5 September 2007 No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

I’m by many accounts a perfectionist. I want everything done just right and I will go back and forth on something until it is perfect, or what I think is acceptable at the time. However, sometimes I find myself spending countless hours, days, or even months on a project, trying to perfect it. What I find myself doing is very minor changes that end up wasting time and makes me less productive. Some times, in business, investing and general personal finance, there may not be an absolute perfect way to do things. It’s better to go for it soon rather than trying to perfect the process, while watching time and opportunities fly by.

When it comes to investing, don’t try to find the absolute perfect investment. It probably doesn’t exist. In stocks, I don’t care what anyone says, but your individual stock picks are just as good as anyone else’s guess. Instead of researching day in day out looking for the perfect companies to invest in, why not invest in a low cost mutual fund or index fund? Imagine researching, buying and selling stocks constantly in search for the perfect ones. Even if your returns beat the market, all the fees and time involved will outweigh that extra return. What I do is find two or three good funds and stick when them through the long haul. For me its not worth the hassle to try to find the perfect individual stocks to buy.

When it comes to saving money and being frugal, don’t try to perfect the process before you do it, just do it. Theres no need to research every single certificate of deposit or e-savings account in the world in search of the perfect one. Instead, find one that you find convenient and financially sound and put your money in there. Don’t worry about finding the “right” way to be frugal in every aspect of your life, just buy smart and buy less of the stuff that you don’t need. If all you’re doing is reading books and website articles on finance, while trying to put together a perfect plan, you’ll end up becoming a victim of analysis paralysis. You’ll likely end up putting it aside entirely and never apply it. Then life gets in the way and 10 years go by and you never got started saving and applying frugality to your life. Just start applying sensible action plans now, they don’t have to be perfect.

When I build e-commerce businesses, I have a very bad habit of trying to make the website absolutely perfect. I spend countless hours and sometimes programming dollars to make the site look visually appealing, and behave the way I want it to. I also look at my competitors and constantly compare my site to theirs. Usually, upon discovering that they have a larger selection than I do, I go and search for more suppliers for my site. This leads to more time and effort required to negotiate with suppliers, add products to my site etc. The next thing I know, almost a year has gone by and I haven’t even launched my site! My best advice for e-commerce and home based entrepreneurs is to get the name out first and start marketing. Once your initial sales come rolling in, the momentum gets stronger and you can then focus on building the business and making the site look pretty.

Now I realize that nothing has to be absolutely perfect for it to work. Perfectionism can be a financial and mental drain. You’ll lose steam and admit failure before anything ever happens. I admit that several of my business projects never even saw the light of day because I kept picking flaws in it. So remember, don’t try to be perfect before you apply action. Do what makes sense and do what make you feel comfortable. You’ll be making the right move.