Blog Shipping Costs

Shipping Costs

It’s a daunting prospect to have people look at a personal project and (wait for it…) give us feedback!

O, the horror!

Fear of shipping said project (a.k.a. releasing it for people to view) sets in and we think “Well…I could make this a little better if I…”

Then we make that change and say “What if I tweaked a, b and c, too?”

Then we pick it back up and adjust x, y and z.

Before long, an attempt to make a project perfect in our own eyes has paralyzed any possibility of ever launching. All the while, we forgot that the goal of making something was to ship it! To provide content. To fill a need in the market. To follow a dream or passion.

But shipping a project can incur costs.

We have personal doubt that our stuff doesn’t stack up to someone else’s work. Our friends or family might thinking we’re crazy for trying. We could get negative feedback from consumers. We have to make time and sacrifice other things to get it off the ground.

Yes, Taylor said it best in that haters gonna hate, but what if you took those comments with a grain of salt and also paid attention to the positive reviews and constructive criticism from satisfied consumers with ideas on how to make it better and even more satisfying for them?

That’s the point — to create something that people want. Progress only comes from iteration. So ship. Make adjustments. Ship again. Make more adjustments. Then ship again. That creates a cycle. If we’re only ever making adjustments, we’re not creating anything cyclical. It’s just us, alone in a room that starts to smell musty and a little bit like those nachos we habitually get for take out every Tuesday night for dinner.

It’s stagnant.

So share your music. Showcase your photography. Publish your writing. Perform your comedy. Dance your dance. Post your vlog. Launch your fundraiser.

The biggest barrier to entry in most endeavors is our own fear. Yes – shipping has it’s costs. But we have to remember that those costs (like any other cost) create return on our investment.