If you’ve been involved in your business for any length of time, you will have noticed an interesting phenomenon. When you first started your business, you approached it from one point of focus, and that was to actually get your business up and running.
Now, that may have taken quite a bit of effort in multiple areas. For example; you would need to determine your product or service, you would need to determine your target market, you would need to determine how you were going to reach or market to these people. You would also have had to figure out your business hours, some of the technology to support your business such as computer systems and phone systems. You would have had to figure out the extra services your business would need such as accounting, invoicing, time scheduling, things like that.So, the thing is, when you were first starting your business, there was a lot of focus around getting the business going. If you remember that process, it was actually very simple. Everyday, you did something to move your business forward. The reward, or benefit, was that you saw these things actually being completed, and actually getting done.
Now, when you’ve been in business for a while; your focus naturally becomes somewhat divided because you have sort of accomplished that first thing, which was to get your business off the ground, and you are setting ongoing or recurring goals for how many people you’ll make contact with, how many products you’ll sell, how much services you’ll offer.
But, as you continue to grow your business, you start to realize that there are these ever widening circles of complexity; because all of a sudden, you need to be able to track your results. Is your marketing working? Are you making as many sales today as you were this time last year? In some ways, having a history for your business can become a bit burdensome because all of the sudden you have all this data that you have to be aware of and constantly stay in touch with.
With those ever widening circles of complexity, our focus becomes fragmented even further. This is a completely natural occurrence, but it doesn’t mean that it’s the best option for your business. I’ve been guilty of this myself, as I’ve been attracted or seduced by all these different options, alternatives, and opportunities in my business, and it sometimes has moved me away from my core focus or my core understanding of what it is I’m offering and who it is I’m serving.
In addition to that, it can become very confusing because every time you add in a new opportunity to your business, you basically are saying no to something else. So, if I am saying yes to going and speaking at a particular event, I may be saying no to the opportunity of developing another product because I can’t do two things in two different places at the same time (yet).
So, when you are looking at your business, and you are feeling this loss of focus which I think happens to all of us at some time or another, there are a couple strategies I would recommend for getting back focused.
The first question to ask yourself is this: At what times am I feeling the best in my business? And, if you don’t know the answer to that right now, keep track of it over the next week. Just take a piece of paper – put it next to your computer or wherever you do the majority of your work, and just ask yourself – when am I feeling best? And, every time you notice that you are feeling really good, just jot that down.
Than, ask yourself what are my areas of biggest concern in my business? You’ll want to jot those down too because that will give you some really important clues about where your business may need a little bit of extra structure or support.
Than, the third thing to ask yourself is: What can I do today that would make the biggest impact positively on my business? Again, that may not be a question that you can answer right away. But, if you can’t figure out what would make the biggest impact on your business today, you obviously aren’t going to know what you should be doing.
So, by taking the time to answer these questions: What do I feel best about? What is/are the biggest areas of concern? What is one thing I could do today to move my business forward? – you’ll begin to focus in on what’s most important for the health and continued growth of your business.
