wasn’t something that I just read in a book and thought, Oh, that’s really nice. It came from lots of time, lots of years of working with small business owners and working on myself and seeing how perfectionism just slows everything down.

Okay? I live in a fast-paced world. I have three small children and run this successful business. And you know, Done is better than perfect every single time. And there have been times in my own business where I’ve sat on, sat in on an idea, I sat on a piece of content, or, you know, even an offer because I wasn’t quite ready, because I wanted something to be super flawless. And you know what happened? Nothing happened. Absolutely nothing happened. And all that time, I was fussing over the details, I was fussing over the ideas. 

And, you know, I think to myself now looking back, there would be so many people that could have been benefited from that had I have gotten out into the world as it was, and not sat on it for longer than I should have. Now, this is going back a long time ago, and I definitely don’t do that anymore. And you know the way that I launched superhero marketing, so my signature membership was very fast, and I didn’t sit on it, and I just got it out into the world, and it evolved and it changed over time.

And I’m so glad that I did, because that that project was huge, but I had a bigger deadline looming over my head, which was I was very pregnant when I launched that I think I was like, seven months pregnant, and there was no way I could have waited until it could have been super, super perfect, so I had to get it done. And so that was hanging over my head. And I don’t regret that for a second, because now it’s been a few years that I’ve had that membership, and I am so, so proud of where it has got to.

So now it is a club, so the name of it is superhero marketing club. And if I had sat on that, you know, who knows, it might not have ever gone live, or it might only be launching now. And so I’m so grateful for that pressing deadline of having a baby, because it taught me so much of just get it out into the world. You know, see what happens, see how it fits, see how what the response is, and then adjust accordingly.

So that’s something that I I’m hoping from this podcast episode, that you can take from those learnings and build on your own, because I think that you know you have so much to offer. Lots of people out there that understand what it is, well what they want to hear through your voice, because not everyone lands the same. And so how it hits for you while you’re listening to me might not be how it lands for somebody else, and just know that. So think about take that and think about it internally for yourself and how it looks for your business. So I think when I started leaning into done, things really shifted, and my brand grew faster.

Okay, I had more opportunities. I got a lot more media, and the biggest change, I think, was that my confidence really skyrocketed. And I must say, underlying all of that was being pregnant a few times and knowing that I wanted to get these things done, that was definitely a big catalyst for Done is better than perfect, and I think that it’s beautiful, because that has sat with me and still sits with me now. So I was just really getting into the doing and activating on my ideas rather than thinking about it. And I do know that the most success comes from moving fast, and that is definitely how I have grown things.

And I know that a lot of people I speak to say the same thing is that they move really fast, and they don’t sit on ideas, and that’s how you grow, and you morph, and you change really quickly when you move really fast. So like the greatest success never comes from stalling. So I think there are moving on to the next. Point is a really big problem with chasing Perfect, okay, and it is an uncomfortable truth, but perfectionism often isn’t about quality control, okay? It isn’t about having things perfect. It is more about fear in disguise, okay, so fear of being judged, fear of failure, fear of what people will think, fear of what our family will think, fear of what our friends will think. Now, our family and our friends are not our clients.

Okay, who cares what they think? They do not know exact, I guarantee you, they do not know exactly what you do, okay, so fear of what people will think. Who cares what people think? Okay, as long as you are staying true to yourself, okay, your people will find you. Okay. The people that need what you have to offer will find you. Because when you’re stuck in perfect mode, you delay connection with your audience.

You delay the impact, most importantly, that you can have with your audience, and you delay so many opportunities that are literally around the corner you have no idea. Honestly, I could never have believed in a million years if I now what I’ve done if, if I was to tell my 10 year ago self that I would be on national television, that I would be on radio, that I would have been interviewed in different media, that I would have been in an International Women’s Day video, I would have laughed in my own face going, Ah, I don’t think So. Hayley, you are batshit crazy and you are dreaming, but that actually happened, and I am so grateful because I got out of my own way. I got out of being perfect, and I just did the thing.

Now, you know my husband, it’s so funny. He’s always like, you know you are, what does he say? He’s I’m not very well planned, but I’m organized, so I do things more by the seat of my pants, and he’s like the planner. I’m organized, yes, but I’m becoming better planned because of him. And fine, but I do move a lot faster. I believe he might not believe that, but I do, and that I think flows through my business and also, like my home life. So Done is better than perfect every single time. So if I am tasked with dinner, I know this is totally going, like off topic, but usually I never follow a recipe. I just go with my gut, and I know, I know what is yummy.

I know what tastes right. I know the balance. And I’m never like, oh, I’ll just put the recipe says a teaspoon. I’ll put a teaspoon. No, I’m a free pourer all the way. And so done flows better than perfect throughout my whole existence. And I think that, you know, if we bring it back to business, if you know you are delaying opportunities, you are delaying impact, you are delaying all of those things that you could get done.

And I think while you’re polishing that one thing over and over again, like, like a recipe or whatever that looks like, someone else is out there already in the market, making money, building their audience, getting results with something imperfect but done. How many people can you think of that are out there already doing the thing that you want to be doing, but your perfectionism is holding you back, and you know that you are so much better than them? I bet you are saying, I agree. Hayley, yes, you are right. Moving on, because I could rant on this for so long, but this is supposed to motivate you and inspire you to get the thing done.

