The Vault: If It Ain’t Broke
ByBrett’s note: The Vault is a periodic opportunity to look back at some of the better moments of MarketingInProgress.com. This post was originally written on May 24, 2007.
If It Ain’t Broke . . .
. . . don’t fix it, right? We’ve all heard that one before, and sometimes it’s true. However, more times than not, it’s our favorite excuse for not doing something. Simply declare that it ain’t broke, and you can check it off your list of things to worry about and find something else to occupy your time.
What if you do know that something is broken? Undeniably broken? What do you do then?
If you know something is broken, then you’re obligated to attempt fixing it. Even if you’re unsure of your fix, you’ve still gotta try. Because if you’re convinced it’s broken, then doing nothing will amount to nothing . . . but failure. Trying to fix something, at the least, will only amount to the same thing, and will probably be better.
Of course, your idea on how to fix it might lead to failure, too, but you have to try. And you can’t be fooled into thinking there’s only one way to fix it, because 99% of the time, there are several ways to make it work.
So, what’s broken that you have a right to fix? Figure it out, and then convince yourself that you have a duty to fix it.


2 Comments
December 14th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
The trouble is that we so often convince ourselves that everything is just fine. Our marketing is fine. Our traffic is fine. Our website is fine. I think we are terrified of admitting that anything is broken, or breaking.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Jim – I agree. In the spirit of making sure everyone thinks we’ve been doing the right thing all along, we fail to look for ways to improve.