Before signing off for 2013, I want to give you all a Christmas present. In early November I attended a networking meeting at which the featured speaker was Dori Staehle, owner and CEO of Rock the Next Stage. Dori is a business and success coach who works primarily with women entrepreneurs who are 40+ and who are in the next stage of their lives. As she puts it, “We’ve raised our kids, paid our dues and now it’s time to rock!”

In a subsequent e-mail conversation with Dori, I learned that she offers a free e-book on her site entitled “Defeating Perfectionism in 5 Easy Steps!” I downloaded it and was impressed with the wisdom she shares. I’ve always considered myself lucky to not suffer from perfectionism; I’ve seen too many friends and colleagues who cause themselves great problems and hold back their business success because they can’t let go of anything until they deem it perfect.

As Dori writes, “For perfectionists, the pressure often doesn’t come from an outside source; it comes from within. It’s a little voice that tells you to re-write your newsletter or brochures, tweak (and re-tweak!) your website, video, or that book you’ve been working on. That little voice often grows into a giant, fire-breathing dragon.”

The end result is often that you are paralyzed and unable to move forward with activities that would increase your visibility and help you grow your business. Similarly, you may spend hours more than the allotted budget working on a client project, trying to achieve perfection. As a result, you lose money and eat up time you could be spending on business acquisition or other important activities. Or, in many cases, you have no work/life balance as a result of your pursuit of perfectionism in all things.

If any of this sounds familiar, my Christmas gift to you, one that I hope will help you make 2014 your best year yet, is to recommend you go to Dori’s website and download her free e-book. Just fill in your name and e-mail address in the box at the right of her home page. Frankly, even if you don’t suffer from perfectionism, Dori’s advice is still helpful.

Merry Christmas and happy new year to you all. We’ll be back in 2014 for another year of helping you succeed in your small business!