Do you consider yourself a perfectionist? While striving for perfection can feel like a positive thing it could in fact be holding you back. Take our Perfectionism Questionnaire and find out which obstacles you need to overcome to increase your chances of creating a bestselling design for your Zazzle store that will make you money.
Grab a pen and a piece of paper and answer the questions in our short perfectionism test. Plus, read the rest of the article because we have some great tips for you to overcome perfectionism that is not serving you.
“When you feel like you will never measure up to someone else’s designs it’s a fear of failing in disguise…“
But before we dive right in, let us introduce ourselves in case this is your first visit. Welcome to The Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur blog. We’re Jen and Elke Clarke. We are a mother and daughter team that started Zazzle e-commerce businesses over 10 years ago and have sold over 15 million dollars-worth and counting of products on Zazzle.
The Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur Blog is for you if you want to have a long term, passive, online business. We share actionable steps that you can take to make money through your Zazzle store. In each article, we will take you one step closer to achieving freedom with your time, location, and finances.
We believe that you can live your dream life if you have a passive, long term, profitable e-commerce online business. We will show you what to do to work smarter, not harder, the right tools to use and what proven roadmap to follow to make your dream life happen. Let’s get started!
Take Our Perfectionism Questionnaire:
On a piece of paper answer the following questions:
A – Jump right in and get started?
B – Need everything to be “just right” before you can start?
A – Hit the “Sell It” button immediately?
B – Leave it in your “Saved Designs” folder in case you want to make some changes to it later?
A – Admire the designer’s talent?
B – Feel jealous or anxious that their designs are better than yours?
A – Do a happy dance and then follow Elke’s Money Multiplier Strategy™ to take it to the next level?
B – Feel anxious that you’ll never be able to make another design as good as that one?
Check your perfectionism questionnaire scores – What do your results mean?
All “A”s – Congratulations! You are confident in your abilities as a Zazzle designer. Keep reading for some affirmations to help you take your positive mindset to the next level.
One of more “B” – You are struggling with perfectionism. Keep reading to find out how you can overcome these obstacles and become a more confident Zazzle designer.
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If you had even one “B” answer after doing the questionnaire above, then we suggest you keep reading to help you. We will help you understand what may be holding you back when trying to be too perfect and also give you valuable ways to overcome this perfectionism so that it does not hold you back from success on Zazzle.
The four ways perfectionism could be holding you back are:
Check out each way in detail below.
When you sit down to design does everything need to be ‘just right” before you can start? Do you wish you had better graphics, better design skills or better ideas? Do you think that if everything is just right you’ll have a better chance of creating a Zazzle best seller?
Fear of getting started is a fear of failing in disguise. Think about it. If you don’t start, you won’t fail.
While that may seem comforting the reverse is also true. If you don’t start, you won’t succeed.
It takes practice to overcome the fear of getting started, but the more you “start” the easier it will become. Positive affirmations are a great way to get your mind in the zone before you sit down to design.
Take those obstacles and turn them on their heads, like this:
If your “Saved Designs” on Zazzle folder is brimming with designs you have a fear of finishing and posting for sale then this is for you. A fear of finishing is a fear of rejection in disguise. If you don’t publish those designs to the marketplace then you won’t feel rejected if they don’t sell. If you don’t publish those designs you won’t fail as a designer.
But what you don’t realize is that you are still hurting your chances of success, if you don’t publish those designs. They will never sell because you have not posted them for sale and thus no one will ever see them. If you don’t have products for sale in your store you DEFINITELY won’t succeed as a designer because you have nothing for sale. So go ahead and post for sale, even without a perfect design.
Over the years we have created thousands of designs and the stark truth is that large numbers of them have never sold. It doesn’t mean they were bad designs, they were our best at the time. They may not have been what the customer wanted at the time but since then we have continued to post more products. The more practise we get at posting intentional products the better we become as Zazzle designers.
