Why It’s Okay to Half-Ass Your Blog Posts (At First)

Raise your hand if you’ve been personally victimized by perfectionism as an entrepreneur😵‍💫🤚🏼

So many of you have come to me, saying things like:

• “It’s not perfect, so it’s not even worth putting out there”
• “I could do this so easily, but I just can’t for some reason”
• “I know I SHOULD be able to do this, but I never do”
• “I finished writing this blog post months ago, but it still doesn’t feel ready”

Whether you’re releasing a new course, creating a new blog post, or even just writing an Instagram caption, perfectionism loooves to just wander on in & take over when you’re getting ready to put something out there into the world. It is scary as fuck to put a piece of yourself where everybody can see it; where you open yourself up to judgement, to failure, to embarrassment. So sometimes (usually) it’s just easier to come up with an excuse if you don’t feel completely, 1000% ready. Which – spoiler alert – you will never ever feel completely ready.

You feel that if your product/blog post/caption/service isn’t in its most perfect, most 10/10, most A+++ state possible, that it’s NOT worth it – so you never release it, you never publish it, you never post it. That if it’s not the best goddamn thing the internet has ever seen, it has no value.

I want to pause real quick to show you a real email I got from an Instagram friend a couple months ago, which is actually what inspired this blog post! I had just sent an email out to my email list, announcing my 3 new blog posts, and telling them how excited I was to continue creating resources for them. This is what she replied to that email:

And here was the first part of my response:

Whewww does that sound familiar to anyone?🫣

• “I’m subconsciously so afraid of putting something out into the world because it won’t be ‘perfect’, so I procrastinate to avoid that ‘loss’”
• “I could write this post in my sleep and I have my outline done, and yet I’m currently residing as the mayor of Resistance”

And now, because I have a special talent for relating ANYTHING in my life back to a book, I want to share a quote from the book I’m currently reading that I think is very relevant here:

“There is a time for any fledgling artist where one’s taste exceeds one’s abilities. The only way to get through this period is to make things anyway.”

– Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

In this part of the book, one of the characters (Sadie) is reflecting on the fact that, before she became a video game designer/creator, she spent YEARS being critical of other video games. She could easily tell you what was wrong with a game, what could be improved – but she didn’t quite know how to make a great game herself. This quote is basically saying that although she had great taste in video games and knew what she wanted to do – she knew her end goal – her talents just weren’t quite there yet. And she mentions that if she didn’t have her close friend (Sam) to push her through this period of creating imperfect video games, through this time of making things anyway, that she may never have become the incredible designer she became.

Now back to you, right now: you’re Sadie, in this analogy.

You’ve heard about all the benefits of blogging. You know how much it could benefit your business and serve your clients. You KNOW all of this – but god is it still scary to try it 😅It’s so easy to let our emotions get in the way of potentially creating great things because we may not be good at it at first, just like Sadie with her video games. It’s so easy to give up because we so badly WANT the benefits of blogging and all the results that come with it, but we don’t want to push through the period of maybe not being good at it.

So hello, I’m your Sam! I’m the friend that’s encouraging you to push through the first part of the blogging journey that may feel overwhelming, that may make you feel like you’re not good enough – because in order to reach the point a year from now, two years from now, where you’re fucking reeling in the leads from Google & your ideal clients are paying you all the money in the world because they trust you right off the bat, you have to make it through this period first. And you have to blog anyway.

Here are a few quick snippets from recent 1:1 client reviews, to help you step into that vision of your future and really FEEL the success you’re dreaming of:

✨ “I never worry about my blog anymore and the inquiries keep pouring in from the various blogs that she has written for me!”

✨ “I am seeing a very steady flow of ideal-client inquiries in the months we’ve been working together.”

✨ “Whenever I post with new content, I see a huge drive in traffic to my site.”

These results are SO in reach for you, just like they were for each of these clients of mine.

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Alright, Sadie & Sam analogy over. Back to that email I got from a photographer – here are the two things I told her, in order to help her get through this first period:

1. The imperfect version of this blog post will serve my audience/business 100x times more than no version of this blog post.

Your clients will receive ZERO value and your business will get ZERO results if you don’t publish the blog post at all, so even if you publish that blog post at 75% and not in it’s most perfect, 100% state, your clients & business will get so. much. more value & benefit than if you were never to publish it at all. Does that make sense? I had to remind myself of this when I was creating my course, too. I had ALL these ideas for what I wanted it to look like – guest speakers, extra modules, perfect workflows, etc. But I knew that the imperfect version of the course would serve my audience wayyyyy more than, well, no course at all.

Here’s a very simple hierarchy to show you what I mean:

Fully optimized, 3-course blog post cooked to perfection = Best opportunity for the results you want, lots of value to your clients

⬇️

Messy, imperfect blog post = Some potential for the results you want, lots of value to your clients

⬇️

No blog post = No value to your clients, zero opportunity for results.

While yes, IDEALLY every single blog post would be absolutely perfect and that would be amazing – a messy, imperfect blog post still sits above no blog post. As long as your messy blog post is still written professionally, demonstrates your expertise, and delivers valuable information to your clients, then it is a guarantee that your blog post will, at the bare minimum, serve the hell out of your clients! And SEO-related results are just the cherry on top, if you put a little bit of time & thought into optimization 🍒

2. I can ALWAYS come back and add/make changes later.

You can always, always come back to your imperfect blog post and make adjustments, or make it “perfect” when you have the time! There is no harm at all in making changes (as long as you don’t make changes that could affect your SEO, like changing the URL or messing too much with the SEO title), so if you have 10 ideas you want to make happen for this blog but you only have time for 5 right now, you can come back and add those other 5 in later. You have full permission to half-ass it at first if that’s what it takes to get the blog post up & on your website – as long as that half-assed blog still has intention and a little bit of SEO strategy!

🪩PRO TIP: If you want to save a shit ton of time when you blog and take out 80% of the hard work, get your hands on one of my Plug N’ Play Blogging Templates ASAP! I’ve created these blogging templates to help solve the issue you probably run into of not knowing wtf to write. Whether you’ve chosen a topic for your blog post or not, that writer’s block can be deadly – and next thing you know, you’ve got a draft sitting in WordPress for the next 3 months with absolutely nothing in it. 

That’s where my Plug N’ Play Templates come into play! These templates provide you with a full outline of a blog post that you will fill in to fit your own unique brand, offerings, & clientele. I may be biased, but they’re the best thing I offer 😉 And as a lil’ reward for putting in the time to read this blog post + further your blogging journey, you can take 15% off with the code “BLOG” at checkout!

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You have so much knowledge that your clients are dying to learn from you, and you have ALL the power to use it to reach them organically, be it through half-assed blog posts now or full-fledged, expert-level blog posts a year from now. If you’re feeling a little called out, Ms./Mr./Mx. Perfection, then I’d love for you to hop on over to another blog post I wrote that’s very similar to this one, about 4 Ways You’re Procrastinating Real Progress In Your Business (hint: perfectionism is one of ‘em).

And if you’re feeling like you’re ready to start making things anyway but need a little support on the practical side of things, here are 3 blog posts to help you get started on the right foot!