Denise Duffield...:            Hey, and welcome back to another episode of Chill and Prosper. And thank you so much for listening. I appreciate it. Now I want to talk about something that's... aw, man. It's been a cross to bear me for a long, long time and it is perfectionism. Now I'm a Virgo. I understand perfectionism. It is definitely a big part of our personality as Virgos. But I also see it a lot in pretty much every entrepreneur that I meet, is this feeling of perfectionism. So let's talk about that today. Let's talk about what it's costing you to be a perfectionist in your business, what things you should be a perfectionist about and what things you absolutely should not be a perfectionist about. And hopefully it will give you some inspiration just to get started with some of those projects that you're procrastinating or you're waiting for them to be perfect and let's get some movement happening on some of those things.

                                                So there are three reasons why I perfectionism is really, really costing you money at the moment. And the first one is that there are people that you can be helping. It's as simple as that. Your perfectionism around launching your book, your course, your podcast, your website, your new business. It is costing you money because people need your now and they can't get it. And how many people are asking you for that message? When's that thing coming out? When's your book coming out? When are you starting that podcast? And whatever it is that you do and how you help people, there could be people in real pain at the moment who are trying to figure out how to solve that problem. And people can't know about what you do if it's not out. If they can't buy it, they can't give you money and they can't be fixed by it.

                                                So just think about that for a moment, what that is literally costing you. So it could be that you want to launch your program and you think you could easily sell 10 places in your program. Well, if your program is $1000, that's $10,000 that it's literally costing you. And let's talk about where that perfectionism might be showing up. So you might be like, "oh, the logo's not right." Do I have a logo? Just think of my business for a second. Do I have a logo? Not really. The color's not right. I need to fix those things. Well, no. Everyone starts from scratch. They're not buying the color of your handouts. They're buying the transformation. Maybe you go, "oh, the tech's not right yet. It's not there." Cool. Well maybe you need to hire someone to help you do it.

                                                Or you think, "oh, but the book. It's going to have typos in it." Yeah, it probably will. And have you ever read a book that's got a typo in it? It still happens all the time with big books that have been through heaps of people. I still find them... I literally did the final read through of one of my books recently and I had typos in it. It's been through three other people before it got to that. So if you're waiting for everything to be perfect, you're going to wait forever. And you don't get one shot at it, right? So stop thinking that it's got to look perfectly and stop thinking that it's be completely free from error, because it might not happen. You got to launch it. You got to help people because it's just costing you money right now, just for it sitting on your computer. It's costing you money that it's sitting there and and doing nothing.

                                                It's costing you money, having a website that you're paying hosting for that nobody can buy you from you. It costing you money having an email system but you're not sending out newsletters, because you're worried that you're going to get criticism and unsubscribes. So the perfectionism is so hard because it's impossible, right? We're never going to have 100% of everything. So people are waiting for it right now. And is it okay if it's version 1.0? You know, Money Bootcamp started in 2012. I think we're up to version seven or eight now. And every time I did it, which is every 18 months or two years, I would learn from that. And I would tweak a little bit, but I couldn't wait until it was perfect. I just had to book the film guy. I had to book the person to do the graphics and the handouts for me. And I had to launch it. I had to ship it. It had to go out because otherwise I would still be waiting for the stars to align. I would still be waiting for that.

                                                So here's another reason why perfectionism is costing you money at the moment. People want to hear from real life role models. So if you are waiting until you've lost 10 pounds, if you are waiting until you're different than how you are, you're going to be waiting a long time, okay? And so you are losing money. It's costing you money because actually people will really need to hear you and need to see you exactly as you are now. So this is a perfect example of where people don't get photos for their business. They go, "I'll just wait till I've lost weight." And you go, "yeah, but do it now at the weight that you're at." Launch that business because sometimes you've just got to launch stuff and start it and then change it later on.

                                                You can get more photos. If you do decide you want to lose weight or if you just decide that you look hot and sexy. And that's what always happens after my photos always go, "dang, I look good." Because I get my hair done, I get my makeup done. I hire photographers who know poses and light and all of those thoughts of, oh man, maybe I should have lost a little bit of weight, when I get them back I go, "dang." And do you know what a gift that is for people who need to see that in your business? They go, "wow. She's a size whatever." Or "he's a size whatever." And they look amazing. And I have not been shy about showing my body at all different stages over the last couple of years. Like pregnant, not pregnant, with baby weight.

