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Simplify to Amplify: How Your Attempt to Do More is Limiting Your Business
Simplify to Amplify: How Your Attempt to Do More is Limiting Your Business
Taking on too much is something I have constantly struggled with as a business owner. I always have new ideas and want to try new things to make them work. It could be something I need to learn or something I want to try with my business. The excitement of new possibilities can be intoxicating. You see other businesses succeeding in different ways, and it’s tempting to try a little bit of everything.
However, what happens is that I start heading in a million different directions at once. This makes it more difficult to make substantial progress on any of my goals. My energy and resources become scattered, and I end up feeling overwhelmed and unproductive.
The Problem with Too Many Bridges: Why Lack of Focus Hurts Your Business
The classic illustration is someone building a bridge across a chasm, but they keep getting distracted by different types of bridges. Maybe the design is different, or the materials, or even the location. They get excited by each new idea and start working on it, abandoning the previous one. In the end, they haven’t built a single bridge across the chasm, but they have several unfinished bridges, each going nowhere.
This represents you being stuck in one place with your business but aspiring to cross and achieve more of certain results. However, you keep trying different markets, sales tactics, pricing, products, etc., so that you never get traction with any of them. In the end, you are exhausted, but you still haven't reached your desired outcomes. You're spread too thin, and your efforts are diluted.
The Power of One: How Focusing Can Lead to Breakthrough
However, you can be more successful by focusing on just one thing at a time. Think about learning, for example. If you set goals to just learn one topic at a time instead of just gathering more and more information, you avoid becoming overwhelmed. Too much information without focused application leads to indecision, and it’s harder to take action.
However, if you were focusing on one thing, you could be learning it and putting it into action right away. This creates a powerful feedback loop. You learn, you implement, you see results, and this motivates you to learn more deeply.
How do I do this now? I read books each month to help me learn more about growing businesses, and as I read them, I take notes. Crucially, I start implementing those practices into my business immediately. For example, when I started reading Profit First, I set up my budget app to use those specific categories and principles right away. I set my tasks with Reminders according to the timelines outlined in the book. I also created a budget with spreadsheets and formulas to distribute the funds according to the Profit First recommendations. Because I was learning and putting the principles into action right away, I gained the benefit of that knowledge much faster than if I had continued to learn and research everything about cash flow for a business without taking concrete steps.
When it comes to business propositions, the same principle applies. If I keep trying new ventures and ideas, I can’t spend the time to develop or promote the current product line in my business effectively. It also confuses people when we say we do A, B, and C. Potential customers don't know what we truly specialize in.
Our businesses are more successful if we become known for one thing, if we are the experts in that one thing. Then, everybody knows to come to us for that specific need. We developed this deep expertise in one area by getting very clear on what we do, who we serve, and how we do it, really drilling into that one core offering our business provides. Our business doesn’t grow exponentially by just offering more things or creating another product or freebie without fully nurturing what we already have. True growth often comes from diving deeper into the one thing that we do exceptionally well and making it even better.
Applying the Power of Focus to Your Business
So, how do you apply this principle of doing less to achieve more in your business? It starts with clarity and intentionality.
Develop Guiding Principles
With my clients, I work on developing a one-pager that identifies 3 key objectives they want to achieve in their business in the next year. These objectives should ideally solve one core problem for one specific type of client. Think of your overall goal as building that one essential bridge to take that one ideal customer from their current pain point (one cliff) to their desired outcome (the other cliff).
Identify Your Ideal Client: Who do you serve best? Be specific.
Pinpoint Their Core Problem: What is the biggest challenge they face that you can solve?
Define Your Desired Outcome: What results do you want to achieve in your business in the next year that directly address this problem for your ideal client?
Focus Finder: Breaking Down Your Bridge
Once you know what you want to achieve, you can break it down into actionable steps. We are essentially breaking down the one bridge we will build into smaller sub-tasks and milestones we aim to hit throughout the year. This process helps clients get clear on the most important actions that will truly drive growth for their business. We then use these principles to guide their daily and weekly activities.
The guiding principles serve as a plumb line that keeps you on a straight path and prevents you from getting distracted by all the new shiny objects and the urge to start building a second bridge before you finish the first.
Together, we identify the most important action you want to take across a few different key areas of your business. The statements are designed to be deliberately definitive, using “I will” to frame your thinking and commitment.
I suggest saving your answers somewhere you will see them frequently to act as a regular reminder. This could be:
Posting your focus statements on your office wall.
Setting a weekly or daily reminder in your task management system.
Making it your desktop screen background.
For example, consider these prompts:
“One learning goal I will make progress on in the coming year is…”
“One habit I will commit to that will directly impact my primary objective is…”
“One key metric I will focus on improving this quarter is…”
One Client - One Problem - One Solution: Niching Down for Impact
In his book Will It Fly, Pat Flynn recommends business owners niche down as much as possible by focusing on one client, one problem, and one core solution. This becomes your central focus.
Get Crystal Clear on Your Ideal Client: Go beyond demographics. Understand their psychographics, their fears, their aspirations.
Deeply Understand Their Pain Points: What keeps them up at night? What are their biggest frustrations related to your area of expertise?
