The Power of Focus. The Start-Up Files #4

Gee, if you could only do this...

If your software was more like that...

This would really make a difference for me...

Start a business, and you're going to get lots and lots of advice. Some of this advice is awesome and will truly boost your business. But if you try to please everyone, your business is going to suck. Badly.

The very best businesses usually grow up around a single idea. A mindset. Something to be revered. An elegant solution to a problem. The further most businesses get from the original idea, the worse they generally become.

But the temptation is always there. If we do this, we can get these clients over there too. More clients is better! More money is better! It's usually not too hard to talk ourselves into this sort of thing. 

I'm here to tell you - stop it. Stop trying to be the solution to everyone's problem. 

Here's why:

1) Focus makes marketing easier.

If you want to really get a point across, keep it simple.

Whatever your product or services do to enhance the life of your client, learn the most crisp, clean memorable way to say it. This is only possible when it's simple.

Then, say it often. Really often. About the time you're completely sick and tired of saying it? That when people will begin to get the point. If you're lucky. 

The power of focus in marketing is being constantly enhanced by the growing amount of noise in traditional and social media. The less clear your message, the more likely it'll be forgotten, if it is even heard. 

My old business specialized in surveillance of bodily injury claimants. Pretty narrow, very easy to describe. 

Tweet Jukebox gets asked to do all sorts of new add-on features. But we're inclined to focus on the business of getting your tweets out in a variety of powerful ways. We want to be a scalpel, not a pocket toolkit. 

2) Focus makes operations easier.

This may seem a bad reason to do something. There always seems to be goodness associated with hard work. 

Sorry to break it to you, but hard work is only beneficial if it gives you something that a more leisurely pace could not. A person focused on a narrow task and working steadily will get more done than a frantic scattered competitor.

Again using Tweet Jukebox as an example, by staying focused on our core area, we are a more stable product, and less complex to use. We have competitors that do tons of things. Their interfaces reflect this complexity, as do their prices. 

Obviously we want to make clients happy. But every promise you make is another thing you need to excel in. How many talents do you think you can master?

Remember: Saying no is hard. Following through on saying yes, is harder. 

Every additional product or service you launch needs to be tested. It needs to work as planned. It needs to be marketed. It needs to be supported. It may end up being returned or needing repaired. 

Oh yeah, you'll also need to tie up a bunch of extra capital in tooling up and or training, as well as stocking some inventory. That's no problem because you have tons of cash, right? Probably not. 

All of a sudden, selling more of what you already have sounds like a lot more fun, and much less work. 

3. Focus makes your business more flexible.

Make a note of this. Complexity is the enemy of speed.

As markets change, and they inevitably do, you'll need to adapt. The more complex the product, the more sluggish the adaptation.

We see this time and again. Big company develops successful brand, and then extends it in the most insane directions. Often directions which seem to make little sense outside the boardroom. But they do it anyhow. More revenue! Bigger profits.

The problem is that markets are filled with insurgents. Small upstarts, that are hungry, like you are now, or you were before. When they see gaps in your attention span and market focus, they'll pounce on them, out execute you in both product and marketing and voila, goodbye revenues and profits. 

Avoid the temptation to take your business down a bunch of paths. You want to be able to move quickly when the market changes. Be a ninja not a sumo wrestler. 

 Perhaps Steve Jobs said it best, "Focus is about saying no".

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PS - If you enjoyed the story, please “like” it at the top of the page. Thanks!

("The Start-Up Files" is a series about the the beginning of my latest business,Tweet Jukebox. Don't worry about spoilers, I don't know how this thing turns out either. It seemed like an interesting idea to journal the ride, rather than veneer it for consumption later. Check back for Part #5. In the interim, I'll be living the story.)

PSS - please check out tweetjukebox.com to see what the fuss is about.