Pizzazz or perfection?

Irecently did a cupcake decorating class in preparation for my little girl’s first birthday. We learnt how to decorate three cupcakes – a face, a car on a road and simple stripes.

As the fabulous instructor Sally showed us how to craft the intricate decorations, 11 of the 12 people in the class, with the exception of a few differing colours, recreated in excruciating detail the cupcake they were being shown how to create.

Me – I went a bit off course. Instead of stripes I had a go at a plaid pattern (with limited success). Instead of a classic two-box car design, I had a go at a sportscar with a middle-aged driver with a comb-over. Instead of a bun on the head of my face, my cupcake chick had ponytails and a cheeky grin.

I laughed when I got home thinking that my performance in this cupcake class is pretty indicative of my work attitude. If you want something done exactly the same way over and over again “perfectly”, I’m not your girl. I’ll improvise, I’ll test new ways, I’ll get stuff wrong and sometimes I’ll come up with something brilliant.

Would I want an entire team of “me” working at my company? Not in the least. It’d be bedlam. We need perfectionists and pizzazers (sure it’s a word). What’s your style?

Kirsty Dunphey is the youngest ever Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year, author of two books (her latest release is Retired at 27, If I Can do it Anyone Can) and a passionate entrepreneur who started her first business at age 15 and opened her own real estate agency at 21. Now Kirsty does lots of fun things which you can read about here. Her favourite current projects are Elephant Property, a boutique property management agency, Baby Teresa, a baby clothing line that donates an outfit to a baby in need for each one they sell and ReallySold, which helps real estate agents stop writing boring, uninteresting ads.