Are You Focusing On What’s Most Important in Your Business?

“Smarts and action are on the same side of the equation where the sum is success.” ~Garrett Hazel

If you are a new entrepreneur, an active business person, a coach, a consultant or a mompreneur, in order to grow your business you need to set your priorities and focus on what is most important. As a small business owner this can be very challenging because it often feels like there is so much to do and it is all your responsibility. Below are three questions that you can quickly ask of yourself and your business to determine where your focus is now.

1. What Are You Talking About?

a. What conversations are you having? Are you talking to your customers? Are you talking about your customers? Are you pitching your products? Are you re-designing your website? The conversations that you are having are a direct reflection of what you deem as important in your business.
b. Also ask yourself, what conversations are missing? Do you need to talk with your customers more? Talk with your team more? Do you need assistance or clarification? Do you know where you can help? Are your sales down, yet you are not out there selling?

What gaps do you see when you look what conversations you are having vs. need to have.

1. How Do You Spend Your Day?

a. Take a look at the activities of your day. The most common activities could be the ones that are easiest for you to accomplish, but are they the most important?
b. Where is your time and energy going during your workday? Are you providing your service? Are you out there selling? Are you writing, calling, networking?
c. When you wake up in the morning, what is the first thing you do? As business owners, long gone are the 9-5 jobs. Do you check your email? Do you spend all day answering emails and phone calls?
d. As small business owners we are often pulled in several directions. Not only are we out there providing services but we also taking care of all the back-end office operations. Very quickly a day can be filled up and we don’t know where it went. How much time is put aside to provide services? How much time is spent selling? How much time is spent doing office work?

Where you spend your day and your time has a big impact on what your company produces. Yes, as a small business owner you need to “do it all”. Organize your time to maximize it too.

1. What Are Your Biggest Expenses??

a. As business owners you have to put your money where your mouth is. Where is your money going? What services are you paying for?? Are you designing and re-designing your website? Are you paying for networking events or other services you are not utilizing? What is the value of what you are putting out? What are you in getting in return?? What is your take home pay after that?

I know a lot of coaches and consultants that generate and re-generate their web site. Maybe in their targeted industry this is necessary. Sometimes a business card is all that is needed. If you had $10,000 to put towards your success, where would the biggest impact come from?? Whatever the dollar amount is, think about what is going out and how that will help your business strategically.

Now you know where your time, energy and money goes. How does this fit with the business goals? How does it fit with your personal goals as a business owner? To make a change in your organization, start by changing the conversations. Think about where your energy is placed and where your money is going. Make changes to the areas that you deem important and remove those that are not!