Building this... it's been chaos...

I heard this quote not too long ago and it just... perfectly captures how we actually build things versus how we think we should build them.

This whole Think Like A Creator thing?

It's often been absolutely nuts behind the scenes.

And I mean that in the best possible way.

Everyone sees what we put out now - everything looking all polished and put together (hopefully😂).

But honestly, if you could see what it's actually been like building this... it's been chaos.

Beautiful, productive chaos, but chaos nonetheless.

We've tried so many things that just completely bombed.

Ideas we were convinced were brilliant that lasted about two weeks before we quietly shelved them.

Formats we spent ages planning that nobody wanted.

Approaches that made perfect sense on paper but felt completely wrong in reality.

The old me would have been devastated by each of these “failures”.

Would have seen them as proof that maybe I wasn't cut out for this, or that I should have planned better, or waited longer, or researched more.

But what I've realised is that every single one of these "failures" has been absolutely crucial to figuring out what actually works.

When something doesn't land the way we expected, we learn something about our audience that we never would have discovered by just thinking about it.

When a format feels wrong, it points us toward what feels right.

When an idea flops, it usually reveals three better ideas we wouldn't have found otherwise.

The breakthrough came when we stopped trying to build the perfect thing and started building the thing that teaches us what perfect actually looks like for our specific audience.

Because you literally cannot plan your way to the right answer.

You can only experiment your way there.

I could have obsessed over getting the newsletter format exactly right before publishing a single edition.

Instead, I started writing and let the response guide me toward what resonates.

And this applies to everything, right?

Whatever you're building, whatever you're working on, whatever you've been planning and researching and perfecting in your head for months.

That perfect version you're imagining?

It doesn't exist.

Not yet.

It only exists on the other side of a hundred experiments, most of which won't work the way you expect them to.

But that's the beautiful part - it all compounds into something useful.

Every iteration teaches you something you couldn't have learned any other way.

Every adjustment gets you closer to the thing your audience actually wants, not just the thing you think they want.

The data you collect from real interactions with real people is worth more than all the planning in the world.

And honestly, this is probably the most important mindset shift you can make as someone trying to build anything.

Stop waiting for certainty.

Stop trying to minimise risk through endless planning.

Start collecting data through action.

Slow motion is better than no motion.

Whatever you've been sitting on, whatever you've been perfecting, whatever you've been waiting to feel ready for - launch version 0.1.

Let it be imperfect.

Let your audience help you figure out what version 0.2 should look like.

We're all just figuring it out as we go.

The brands you admire, the creators you follow, the businesses you think have it all worked out - they're all just really good at experimenting in public and learning from what happens next.

That's the real secret.

Not having all the answers, but being comfortable with finding them through action instead of thought.

Remember, the creator mindset is all you need to grow 🌱

P.S. Speaking of experiments, the Think Like A Creator WhatsApp community is now nearly 300 people strong and it's become such a positive environment for both creators and brands to get connected with each other. Join for free here →

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