My Breakthrough: Done Is Better Than Perfect

Breakthroughs From a Digital Agency (a Series)
We have a small, close-knit team here at Brolik. We’ve experienced solid growth year over year since our inception in 2004, but 2013 felt different from the rest. The company celebrates 10 years in business on January 14th, 2014. But, it’s not just this milestone we’re celebrating… this year the company reached a level of maturity that we can be proud of. As a small agency, cash flow challenges, production bottlenecks, inefficient processes and peaks and valleys in new business are common. This year our talent, experience and execution aligned better than ever before. To put a cap on the year, and to put this somewhat vague concept of “maturity” into more tangible terms, each of our team members will present their personal breakthroughs over the last year. In the process, we hope you’ll get to know the people who make up Brolik a little better.

Working in digital strategy at Brolik over the last year has been full of excitement. With a roster of clients that is quickly growing and numerous action items for each, I have learned that the way I strive for perfection in my work needed to change. I have realized that digital strategy is like throwing a lot of mud on the wall and seeing what sticks. Obviously the mud we choose to throw is backed by a hefty amount of research, and the analysis of it sticking is done with advanced analytics monitoring, but the concept is the same.

Over the last year, my breakthrough has been embracing the concept of done is better than perfect. In the beginning, I admit, it wasn’t easy. I have always been protective of my work and always perfected things before sharing. The problem, though, is the time it takes to reach perfection. Digital strategy doesn’t allow for this luxury. Instead, it is vital to make first attempts and reach perfection through collaboration.

Whether it is a limited retainer we are trying to maximize for a client, a new channel we need to experiment with or a new policy we need to adhere to, we have to move with agility and be swift with our decision making. Rather than pondering the best headline for a search ad or waffling over what subject line I should use for an email, I have learned to trust my gut, lean on the research and monitor analytics along the way.

Embracing the “done is better than perfect” concept doesn’t always produce gold in a first foray, but it always creates stepping stones leading to the next idea or starting points for coworkers to expand upon. Even if a tactic we test doesn’t meet expectations, we at least have more data than we did previously, and we are one step closer to hitting the next home run.