                                                I went on a sugar free diet and I lost a lot of weight. And then I put it all back for my next baby. I've never had anyone say, "oh, you're gross." It's just great to see normal people and see normal people showing up. And so, you might have stories about your appearance. You might have stories about your accent. You might have stories about your grooming, I'm not pretty enough or whatever. And you know what? That could be like really inspiring for people. People want to see that. We live in a reality TV culture. We live in a world of filters and apps and face tune. And it can be really disruptive to see people who don't use that. And it's totally fine if you do, by the way.

                                                I like filters. I don't change my face, but I sometimes I like a nice filter. But what if people want to see you right now? What if they want to see you without makeup right now? What if they want to see you and it's totally okay to see your stretch marks. That's cool too. Doesn't mean you've got to show everything thing and let it all hang out. But your perfectionism around your appearance is costing you money. It really is because you could just start and you could role model what it's like to have love and acceptance.

                                                And if you don't feel that, it's a really good thing to work on as you are showing up in your business. So that could be showing up in not going for podcasts interviews, not going for business awards. It could be showing up in so many ways. And you know what? You're fine, right as you are right now. You can make money as you are now. There's no height limit. There's no weight limit. Why not you? So I'm going to take a quick break and then we're going to do the last little thing. All right. Speak to you in a sec.

Tessa:                                   Hi, Denise. I'm Tessa. And I live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I'm a fertility awareness educator and a new business owner. And I read Chillpreneur earlier this year when I was struggling with panic attacks and anxiety. And I really learned two massive takeaways. One is that I can set up a business to focus on passive income, and number two, that I don't have to pay attention to people in my industry who have lots of their own money mindset issues.

Speaker 4:                           My name is Fi Ishstutz [phonetic]. I am currently building a new business, Phoenix Rises Counseling. I am going to facilitate after death communication. I have also written books and I use Denise's books and courses all the time. She addresses limiting beliefs that may have gone unconscious that stop us from manifesting and her system works.

Denise Duffield...:            Hey, and welcome back. It's Denise here. And we're talking about how perfectionism is costing you money in your business right now. So the first one is that you're just not launching stuff, because you're waiting and people need to hear a message now. People are waiting. The second one is that you have got perfectionism around your appearance and you don't want to show up and be visible, but people really want to hear from you and they want to see you. And then the last thing is, so many people underestimate the value of imperfect action.

                                                You might have heard me talk about this story before, but it's really important. So my first couple of years of business, when I was talking about money blocks, I created a money blocks opt-in. You can, you can go to denisedt.com/blocks. First of all, it was a recording of an hour webinar that I did.

                                                And it was probably more like an hour and a half. Complete with, "hi, can everyone hear me? Okay, cool. I'm on the webinar." And it was like that. And then I went, "oh man, this recording. I'll just wait until I can edit it before I put it up." And then I went, "I'll just put it up and then I'll edit it later." So I made it into an opt-in and people could listen to the recording. And yeah, it was a bit too long and a bit too waffly. It was a live thing, right? And I just went, "ah, whatever." And then maybe about a year or two later, I got my assistant to cut it down so it was more like a 30 minute thing. Just cutting out all the waffle and made the page a little bit nicer and then I totally forgot about it.

                                                And I remember I came back from maternity leave and I was going through all my stats after maternity leave. And I went, "oh my God, this page is really popular." And I said, "ah, but I think we should take it down because it doesn't have a funnel on it. There's no follow up sequence. It's just so bad." But I got my guy to pull the stats. And so up until point 20,000 people had listened to that audio, just because it was there. 20,000 people. It was like 21, five, nine something, right? And I went, "oh my God, people listened to it." And he goes, "oh, do you want to know how many people have joined Money Bootcamp from this?" And I went, "yeah." And he's like, "well like about 1%." And I was like, "what do you mean?"

