Entrepreneurship sounds like something where you need to master perfection in just about everything before you venture toward a business proposition. After all, making, establishing, or even maintaining a business is not everyone’s forte.
You’d be surprised to know that the world’s most innovative entrepreneurs weren’t perfectionists. Instead, they were as far from the idea of perfectionism as possible. Surprisingly, perfectionism and entrepreneurship aren’t exactly a match made in heaven. Entrepreneurs, too, don’t just need to be imperfect but embrace those imperfections for themselves and their businesses.
If this doesn’t make sense, stick with us as we explain how embracing imperfections can take any entrepreneur’s business to new heights.
What Does it Mean to Embrace Imperfections in Business?
A business flourishes when its owner lets go of the idea of perfection. Sure, you need a great product, good customer service, and an effective marketing strategy. But when you don’t lead with trial and error, a business can never grow beyond a certain point. In pursuit of perfection, you probably won’t take many steps that can help your business.
So, embracing imperfections in a business essentially means making mistakes, letting your creativity nurture, and taking risks. In other words, allowing your business’s authenticity to prevail. Some people may confuse this for never improving the flaws in your business’s system. However, it’s not neglecting the drawbacks, but knowing that everything, especially creative processes in a business, is never ‘perfect.’
Step into the journey of #BecomingFlawesome, meaning embracing your flaws as part of your awesome self, to get to the depths of becoming a progressive entrepreneur.
Insights from the Experts
Think of it this way, if Spencer Silver didn’t accidentally make a light adhesive instead of the actual strong bonding adhesive he planned, we wouldn’t have sticky notes. If Mark Zuckerberg didn’t take the risk of making Facebook an information directory for college students at Harvard first. In that case, we might never have known used or even known social media platforms until much later. If Dr. Alexander Fleming didn’t accidentally leave a petri dish out when going on a holiday, we never would’ve had the ability to fight bacterial infections.
Generally, the best business propositions and inventions came from imperfections. These people weren’t obsessed with creating perfection (maybe they were, but lessons learned), but creating something valuable through their mistakes and flaws.
Another person who rose from her mistakes and learned to embrace her flaws through life experiences is the author Kristina Mand-Lakhiani. She had to do it the hard way; still, Kristina offers valuable insights in her book Becoming Flawesome – The Key to Living an Imperfectly Authentic Life regarding embracing imperfection as an entrepreneur for business growth, leadership, and overall fulfillment. With practical strategies and empowering stories to back it all up, you won’t get a better guide than this.
Practical Steps to Embrace Imperfections in Business
Before working on your business’s growth, you must embrace your flaws as an entrepreneur. It might sound complex, but these steps will gradually transform your mindset towards an empowered, authentic self.
- Take Time to Self-Reflect: Your strengths and weakness as an entrepreneur are what directly affect your business. You could be a procrastinator, which isn’t ideal for a business. However, embrace that you are one and then work your way around it.
- Cultivate a Growth Mindset: Instead of viewing your imperfections as catastrophes that hinder your growth, make them the catalysts. Once you embrace your flaws, you’ll slowly start creating opportunities for growth and learning instead of putting up barriers. Embrace challenges, seek feedback, and keep improving.
- Build Support Around You: The best ideas and opportunities come when you network with like-minded people. Instead of sticking with entrepreneurs that flaunt their unrealistic ‘perfection,’ connect with people who do. Share experiences, learn from each other, and celebrate success AND failure.
- Practice Authentic Communication: Unlike people who only preach perfection, become someone that’s genuine and transparent in front of everyone regarding their failures, mistakes, and progress. Your peers will trust you and admire you more as an entrepreneur.
Conclusion
Becoming a successful, or flawesome, entrepreneur is all about embracing your authentic, imperfect self. The aspects we see as flaws can become our strengths once we shift our mindset to that clause.