Craft a Specific Solution: Develop a clear and compelling offer that directly addresses their primary pain point.
Make this focus the central theme of every piece of content you create – every social media post, every blog, every email, and every word on your website.
For example, my focus is on business owners who struggle with friction that slows down their business from reaching its potential. My solution is optimized business systems that flow and allow business owners to feel fulfilled and more effective. Every piece of content I create aims to address this specific challenge and offer pathways to this solution.
Go All In: The Power of Completion
Set a focus goal for the month or even the day and commit to going all in on it. For example, if you want to learn a new skill that directly supports your primary objective, commit to finishing one relevant course by working on it consistently, even if it’s just for a few minutes each day.
Statistics show that a significant percentage, often around 90%, of online courses are never completed. This often happens because individuals are trying to juggle too many learning resources at once, looking for that elusive "magic solution" across multiple avenues.
Rather than starting a bunch of courses hoping one will magically transform your business, commit to going all in on one that aligns with your current focus. Once it is completed and you have actively put the principles into practice within your business, THEN you can thoughtfully consider what your next learning priority should be.
Batching: Streamlining Your Efforts
Organize your time by focusing on one type of task at a time. The most practical way to implement this is through batching.
For example, I find that I can think more clearly and get significantly more content created when I set aside dedicated time each month or quarter to plan out my blog posts, social media updates, and email newsletters. Throughout my days, I jot down ideas and gather relevant notes in a designated app. Then, during my scheduled batching session, I can sit down with all those collected thoughts, organize them strategically, and plan out my content calendar in a focused manner.
This is closely related to mono-tasking, where you consciously focus on a single task until completion. When you are constantly multitasking, your mind is forced to jump between different activities, and it requires time and energy to shift gears each time. This mental switching cost reduces your concentration and prevents you from applying your best brainpower to the task at hand.
However, when you implement time batching, your mind gets into the right mode for a specific type of work. You're able to really focus, delve deeper into the task, come up with better ideas, and be more creative because you are immersed in that single type of activity for a sustained period.
Daily Focus: Prioritizing Your Actions
Each day, take a few moments to intentionally think about your top priority for that day. There are several effective techniques you can use to choose your daily focus:
Eisenhower Matrix (Urgent-Important Matrix): Categorize your tasks into four quadrants: urgent and important (do these first), important but not urgent (schedule these), urgent but not important (delegate if possible), and neither urgent nor important (eliminate). This helps you prioritize tasks that truly contribute to your goals.
MoSCoW Method: Classify tasks as Must-haves (critical for success), Should-haves (important but not essential immediately), Could-haves (desirable but can wait), and Won't-haves (not necessary). This is particularly useful for project management and ensuring essential tasks are addressed first.
Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule): Identify the 20% of tasks that will likely yield 80% of your desired results. Focus your energy on these high-impact activities.
Time Blocking: Allocate specific blocks of time in your schedule for specific tasks. Treat these blocks as appointments you can't miss. This ensures dedicated time for your priorities.
Priority Scorecards: Create a simple scoring system to rank your tasks based on factors like urgency, importance, impact, and effort. Focus on the tasks with the highest scores.
Kanban Boards: Visualize your workflow using a board with columns like "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done." Prioritize tasks in the "To Do" column and move them through the stages as you work on them.
Critical Path Analysis: Primarily used for project management, this identifies the sequence of tasks that are essential for on-time project completion. Focus on tasks along this critical path to avoid delays.
The Two-Minute Rule: If a task takes less than two minutes to complete, do it immediately. This helps clear small, quick tasks off your plate and prevents them from accumulating.
Value vs. Effort Matrix: Plot your tasks on a matrix with "Value" on one axis and "Effort" on the other. Focus on the "high value, low effort" tasks for quick wins and then prioritize "high value, high effort" tasks.
Regular Review: Continuously assess and adjust your priorities. What was important yesterday might not be today. Schedule regular time (weekly or even daily) to review your goals and tasks.
The Power of the Focus Hour
Consider setting aside a dedicated "focus hour" each day to work specifically on your most important goal. During this hour, eliminate distractions and concentrate solely on activities that will move you closer to your primary objective. You can even break this hour down using the "Focus Finder" approach mentioned earlier, selecting three specific 20-minute actions to work on during that time.
What’s Your One Thing? Finding Clarity and Amplifying Your Business
Finding your one thing to focus on for your business can both simplify your daily tasks and significantly reduce mental energy spent on juggling multiple priorities. As a powerful added benefit, it serves to amplify your business's message and impact.
As you focus on one core offering or become known for solving one specific problem, it becomes much clearer to those you serve what you do and how you can help them. When you bring this level of clarity to your business, you also simplify the decision-making process for potential customers and ultimately attract more targeted and engaged business.
Don't let the allure of endless possibilities scatter your efforts. Embrace the power of focus, build your one bridge strategically, and watch your business thrive.
Set up your guiding principles session today so you can find your focus, build your bridge, and achieve the impact you've always envisioned!
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Email: [email protected]
Business Address: 96 Fortress Ave, Ponte Vedra, Florida
Updated on
May 29, 2024
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