Rather than perfect it, okay, perfect it later and moving on to the next thing. Why done? Builds faster. So you know, getting thing, getting things done definitely creates the momentum that you need to keep the flow going, because that momentum is going to create growth for you. So when you finish something, even if it’s not perfect, you put it into the world where it can start working for you. And then when it’s out there, you tweak, you improve, you refine later, but if it’s sitting in a folder on your computer, it is doing nothing. It is definitely not done, and it is definitely out, not out there, for you to be able to create the impact that you want in your business. And I’ve seen this play out with my clients over and over again.

A client launches a new offer before the branding is perfect. They make sales every single time another sends an email, they’ve been overthinking, and they get a response straight away. That is the power of done. I’ve seen this so many times. I’m like you. Doesn’t matter you’ve got a database of 25 people. You have to start somewhere. Imagine if all. Of those 25 people reply to you and say, I am so glad that you landed in my inbox today, because I need what you have to offer. I have been just procrastinating on this, and thank you so much for being top of mind and appearing in my world today.

This has happened to me before, where a client has done this, where she had a very small database, and someone responded, and it was a big, big, big-ticket item, and so do not delay. Okay? So the next part is how to put this into action.

If you’ve already, you’re ready to embrace, okay, if you’ve already, you’re already on the fence, and you want to embrace this mantra. There’s three ways that I want to help you to be able to start. So firstly, set some little deadlines for yourself. So give yourself a finished date and stick to it, no dragging it out. So I said to someone the other day, do you remember where my business used to be called social soul? She was like, no, I have no idea, when nobody knows. And for me, changing the brand over to a personal brand, I was just like, I need to just get it done.

And so I just did it. It wasn’t a massive thing. I changed it over, and no one is the wiser. Okay, and so done it. Don’t drag it out. Just do it. Make the change, update the thing, put out the course, just do it. Okay, the second one, so number one, set some really micro deadlines for yourself. Number two is focus on the impact that you are going to have, rather than the esthetics. Okay, so ask yourself, does this serve its purpose? If it the answer is yes, then press, send, press, post, press, publish, just do it.

The third one is after you have released the thing into the wild. Perfection become can come after, okay, little sometimes I’m so excited by this Done is better than perfect. I’m a little bit tongue tied sometimes. So you know, perfection comes later, okay? And then you can always layer on that perfection after, tweak it, improve it, adjust it, but do it after you’ve started or after you’ve launched the thing. Okay, so go through, try it, test it, and then tweak it, and then do it again and again and again and again.

Okay, so three ways to put the Done is better than perfect mantra into action and the foot. And that is, the first way is to set some micro deadlines. The second way is focus on the impact that you’re going to have, rather than the way that it looks okay, rather than esthetics. And then the third way is review it after it is out, okay. And I wanted to also include some mindset shifts that can support this. Okay. So here are ways that will help you to lean into my Done is better than perfect mantra even more. Okay. So see, every piece, everything that you do, is a work in progress. Okay, not something that is set in stone.

You are the crown jewel in your business. You have crowned yourself with whatever it is that you do, whatever your unique selling points are, but nothing is set in stone, okay, so just merge and morph and change as you go along. The second one is treating mistakes as data. Okay, so look at them, analyze them. They’re there. There are no failures. And then the third one is, you know, I think as entrepreneurs and business owners, we are by nature experimental.

So have that kind of mindset. Okay, so try it, measure it, improve it, redo it, don’t delete it. Move on. Get better. Learn the lesson and implement the lesson, and then activate the lesson, and then so much so that you see a wow, that is more perfect than the last time that I showed up in this this or that launch is so much better than the last time I launched. Okay, so they’re the different mindset shifts that you can start to implement to be able to support this.

Done is better than perfect. It works every single time. Now, some final thoughts on this are done moves you forward. Okay? Perfect definitely keeps you stuck. It keeps you stuck all the time, because you will always find a flaw. You will always find something that is not right. You will always find a sentence you thought, oh no, that could be better. And you know, even the most important sentences. So I think your transformation message is one of the most important sentences in your business. Do you know how many times I’ve changed my own I. So many times as my business has grown and evolved and morphed into what it is now.

So when you choose Done, you build momentum, and momentum is the thing that grows your brand the fastest, faster than anything else. So here’s my challenge for you today, if you take one thing from this podcast episode, so finish something that you’ve been sitting on. All right. Hit publish, send the email, launch the thing do the scary task, imperfect will always beat something that is inactive all the time, 100 out of 100 times.

And if you want help building this kind of momentum inside of your business in a way that feels very strategic, in a way that feels aligned, in a way that feels effective. That is exactly what I teach you inside magnetic marketing formula, and can find the link to the show note below. Doors will be opening very, very soon, and I’m very excited for that. And until next time guys Done is better than perfect. And I hope that you remember that when you sit down and you do all of the things this week. Okay, lots of love guys.

And if you’ve enjoyed this episode, please share it with somebody that you think would benefit, because it does help to get the podcast out to more people and leave me a review, because that also helps a lot. And if you have any questions, feel free to hit me up on Instagram or Facebook messages, because I always love to chat to you. And you know that if you reply to any of my emails, I always write back much love, and I hope you have the best day bye, bye.