                                                And so, because at the end of the webinar, I was like, "hey, so if you liked talking about money blocks, I've got a Money Bootcamp. If you want to like talk about your money blocks a bit more. And I'll put the link on the page." And that's it. It wasn't anything. It wasn't anything, but it was there. It was there. And you might go. "yeah, but Denise that's really unprofessional and unethical to make money out of something that you don't know is perfect." And the thing is though, I got feedback from people saying, "wow, I really got so much out of that money blocks audio." And I'm like, "really, because I think it sucks." And they're like, "and then it was the right time for me. And so I joined Money Bootcamp." And I was like, "what? How, like why?"

                                                And it's because I just made the offer. I just said, "it's there if you want it." And some people, they want it. And that's cool, right? So don't underestimate the value of placeholder marketing because it's awesome. So just from that imperfect audio, just cause I put it up, about 200 people joined Money Bootcamp, at $2,000 a go. That's $400,000 that I made, but I helped 200 people just because I gave them the offer.

                                                So here's another example. My book, Lucky Bitch. I asked the universe for a bestselling book idea and I got it in a shower. Ah, Lucky Bitch. Cool. I'll write a book called Lucky Bitch. I didn't want to send it out to any publishers. I was really embarrassed. I had imposter syndrome about being a writer.

                                                I'm like, "no, no one will like this." And it was at the time too, where bitch was seen as very controversial. And now it's hilarious, because go to a bookshop and it's F this, bitch that. Every book has got a swear word on a it. But anyway, it was a bit like naughty at the time. And I just went, I'm just going to make it happen. I pre-sold it. I said, "hey guys, it's going to be ready on the 7th of September, 2001." Hadn't finished it. I'm like, "far out." And I did it. I finished it all in the last two weeks. Like I do with everything else, like all my assignments at school. And I did it, right? The best thing about it though, is because it was self-published I could change it any time.

                                                So it had a homemade cover. It had spelling mistakes in it. It was written half in British English, half in American US English, which would've driven some people absolutely crazy. It was written in a passive voice. Now I know that it's written in a passive voice. And it was just not great. But you know what? I still have that version. That paperback version of that very first edition. And it's the seed that created millions and millions and millions of dollars for me. I call our beach house... I say, "this is the house that Lucky Bitch built." I keep that physical copy at my rose farm. And I say, "this is the house that Lucky Bitch built." This is the holiday house that Lucky Bitch built, because it was a seed. I knew it wasn't perfect. I wasn't delusional. You know, when people put stuff out and you just go, "wow, they are delusional. That is not good."

                                                I knew it wasn't great. But the message in it was from my heart. The cover, the packaging wasn't perfect. The execution of it wasn't perfect. But the message was absolutely from my heart. And that's why I always say, "half-ass, full heart, can't lose." From the Friday Night Lights thing. Full heart, clear eyes can't lose. But my is half-ass. You can do things that are imperfect with a full heart, with an intention to help people and with that, you can't lose. Because if someone goes, "oh, I don't like the cover." You go, "yeah. It's, not the best cover, but did you get something out of it?" And people would email me and say, "this book has changed my life." And I would go, "really? Because there was still some part of me that was, oh man, I should just take that off.

                                                And then, you know what? I did a new edition of it the next year. And then I did a new edition of it in 2017. And then I sold it to Hay House and then they published it. And the version that you see now is that fourth version or something. But if I waited until it was perfect, until I could afford an amazing cover, until I could get over my blocks to hire an editor. It wasn't even that I didn't have the money. I was actually scared that the editor would go, you're crap. So I went, "I'm just going to, I'm just going to set a date and I'm going to pre-sell it. And then I'll have to finish it." And I did. I did. And so that's how I sometimes get over my perfectionism, is that I'm really good at working to strict deadlines because I make it happen.

                                                And then I don't have time to think about if it's perfect, because nothing I've ever created is perfect. There's the money blocks audio, I don't even know what version that's up to now. It's still not probably perfect. But 1% of people who listen to it will go, "wow, I need that lesson right now. I need to join Money Bootcamp right now." So why not offer it to people. Make placeholders and improve them later on. If I was starting from scratch, by the way, if I was creating a sales page today, creating a sales page is a really big undertaking. There's a lot of stuff on there. I would literally say," I have this thing and here's where you can buy it." That would be my first version. I'd publish that version. And then I would improve it. I wouldn't wait for it.

