"Focus" Starts Before You Get To Work

One of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face in building a business is "Focus".  What makes an entrepreneur an entrepreneur contributes to this issue.  You probably got into business to pursue a passion not make to-do-lists.  Your ability to see the big picture and move from task to task is what you do.  This may be what has brought you to where you are today.  It may also holding your company back.  You may consider yourself to be great at multitasking but typically multitasking only addresses the urgent not important strategic needs. Here are a few things you can do to restore order and get you on track to the success you desire.

Do some planning:  One of my favorite quotes I use when talking with business owners is from Dwight Eisenhower: "In preparing for battle I have always found plans to be useless, but planning is indispensable".  To many people don't want to get into developing plans for their business because they are so used to the typical bank format or having to do a SWOT analysis.  The thought of sitting down to do this is probably what drove many out of the corporate scene and into their own business.  However, putting thought into what you are doing and where you are going is critical.  Without this you may still grow but I guarantee that you will not grow as fast as you could.  Also, if you don't look forward you may be blind sided by economic issues like have been experienced over the past couple of years.  What I recommend is not to lock yourself and your team away for a 3-day retreat but rather have mini-sessions to address various issues.  Create small groups to research the topic and lead to meeting.  Have an open discussion on what they found. Take notes and develop a working steps that can be done within the structure of everyday activities.  This will keep the process moving, workable and not overwhelming.

Monitor: This may not be your thing either but as the business owner you need to establish a structure that allows you to monitor performance of the business over a variety of metrics.  To do this develop and implement systems that work best for you.  Develop feedback mechanisms and controls that will allow you to really know and impact what is going on.  By customizing this system to your style you will be able to do it. 

Take strategic action: If you have spent time planning and monitoring you have the base to take strategic action.  Make sure you identify the things that will move the organization forward and work these.  Don't get bogged down on the daily minutiae of running a business.  Get the trivial stuff out of the way quickly and focus on the future.  Only by being strategic in your actions will you be able to really drive performance inline with your customers needs (and changing needs).  Don't bounce around, do what will make a difference.

All of this can lead to increased focus on what is important to building your business.  It takes effort and may not be the fun product oriented stuff that you love but it will make your life as a business owner easier.  Don't be afraid to break out of old habits.  Start small and build your capacity in these strategic areas.  If you set  up "your" systems you will be able to maintain them and not quit. 

Comments

[Jim Canterucci]

Mike, the perpetual state of 360 degree focus must be the nature of the entrepreneur. It is not possible to ever not be in focus in order to be successful. That doesn't mean you never rest but you do need to be open to the relationship of seemingly unrelated facts from unrelated sources. Great post.

[Buckeyejeans]

Used the monitor tip already..added a poll on the site to see how I'm getting buzz http://www.buckeyejeans.com