Succeed Beyond Your Wildest Dreams

Are you an entrepreneur? More importantly, do you ever wish that you weren’t? Entrepreneurs are a special breed of people. They have an extraordinary capacity to dream and dream big. Not everyone has what it takes to be an entrepreneur; it takes determination, vision, enormous energy and creativity, as well as lots of patience.

It’s not easy to reign in all that creative energy enough to have the right kind of focus. There are two kinds of energy in business, unfocused and focused. One kind tangles you up in knots and the other moves you forward.

Ineffective Focus

As you think of developing your focus in business, you may probably think thoughts such as, “I should have more focus” or “I need to learn how to focus.” In business, it’s important to be able to effectively focus switching your focus as the need arises. If you are having difficulty, ineffective focus may be the culprit.

What is ineffective focus?

Ineffective focus occurs when you focus on the wrong things. It’s easy to focus on what isn’t working, what we don’t have, and what’s not right. The result is often more things that don’t work. When you get into a negative rut, you tend to see only the negatives. Hence, you then tend to lose sight of the successes that you have already made and the positive things around you.

When you focus on those successes you have already made, you can then go ahead and create them again. When you think about your problems, they expand. There are other types of ineffective focus, as well.

Wanting to do too much for too many

Sometimes it is easy for you to get caught up in business as an entrepreneur, trying to do everything yourself. You feel that nobody can do it the right way or nobody will do it like you. You might feel that it’s just as easy to do it yourself rather than take the time and the trouble to train someone else to do it.

When you fall into the habit of wanting to do too much for too many in your business, you lose your authority. You also lose productivity because the places where you are needed the most – like leadership – are the places that will fall by the wayside.

Not knowing your target audience

So, you’re a creative. That probably means that you have a million “great ideas.” It also probably means that your mind is all over the place. You want to create so many products and serve so many people, that you’ve lost all control due to lack of effective focus.

It’s great to have all those creative ideas swirling around in your brain, but you must know who is in your target audience. Once you know this, you can develop products and services for that particular group of people.

You can also hone in on them for marketing purposes. When you have effective focus, you know your target audience and you can market to them appropriately.

Not honing in on your target audience

In order to succeed in business, you will need to ask yourself two questions:

What is my niche?
Who is my audience?

Everyone in new businesses gets overzealous in the beginning and overdo in this area. New business owners don’t target and hone in on their appropriate audiences. When you don’t zero in, you miss hitting the mark with a bulls eye. Figure out your niche and even create a sub-niche if you want.

Let’s say, for example, you have a business that creates artwork. You could sub-niche and create artwork for baby nurseries. In this way, you truly hone in on your audience.

Trying to please too many by casting the net too wide

So many business owners try to please too many too soon and cast too wide a net. Sure, you’ll catch a lot of fish, but they might not be worth keeping. You may want to throw them back in the water. The right business will always attract the buyer it was meant to attract.

In order to succeed, you have to cast a smaller net and capture the right leads and the right clients. Going too far outside the net and casting too wide of a net will only lead to not being able to satisfy those particular clients.

You’d rather be a big fish in a small pond instead of a small fish in a big pond. You don’t want your business to resemble one that has no direction and no focus. If you put that vibe out there, then you will fall short of success in a hurry.

Having so many great ideas and applying them …all at once

The most talented entrepreneurs have the biggest ideas and before they even finish implementing one, they are starting another. It’s perfectly fine to have many big ideas, but applying them all at once can be a disaster.

The old adage about being the master of all trades and expert at none does have some truth to it. If you want to succeed beyond your wildest dreams, then don’t apply all those great ideas at once.

Technology can be your best friend when it comes to keeping your ideas focused, developing your focus in business, being organized, and timely.

Effective Focus

Now that you know what ineffective focus is, let’s look at effective focus. Effective focus produces result and it produces rewards.