Overcome the fear of finishing your Zazzle designs:
When you publish your designs don’t focus on what doesn’t sell. Focus on what does. The more designs you make the better you will become as a designer so that over time the percentage of designs that sell will increase.
If you have a fear of finishing try these affirmations:
Do you compare yourself to other designers? Do you look at the trending products page or other people’s stores and wish you could create designs as good as theirs?
When you feel like you will never measure up to someone else’s designs it’s a fear of failing in disguise.
This is a rabbit hole of doubt you don’t want to go down because it can lead to you becoming desperate to sell and start copying other popular designs just to make a sale. This leads to copyright infringement which is against the law. You risk having products taken down, or have your whole store shut down and be banned from Zazzle.
As designers we are all on a journey of constant growth and improvement. When you look at someone else’s designs you don’t know their history. Maybe they have a degree in graphic design. Maybe they have been designing for years. Maybe they too used to fear they’d never measure up either. But they’ve worked hard to overcome their perfectionism and fears.
We suggest you focus on you and your design journey. Don’t compare your start to someone else’s middle.
If you are anxious about not measuring up try these affirmations:
Do you worry that you’ll never be able to make another bestselling design?
As designers we strive so hard for success. We trend spot and practice our design skills and work hard to create designs that we think will serve our customers needs. And every now and then this results in a bestselling design.
You would think that’s a good thing. Until you sit down to create another design and then the fear kicks in. What if that was your “one” best seller? What if you don’t have it in you to create another one?
Isn’t it odd how being successful can lead to a fear of failure?
Remind yourself that you have the skills as a designer to create a bestselling design for your Zazzle store. You have done it once and you will do it again.
Here are some affirmations to help you overcome your paralysis:
Congratulations! You gave honest answers to the questions in our perfectionism questionnaire and now you know the four obstacles that could be holding you back from creating best selling Zazzle designs:
Being creative is an emotional act. If a design that you poured your heart and soul into doesn’t sell, or receives negative feedback from a customer it is all too easy to take that rejection personally.
You need to remind yourself that you are not your design. Every piece you create you do so with the best of your abilities at that time. Once it is complete hit the sell it button and send it out to the universe with positive thoughts. You have done the best you could do.
If it sells, congratulate yourself on a design well made.
If it doesn’t sell, take some time to figure out why. Did you publish it at the wrong time of year? Are your templates set up incorrectly? Did you use the wrong titles and tags? Does the design need tweaking?
When you separate yourself from your designs emotionally you are able to step back and look at them objectively but this can take some practice. We want to help you develop that skill, which is why we invite you to join Profit By Design Academy It will help you get over your perfectionism while improving your chances of selling on Zazzle.
They say you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Let us be in your inner circle of influence to help you become the successful e-commerce online entrepreneur you want to be. Follow us on Instagram @msjenclarke @elkeclarke Let’s DM and chat on IG.
Love to learn on the go?
Check out The Creative & Ambitious Entrepreneur Podcast
In this post, we are talking about how to earn $1,000 a month on Zazzle. People ask us this all the time, because initially what everyone says is, “I just want to earn a certain amount on Zazzle,” but eventually they want to turn it into something consistent…
In this post, we have a very special guest, one of our own clients. Her name is Wendy. She’s going to be talking to us about her journey through Zazzle…
Jen and Elke Clarke are a mother-daughter duo that empowers women entrepreneurs to make money online. Through courses and coaching, Jen and Elke help women (and men) become successful creative entrepreneurs on Zazzle and e-commerce. Combined Jen and Elke have earned over $1.5 million combined through their businesses on Zazzle. Jen and Elke have influenced and transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide with their free content, paid and private coaching.
They are international, award-winning authors. Click the links to purchase their books through Amazon: Earn Around The World and Create Online and Grow Rich.
Jen and Elke Clarke have been featured in Yahoo Finance as TOP 5 e-commerce coaches.
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