The Importance Of Focus

There are songs about it (think One by U2), there are stores named after it (think Pier 1) and every sports team on the planet says they are number one after an exciting victory. It’s good to be number one.

Now think about “two”. There are few songs about number two, fewer stores and I don’t believe any team marches around proudly cheering “We are number two.”

We all know intuitively that being number one, means you are the best. And every single entrepreneur in this world is aspiring to be the best at something. Yet somewhere between our entrepreneurial intuition and our business brain, we lose the focus on being number one.

Instead of excelling at one thing, we think it is “logical” to be offering more and more things to more and more people. We try to become a “one stop shop”, and ultimately our customers just hear the “middle part” and STOP. This leads our business to become a plight of mediocrity.

It doesn’t matter what business you are in, your success lies in your ability to become number one. The formula to becoming number one is pretty simple – just do one thing better than anyone else. Not a few things, not a lot of things, just do ONE THING better than anybody else and focus on that. Here are the three things you need to get there:

1. Stop Thinking You Can Do It All – You probably can do it all. You just can’t do it all well. Successful entrepreneurs focus in on the one thing they are best at and devote themselves to mastery of it. The rest is assigned to others through partnerships, contracts and colleagues.

2. Be Bold – When you discover what you are great at. You need to put it out there, BIG TIME. The most important differentiator between the “number ones” and everyone else is that the they don’t care what all the other people think about them. They only care about what they know to be right, and then put themselves out there unabashedly. When the minority responds feverishly & enthusiastically to your boldness, you have the most significant indicator that you are the number one in your niche. Over time that minority will become the majority. Audacity is often the only thing that separates two equally talented entrepreneurs.

3. Teach It – Masters share knowledge. The more you teach, the more you learn about what you are teaching. Others will gain knowledge from you, but also will gain respect for your expertise. As people come to appreciate your abilities they will crown you as a king, and all the riches goes to the king.

Build a business and be an entrepreneur who is driven to be number one. No longer worry about what the competition is doing, or thinking how you can bring in a few more dollars by “just doing a few more things.” Instead start worrying about what you are doing to be unique and different. Instead starting thinking about the one thing you can do, to bring in a kings ransom.  Just be humble for God’s sake, and don’t brag to the world that you are number one… that won’t serve you well.


Comments

2 thoughts on “The Importance Of Focus”

  1. Agreed, the only 2 I can think of that is better than one is a 2 piece swimsuit… Everything else… One one one. Recently I changed my sales strategy to say “We only do ONE thing, but we do that ONE thing very very well.” By the way we have added on 5 new clients since I last wrote on your blog. Applying your principles has revolutionized my business. It took me 2.5 years to get 35 clients working for another company that did not have a narrow focus. I have been on my own since July 7th, 2013 I started with 1 client and I am up to 15 AWESOME clients now. No tricks, no magic, just a strong focus and ONE goal with all my clients!

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