How to create effective focus:

Staying true to your voice – When it comes to you being successful in business, one of the fastest ways to success is when you stay true to your voice. When you know your company or organization’s voice, you can stand in integrity throughout your business plan all the way to your marketing efforts.
Knowing your target audience – Knowing your target audience does not mean simply knowing who they are but knowing everything about them. What do they worry about? What keeps them up at night? Focus on their habits and their ways and you will be able to connect with them. Both they and your business will profit from this type of relationship.
Dedicating your business to your niche – Don’t stray from your niche. While it’s great to follow new trends and take on new things, don’t forget your mission statement. Stay true to your niche.
Trying a few of the smaller ideas and seeing what actually sticks to the wall – It’s easy for you to get carried away when starting out a new endeavor. Start small and build your way up. In this way, you then get to learn what doesn’t work and that which is time tested and works every time.
Expanding on what does work and dumping what doesn’t work – Once you get a clear general idea of what works and what doesn’t you can move on to the next steps. Get rid of those businesses practice which don’t prove successful, expanding on the ones that do. If you find that you are getting more results on Twitter than on Facebook, spend more time on that.
Asking for help – In areas of expansion, don’t try to do it all alone. Give yourself the gift of asking for help. While you may want to know about each aspect of your business, like marketing, social media, and technology, don’t be afraid to outsource when necessary. Outsourcing can be one of the best tools you own.
Delegating – Once you have gained enough knowledge and are comfortable with hiring staff, don’t be afraid to delegate appropriately to each member. Look at each staff member’s strengths and delegate accordingly. When you give people a chance to shine, then they will do exactly that.
Outsourcing – You can’t be a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none in your business. Learn how to outsource. There are many places where you can outsource work from content creation to logo design.
Learning when to say no, we can’t or don’t do that (example: freelance writing – can you create an infographic or design a logo) – Plenty of companies are looking for one-stop shopping but you don’t have to be all things to all people. Opt to specialize in one thing and be the best at that.

What are the problems of not having focus?

When you don’t have focus in business, you are scattered. Your attention is diverted in too many directions and you won’t be able to succeed in all areas all at once. It’s like juggling too many balls in the air and not being able to keep them all airborne at the same time.

These are the results of not having focus:

If you don’t know what and how you do what you do, your audience won’t either – if you’re unclear about what you do and what your company stands for, then your audience and clients won’t either. Be concise and be clear in your goals and in your missions.
You will lose sales due to lack of focus because you cannot have your eyes everywhere and being all things to all people.
Customers will sense your lack of confidence and if you are scattered in your business. If you don’t know your focus, your clients will sense this and will begin to doubt you and your company’s abilities as well.
You will lose sales – lack of focus impacts your bottom line.
You will lose money – Fewer sales means fewer dollars.
Your credibility goes out the window – It’s one thing to have a bad day or week and go through some slow growth, but it’s entirely another to have your credibility go out the window. Sales can be recouped, marketing can be tweaked but credibility is difficult to regain.
You lose your integrity – You always want to keep your word in business. If you lose focus, you run the risk of losing your integrity as well. You always want to deliver when you say you will.

What is the benefit of focus?

When you have focus in business:

You have energy in the right places; where it counts for your customer – let’s face it, when you have focus, your business is run more productively which means it’s more lucrative and your customers are satisfied.
Your customers will be satisfied – Maintaining your focus takes brainpower – more like exercising your brain – and when you do, you will find you’ll have more satisfied customers than before.
You will do what you do and you will do it well – Maintaining focus allows you the freedom and flexibility to do what you do and to do it phenomenally well.
You will gain word of mouth referrals – Focus allows you to get referrals from satisfied customers.
Sales will increase – satisfied customers turn to repeat customers and sales will increase.
Your bottom line will look rosier – When your company or organization has focus, your bottom line will be more appealing.
You will gain credibility – Focus allows you to maintain your reputation and keep your credibility.
You will stand in your integrity and have a reputation of being in integrity – You do what you say you will do and follow through; customers appreciate this and come back for more.