                                                I know you've got so many things that are just waiting. I know you've got books that are ready to go. I know you've got courses that are ready to go. I know that your website's almost ready to go. I know because I've been in that place myself, but it's costing you money. It's costing you money. There are people who are waiting, who need you. There are people who want to give you money. There are people who need that lesson from you. Even if it's imperfect. Even if the packaging is imperfect, like my book, right? And so now I've sold thousands and thousands of books. And my house wasn't built because I made heaps of money from books. It was made because I planted that seed of, it's okay for me to share a message.

                                                And then I created a course and then I created other things around it. But it was that first seed. It's safe for me to share my message, however imperfectly. So I have a challenge for you, okay? I want you to send me a Tweet, send me a message, send me a Facebook message. Even comment on wherever you see this podcast. And just tell me, what are you going to do? When's your book coming out? When's your course being launched, because the result of that... I don't even remember how many books I sold that first launch, on 7th of September 2001. I have no idea. Because it's irrelevant. It was a seed. It was a million dollar seed that is created so much abundance. So it doesn't matter what that result's going to be. All that matters is that you do it and you do it imperfectly, but you do it. I believe in you. You can do it. All right, don't go away. I've got one more final thought for you after this short break.

Sydney Jordan:                 Hello. I am Sydney Jordan and I am a life and business coach for Christian women. Your book Get Rich. Lucky B completely changed my life in business. Before that book, I could manifest anything except for money. Once I applied the steps from the book, I realized how many hidden money memories I needed to heal. The one that sticks out the most was that I thought that men were supposed to be the breadwinner in the family and that women were supposed to make little to no money. Once I healed this, I am very thankful to say that now I am a successful life coach and I'm able to make a lot of money doing it.

Tash Corbin:                       Hello. I'm Tash Corbin and I've read Denise's books multiple times. But the one I particularly want to shout out to today is Get Rich, Lucky Bitch. You see, I had that book as the audio book playing in my car for over a year. And so not only did it help me to identify and release a bunch of money blocks, but also it planted the seed for my partner Davey. He loves this book and he could recite chapters from it word for word, thanks to it just being on in the background in my car. It has completely opened his eyes to the world of manifesting, money and mindset and for that I am forever grateful. Thank you, Denise.

Denise Duffield...:            Hi, gorgeous and welcome back to my final thought. The word I picked for today is growth. What's your relationship around growth and money. You might have this fantasy that one day you've going to win the lottery and it's just going to be this big thing that's just going to happen. Or you might have stories that slow and steady wins the race and you actually don't take any action at all. So where do you fit on that growth spectrum? Does it feel unsafe to grow rapidly? Are you holding yourself back from opportunities because you're scared of the potential growth? Maybe you're holding yourself back from publishing your website because you go, "oh my God, how am I going to handle all these people?" Maybe you feel like growth will come with negative connotations, like trolls or haters or more complexity with your money. Maybe you're actually growing right now and you're scared.

                                                And I've seen this with people. They've had unexpected growth and they've shut it down. They're like, "nope, nope. It must be a fluke. Shut it down." Because they feel like they can't handle it. It feels like energetically, it's discombobulating and it's freaking them out. So what's your relationship with growth at the moment? And where do you need to give yourself permission to grow at your own pace? It could be that, it's safe for me to grow at my own pace. Because you might see people growing and flaming out. It's safe for me to grow sustainably. It's safe for me to handle big leaps. It's safe for me to make quantum leaps. It's safe for me to grow without guilt. It's safe for me to do it quickly without having to pay my dues and do my apprenticeship.

                                                You might have a story around that that growth takes decades or you have to deserve growth. It's safe for you to handle more complexity. Maybe you do need to register for more tax. Maybe you'll go into the next tax bracket. Maybe it's time for you to let something go and growth might mean hiring someone new. So it's safe for you to accept large payments. You might be holding yourself back because your bank account can only do so many transactions. You might have an email system that can only handle so many contacts. And so you need to prepare for that next level of growth. It's safe for you to spend money, to handle that next level of growth. So I want to hear your ah-has around where this G word has... The G-spot for you, where is that showing up? The growth word. And it's safe for you to grow. I'm here to help if you need it. And I will see you on next week's episode of Chill and Prosper. Take care. Bye.