One of the maxims I live and work by is this:
“Done is better than perfect”.
It has got me started (and finished) on many an occasion. It really came into play when the pandemic hit and we moved our in-person business online within a matter of days. We knew it wasn’t perfect - it was beyond our current skillsets and comfort zones and there was a lot of learning on the job. But had we waited until it was perfect I’m pretty sure we’d still be waiting.
If you’ve ever received written communication from me you’ll see this in action - spelling mistakes, punctuation errors and a general lack of attention to detail. There’s a bit of laziness in there, a definite last minute element, but there is also the fact that I work alone and I’m generally the one - the one who plans, administers, writes, proofs, uploads, teaches, manages and promotes. At times letting go of perfection is the only way I can get things done.
But then I come across people who value perfection, who love the details, and tinker until things are perfect. My husband falls more into this camp and I believe that although this can be the cause of a fair few clashes between us, these complementary styles also help make us a better team. In the studio building process there were corners I would have cut, elements I would have added later, details I didn’t prioritise - but luckily working with him meant that I didn’t have much choice. It cost more, and it took longer. But it’s better (that bit closer to perfect) and it was worth it.
I’ve been working with Al at Encompass for a few years now. On paper Al designs pretty things (much of what you see in the building, from the carefully chosen colours to the beautiful murals is down to Al’s eye for detail.) In real life Al is a friend, trusted business advisor, font of knowledge, wisdom and spiritual guidance and all round beautiful soul.
Al is designing my website with Eddie, who is the technical wizard. They are the dream team of form and function. They have worked tirelessly on creating the mother of all websites which not only looks beautiful but will function, dare I say, perfectly!
But as perfect as it looks …. It’s not done! We had aimed for launching before my 40th birthday in early February - possibly not the brightest idea - and, alas and alack, it didn’t happen. We set a new deadline for this weekend and we were on track! But compromises had been made. it wasn’t going to be perfect (in the short term). There was testing we hadn’t had time for, functionality that was still being worked on, automation not in place. Not perfect but done - and out there for you to use.
As we were getting ready to switch over sites (yesterday) we realised I had a vital part of information - a password essential for this process.
This was back in April 2020. At the time I was very busy going online and living by my “Done is better than perfect” maxim. I can picture the scene. The desk was a mess. My filing was non existent. Let’s be honest, I was quit possibly drunk (that’s a joke but also it could be true - IYKYK).
Amidst this I renewed my domain and was given a password. Not just any password but a top secret password that was shown on screen - they didn’t even email it to me or store it. It was down to me to recognise it’s importance and look after it for future domain changes (likes this) … you can guess what happened. (In case you can’t ... I lost it. In fact I don’t even remember getting it in the first place. No idea).
My lack of attention to detail has come back to bite me. My doing 15 billion things at once and getting them all done (but none of them done perfectly) has been my downfall.
Ok, so that’s a bit dramatic. It’s just a 2 week wait (or thereabouts) whilst they manually verify who I am. I think there is actual snail mail involved which is quite exciting.
And here’s the upside.
While Eddie and Al were frantically beavering away to get the website done we knew there would be short term compromises. This enforced period of 2 weeks allows us the grace of testing, finishing and perfecting. The two worlds collide!
I remember Al asking what were the biggest challenges of the building process (this was in a design / therapy / prayer / art / business meeting).
I thought for a moment and then sagely said “ We have not been given challenges, but gifts - opportunities to pause, learn, grow or question” - or something along those lines.
I’m actually laughing out loud writing that down but it’s true. It really is. This gift of 2 weeks (or thereabouts) is going to enable us to get the website both done and perfect! The best of both worlds!
So if you started reading this to find out more about the website, apologies for not actually giving you much information on that, but safe to say, it is more than your average website and it’s almost here. I promise to update you very soon, and it will be worth the wait (as will the special offers, new memberships and amazing new on demand content library!).
We’ve never prioritised this element of the business before. For the past (?) years all our spending, effort and energy when into the physical manifestation of a space. Until COVID hit the website was literally a place you could find out what’s on and when. But it’s a different world now - the online fitness and wellbeing market has exploded. A website not only represents our building, our teaches and our classes but is part of our offering and part of our community - it’s how people access content, watch catch up classes, stream live classes and, of course, book.
And our new website - or platform because website doesn't seem a big enough word - does all of this, and more (whilst looking pretty darn good). It will be perfect and it will be done… because sometimes there is room for both!