How to focus and stay focused in business

Create a business plan and while there is room for tweaking, stick to it. Keep close to your business plan and keep focused.
Choose a niche. Don’t go all over the map and try to sell products that will please everyone from pet owners to car owners.
Know your market – Get inside their minds; don’t just know who to market to, but know all about them.
Do the work/research your market niche and target audience – take your time getting to know them; create a marketing persona, do your research and ask your questions. The more you know about your market niche, the more leverage you will have.
Research other businesses and find the one big thing that is missing from their business. Highlight that item or aspect in your business. Put your focus on what’s missing this is key to having a successful business.
Find out what sets you apart and market the heck out that one thing – don’t be afraid to highlight what you can do for other companies and then do it up big.
Very important – discover what you are willing to learn before you launch and do those things, and learn what you are not willing to learn and find valuable and reputable business to take care of that for you by outsourcing or bartering.
Ask questions of customers via surveys of other businesses, always be curious; make sure you take customers’ needs and concerns into play.
Always be curious about your business; read trade publications relating to your business, go to event shows and trade shows. Keep up with what’s trending but don’t jump into it too soon; stick to your focused business plan and keep eyes and ears tuned to trends but don’t jump in too fast.
Set a schedule: is this a part-time/full time business? How many hours per week will you dedicate to your business? More importantly, what days and times will you set aside to work it?
Start slowly – don’t quit your day job until you make room for this new business; give it a set amount of time such as a year, for example.
Stick to an assigned schedule – 3 nights a week for 2 hours/or all day Saturday; choose what will work best for you and keep your focus; stick to it.
Let your family in on it and keep your word to yourself to stick to your schedule; show your family you mean what you say and you say what you mean.
If you cannot work from home, go to a coffee shop/internet café or bookstore to get things done. Don’t make excuses, make time.
When you get stuck find assistance and ask questions. If there’s something you don’t know how to do, check it out on YouTube, research it, ask questions or farm it out when all else fails.
Minimize distractions – shut down your emails, your pings and your dings and no answering social media or phone calls, no checking emails during your business time. Set aside 15 minutes per day whether early on or mid-afternoon and stick to this promise above all else. Keep your computer on only for work and not for social activities.
Reward yourself as you go along – a small goal and an equal reward – a bigger goal a bigger reward. When you reinforce your positive achievements with rewards, you train your brain developing your focus in business.
Chunk your time – create small time slots for projects. For example, Wednesday night research 2 hours. After the time is up, stop! Answer emails on Monday mornings for 20 minutes and then stop. Spend one hour on Wednesday doing technology clean up and stop.
Create your goals and visions and break them down and then break them down again; small goals equal faster success rather than looking at overwhelm and quitting in your mind. When you make your goals smaller, they are more attainable.
Take charge of your mental attitude; get the right rest and sleep; exercise, food, diet and nutrition and hydration matter. Focus on what you put into your body and your brain will do the work of staying focused.
Think positive. What does positive mindset have to do with focus? When you focus on what’s positive and what’s working, you gain clarity and more insight as to what will keep the momentum going. When you think positively, your focus will follow.
Don’t allow setbacks, failure and other bumps in the road stop you – expect them but more importantly expect that you will leap over them with giant bounds. This will help you maintain your focus on what’s ahead instead of what’s behind.
If you don’t succeed, at something look at where you can improve and grow your brand and your business; look to these setbacks as wonderful tools for learning how to create a massively successful business next. Focus on what didn’t work so you can discover what will.

How to decide what to do next when so many things are coming at you at once:

