Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 36oC, very hot, sunny, clear sky.
As I mentioned, it is difficult to move forward when we are afraid. Just like climbing up or down a hill, taking small steps one after another makes a difference. You must keep moving even if you don’t know what you’re doing. No matter how small the step may be, you have to take it. To move forward, you have to do it.
Effort and action lead to confidence, and with confidence, we can conquer the world.
My “PlaceBeads” website is not the most important; “The Long Gringo” is much more important as a daily blog about living in Brazil and getting on in life. I’m using “PlaceBeads” as a learning curve for building sites through WordPress. It’s a testing ground for future sites. Yesterday, I decided that I would begin the development of “The Long Gringo” and develop both in parallel at the same time.
I spent almost three weeks creating the logo for ‘PlaceBeads’ before it was right and how I wanted it to be. The TLG logo is much simpler, and that’s what I have decided to do today. Every business starts with its brand and identity. I know what I want, and it’s not hard to achieve. I also understand that I can’t seek perfection right from the start, but only with time. I learned this while doing business in Venice, Italy.
I met with the President of a very well-known and respected superyacht yard on the outskirts of Venice. At that time, I was a consultant for an important commercial shipyard in the South of Brazil with offices in Rio. My first ex-wife, Cibele, was in Holland doing an international marketing course sponsored by the Dutch government.
The course lasted for four months, and the plan was for me to meet Cibele in Rotterdam after the course finished and then travel around Europe for about a month or six weeks. I had arranged business meetings with boatyards, famous yacht designers, renowned furniture manufacturers, etc., all over Europe and England. We planned to stop at each city for a couple of days, and I would have meetings there depending on what each office or company did in the boat-building sector.
When we arrived in the city, I had meetings, and Cibele went sightseeing or did anything a tourist would do. Later, we would meet to eat, go out, and do something to make the most of our time there. The trip was terrific, with many excellent and exciting experiences.
Halfway through this business trip, I had a meeting in Venice with the president of CCYD Shipyard, Mr Enzo. He received me very well. The first reason I liked him so much was that his name, Enzo, was the same as a friend I had in London in the past. Mr Enzo showed me the shipyard, which was spotless and well-organized, and after, we discussed business.
During our conversation, Mr. Enzo explained something that may seem obvious, but not everyone understands. In the boat industry, there are production boats made in large numbers of the same model with limited customisation. Then, there are one-off yachts, also known as bespoke yachts, which are specifically designed and built for a single client with a unique design and features.
Mr Enzo’s view was that when a unique yacht is built, even though it should be more expensive and exclusive than a production boat, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the quality is to the same level as a cheaper production yacht.
His understanding was that quality comes with the evolution of production—small changes and improvements on each unit, one after the other, guarantee perfection, or near enough to it, in theory. As a one-off, a boat is limited to that one design. Therefore, there are numerous possibilities of faults and imperfections because there is no evolution in its development; there’s only one.
This is an interesting point for me as we live in a society where perfection is essential, and many people like to boast that they are perfectionists.
It’s common for some clients to rush to buy the first or second version of something, like a boat, car, or even a plane. I would never want to buy the first, second, or third versions. I prefer to wait and buy the fifth, sixth, or even tenth version down the line.
By then, many mistakes and faults have been ironed out of the final product. Quality comes with time and repeating the same thing over and over again. If we are consistent, then we are moving in the right direction for future top quality.
At this moment, I need to build the websites, set them up, and get them online as quickly as possible. Once they are up and running, I can focus on improving them through small changes, fine-tuning, and overall improvement over time.
Perfection is not an immediate but rather a time-intensive process that continues and never stops. Trying to obtain perfection from the beginning is a form of self-sabotage that only results in deception and disappointment.
Today, I spent the whole day building “The Long Gringo” website. I’ve finished the logo and made some changes to the site’s theme compared to the “PlaceBeads” website. These differences are causing me some problems, but it’s all part of the learning process. It’s been a very productive day as I gave classes and started working on my second website, possibly more important than “PlaceBeads”.
A lot is happening at the moment. It is not happening how we imagined or would like it to happen. But knowing that I’m going in the right direction, I’m not stopped or stagnated. Even though there’s a problem, I will resolve it. It’s an excellent feeling.
Today was a good and productive day.
In bed by 9:30 pm.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
