The Power of Focus

What You Need to Do to Beat 94% of Businesses

My previous business partner used to tell me I was one of the most competitive people he knew. And he’s probably right, whether I’m working or exercising.?

Take kayaking. During the warmer months, I go out paddling a few times a week here in coastal Connecticut. But not just a relaxed paddle.

I go out for a 5 mile loop and time myself with the goal of beating my average speed.? That’s not to say I don’t check out the egrets or great blue herons as I paddle by.

When I’m not out with my wife, who has a different agenda, my goal is always to see if I can beat my past average speed… I’m up to 4.85 mph and trying to beat 5 mph.

Which is why I ended up buying a new kayak paddle, thinking that one variable would make the difference. In the process I ended up getting upsold into a private paddling clinic.?

Whoops!

What I discovered from the paddling clinic, was that for the last 50 years, I’d been doing something that I thought was intuitive and obvious, and doing it wrong. Has that ever happened to you?

Turns out reaching my goal of going faster wasn’t going to be solved by just getting a new paddle. The paddle by itself wasn’t going to make me faster, it was how I used it that mattered.??Duh!

The same is true for any business. Success isn’t based on just one variable like marketing, but a handful of key factors that determine whether your business has growth potential and can be scaled.?

After recently scaling my digital marketing agency by 1500%, I’ve identified the top variables that can make the difference between success and well, less than success.

Focus on What Matters To Scale Your Business

Whenever I talk to agency owners or other business owners,their biggest concern is getting more prospects calling. Sound familiar?

It’s true generating leads is important but leads alone don’t make a business successful.?

The five areas I found that generate the biggest gains are:

Your Business Model

All too often I talk to talented agency owners who are struggling to scale their company because they’re using the wrong business model, one that is like wearing a ball and chain. With the right business model and lead generation model you’ll make a lot more money

Your Processes?

It’s easy to pick a person and blame them for the lack of leads, lack of sales, sloppy service delivery, etc when in most cases the problem isn’t the person but the lack of effective processes. 95% of all the growth in your company is the result of a series of small improvements to your systems, including your marketing, sales, services, human capital and operations systems.

Managing and improving processes works far better than managing people or goals.?

Your People

Ever feel like some of the people on your team aren’t motivated, they lack the commitment you have for your company. Instead of being a high performing team they end up competing with each other instead. The key to building high performing teams is to understand that managing people is just about managing behavior using the stimulus response framework.

Use the wrong stimulus and you’ll support internal strife. Use the right stimulus and you’ll reach new levels of collaboration and team success.

Your Use of Time

All too often I hear people complaining about wearing too many hats, ill defined roles, lack of clear priorities and too many meetings with too few results. How you use your time individually and collectively is everything.?

Your Communication

Are you and or your team overwhelmed by emails, calls and meetings? One of the easiest ways to fix this problem is to change which forms of communication you use to do what and structure the use of each.

If you’re a successful entrepreneur or agency owner, chances are you’re like me, driven to go faster and beat your own best performance - in business and elsewhere. You're always looking for a better way to grow your business, one that helps you provide better services, increase your profits and have more time for fun. The key is knowing what and where to focus.

Quick Focus Quiz?

1. How many niches do you serve?
2. What percent of your revenue comes from recurring income?
3. Have you documented all your marketing, sales, service delivery, human capital and operations processes?
4. Are these proven processes shared openly with the team via a shared doc?
5. Are processes and systems reviewed quarterly in order to improve and simplify them?
6. What percent of your team is truly passionate about their work?
7. What percent of your team manage themselves / hold themselves accountable?
8. Does everyone on your team have a written list of weekly and daily priorities?
9. Do you and your team avoid multitasking?
10. Does everyone use and stick to their time blocking?
11. Is your company communication open and transparent or siloed?
12. What systems do you use to optimize collaboration?

Want to scale your business and have more time for fun?

Let’s talk.

? 2023 Charlie Cook