Stay Focused

Most sole proprietors are wearing many hats as business owners.  I've mentioned that before.  One thing that I keep noticing as a business coach is that when wearing those hats, it's hard to focus.  How do you keep your eye on the target and not get lost in all that one must do to keep the company growing.  This is a good and very important question.

I was speaking with a prospective client about what she was doing to grow her business and market her business.  She had a brain full of ideas and as she was telling me about them, she just kept going and going and was all over the place.  One of the pitfalls of building your business is trying everything.  That's when you need to stop and really focus on what is your target customer, or focus on one (or two) marketing strategy(ies). 

Keep a list of those ideas.  They will come in handy at some point, keep a notebook full of those ideas.  But don't feel like you have to do them all right now.  Get yourself focused and it will pay off.  You will feel less overwhelmed and there will be more power and clarity in your actions.

Finding a business partner

What do I mean by finding a business partner?  Well, yesterday when speaking to a jewelry designer, she was telling me about the PR/Marketing person she is working with.  How she was speaking about this person was as if she was her business partner.  Basically, what she was getting at was being a creative person, designing jewelry, she didn't really know the first thing about how to market or brand herself or how to create a buzz around her business.  She talks to and relates to this PR/Marketing person as her business partner, because she's filling in all the missing pieces to the business.

When you are starting a business, you want to surround yourself with people who are not like yourself with whom to create and generate your business.  It could be you have a business coach, or you have a marketing person, or you use your accountant in a way that is beyond general book keeping - sort of like a CFO.  The main thing about it is, you want to have your company be well rounded, and for most of us, we can't do that alone.  So, even if you are not looking to split your company in half and take on a business partner in that sense, you do want to relate to the people you have by your side as your business partners.