Start with a clean inbox; delete all subscriptions and emails that you have not looked at in a month; answer any emails that need attention and then delete them; create folders for emails you find useful and will use again in the future.
When scrolling on social media don’t bookmark every little thing; take 5 minutes and decide whether or not that program is right for your business or not and then move forward either in action or inaction; don’t bookmark it or save it in your favorites for a rainy day.
Rather than be bombarded by all kinds of offers and limited time only ads and special discount, get-in now ads, decide what you need first and THEN go out and seek that out; do you need a graphic designer or a seminar on marketing? Then seek those things out, but do not under any circumstances buy into some advertiser telling you that you need this absolutely to be a success in business. Stay focused on one thing at a time.
Rely on referrals from other businesses and friends rather than all those ads you click on (you’re making them money when you click).
Use technology to your advantage; set an app for timed chores and goals; use an online calendar or notepad; take some time before stepping into to business to research which apps and which technology tools will work best for you and for your business.
Just like in life and in relationships, you pick and choose your battles. Don’t choose endeavors that are too costly or time-consuming. Those will take up too much energy. If something in your business isn’t working, take a step back and see if you can do without it. If so, move on to the next phase of your business. Don’t spend time on something that isn’t working, trying to figure it out. Sometimes going back to the drawing board pays off.
Every good business should have a focus strategy – we all lose focus in business, but if you have a focus plan of action, you can refer to it. Can you delegate, farm something out or outsource, can you step away for a bit and revisit the situation to see where you fell off track? Is it worth getting back on track or should you change the course. Write these questions down so that when something does fall by the wayside, you regain your focus more easily. Rather than focusing on problems, you can then reset your mindset to focus on creating a solution.
When your focus is off, what are your go-to tools to get back on track? Do you need to take a break or do you need to have a team meeting? Have a strategy in place for when you lose focus.
List the top 3 strategies that work for you and have those memorized (delegating, allowing for a time out or taking a nap and recharging your battery or walking in fresh air or walking away, calling for a team meeting or brainstorm session, create a mastermind group).
Learn when to walk away and when to dive straight in – Write down the pros and cons of continuing to delve through and what the pros and cons are of walking away – will you make money if you keep going or lose money? Questions like these help you to regain clarity and focus.
Taking breaks is important. It’s great to work hard at your dream and to keep focused, but in order to stay focused, it’s important to allow for breaks, as well.
Giving yourself time to dream and to daydream – give your brain a well-deserved break every once in a while. It’s important as a business owner to take time to play, dream, and daydream.

Create a focus strategy – yes, on paper

Writing things down on paper tends to make them become a reality. They seem to become part of a checklist or a to-do list of some sort. Here are some great tips to set yourself up for business success as you are developing your focus in business.

How to set yourself up for business success:

Have a business plan.
Have conversations with family and friends about your intention.
Write down your intentions and stick with it.
Create a business mantra.
Don’t back down.
Have faith.
Fake it until you make it.
Be enthusiastic above all. This is truly contagious. When you are excited about your business, others will be too.
Create a schedule, tweak it, and stick to it.
Have integrity do what you say you are going to do and be where you say you are going to be.
Have an accountability partner.
Keep abreast of trends.

Eye on Marketing

The world of marketing has and continues to change throughout the years. It’s important to keep an eye on your marketing endeavors and plan, in order to keep and stay focused on the goal.

Your goal should involve more than making money. It should also incorporate having satisfied customers, and a thriving business. Keep your focus on your customer when marketing and your marketing will work for you not against you.

Once you have laid down the foundation, keep an eye on your marketing plan:

What can you learn about marketing?
Where are you falling short?
Are you still not on social media?
Do you have a FB fan page and Twitter account?
Are you on Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn?
Do you use Google AdSense or affiliate marketing?
Do you make use of traditional advertising and direct copy?
Do you need to outsource?
What do your networking opportunities look like?

Products and services – before you launch a product, focus on what type of product, to whom and which target audience you will serve and then you can expand from there; keep your focus and don’t try to please everyone all at once. If you have a successful product launch, then you can look into these areas:

Do you have one product or several?
Are you starting with one and branching out?
Are your products real products or digital products?
Can you revamp existing products to include different types and forms?
If you have an eBook, can you rewrite it to different age groups (i.e. women/men/teenagers)
Are you taking part in content marketing for your products and services?
Can you offer a different version of your service (traditional book or eBook or online class)?

As you can see, there’s more to focus than meets the eye. Having strategies that help you get and maintain focus is an integral part of any business. Most business owners don’t realize this and fall short of success when their business, their mindset, and their strategies aren’t centered around focus.

In order to succeed in all areas of business, it’s important to integrate focus into all aspects of your business plans and dealings. Some writings indicate that business owners who continue to forge ahead regardless of setbacks and so-called failures tend to be the most successful.

Resilience is an important key component of developing your focus in business, having and maintaining that focus in business. When things happen, you can sit and dwell on them or you can have a focus toward the future – your future, the company’s future and the future of the customers you will serve, as well.

Follow these tips and guidelines, make a plan, write it down, and stick to it and before long you will come to realize that focus is no longer something on your to-do list, but a way of life now.