Rock the Business World by Focusing on the Right Goals!

In order to succeed in business, you need to climb mountains, fight battles, and accomplish numerous objectives. Yet, focusing on the right goals can do miracles for your business.

Hello nice people! I hope you have been having a great time and you have eliminated the elements of negativity from your lives. Now that you know how to deal with not so positive reviews and reactions, all you need to do in order to succeed in business is to stay focused. Naturally, this brings me to today’s topic, which has to do with focus, being focused, staying focused on the right goals, and not losing your focus. If this sounds good to you and you want to improve your ability to stay right on track, just read on. You might find this article useful.

Nowadays, we are virtually forced to juggle multiple tasks. This rings especially true if you are strapped for resources and manpower. Under such circumstances, you have to be an entrepreneur, a savvy businessman/businesswoman, a smooth negotiator, a marketer, a developer, an engineer, a salesperson, etc. Unfortunately, at the end, you risk getting a multiple personality disorder as a direct result of trying to handle so many things at once. This scenario gets even more somber if you fail to focus on the right goals and you waste your time doing everything else but the things you have to do in order to push your business forward. Even if you have assembled a whole superstar team of engineers, developers, marketers, accountants, sales people, or customer support assistants and you have significant capital, you still to have more things on your plate than you used to have in the past. Sounds complicated, right? Well, nothing is as simple as it seems! At the very end, your ultimate goal is to hold it all together and generate profit. Nonetheless, there are some intermediate goals that virtually form the building blocks that bolster your business. Your priority is to identify them, focus on them, and never let go.

This claim naturally begs the question which goals are right and which goals are wrong. In fact, is there something like a wrong goal? Could a business aim be a wrong one? The answer is quite simple: any goal that steers your company in the wrong direction and makes you digress and waste time and resources is a wrong one. Often, we learn from experience that we have wasted precious time focusing on issues that do not matter that much and we have failed to see the forest for the trees. Yet, by the time it dawns on us, it is a bit too late and we have registered significant losses. In order to avoid the dire consequences, it is worth reviewing and discussing what exactly constitutes a “right” goal and what goes into its fabric. It should be pointed out that although different businesses have different objectives and they adopt numerous approaches to accomplish them, there are three broader goal categories that everyone should focus on implementing. Those include the aspiration not to suck, the aim to keep a good online presence, and the power to generate profit. In addition, they are all tied together with the invisible string of the flair to prioritize. Consequently, if you focus on those goals, nothing can go wrong. Yet, in order to concentrate on their implementation, you have to know what they involve. So, let’s break them down.

Business Goal #1: Thou Shalt not Suck

Some time ago, at a webinar, the author of Web Analytics 2.0 and the best selling book Web Analytics: An Hour A Day, Avinash Kaushnik, posed an interesting question. He asked if people knew what the main goal of businesses online should be. Mind you, he counted “attract visitors, generate leads, and make profit” as wrong assumptions. His answer might take you by surprise. According to him, the number one objective of businesses and entrepreneurs online is not to suck. Indeed, as he explained, most of the websites that we come across are so bad that the companies and/or the people who administer and own them are literally shooting themselves in the foot and they are not really propelling their business forward. Mr. Kaushnik has spoken. So, we have no choice but listen to his pieces of advice very carefully. Yet, I have a little tip on my own, which I want to share with you.

Whereas having a solid, searchable, value-added website, which makes the lives of your prospects easier is extremely important as it defines your overall looks online, I would like to take this a step further. I believe that in general, your goal in business is not to suck. There are so many companies and entrepreneurs there who simply fail to deliver what they are promising. Hence, do yourself a favor and focus on living up to the popular expectations. It is your priority to deliver quality products and/or services, so spend some time on improving whatever it is that you are providing and strive to excel at it. This is one of the critical goals and without addressing it, you have no place in business. Take it from here, invest some money and spend some quality time on research, development, and innovation. In fact, if you do not focus on perfecting your products and/or services, there is not much sense in promoting them, advertising them, and trying to expand and conquer new markets. If what you are doing is not good enough, it lacks a competitive innovative edge, it does not live up to the expectations of your customers, and if it does not work the way it is supposed to, then there is no reason why you should try selling it. Sooner, rather than later, people will realize that you and your products suck. This, unfortunately, might spell the end of your business. So, first thing’s first: focus on making a good product or creating a great service, strive to improve it, and do not ever lose sight of this perpetual goal. This is how you lay the foundations of your business. Your next goal is to solidify them.

Business Goal #2: Thou Shalt Create and Maintain a Good Online Presence

Often, businesses and entrepreneurs neglect the online marketing element that can help them grow and prosper. It always makes me wonder why people expect their products to sell themselves. Indeed, the very fact that you have a great product or you offer an awesome service, does not really mean a thing. We live in a world, which abounds with great tangible and/or intangible items, so what are the odds that your brainchild will rise to stardom without a marketing crutch? You must be the luckiest person in the world if that miraculously happens. Usually, if you do not generate some buzz about your awesome creation, you should not count on people accidentally coming across your website, checking it out, and becoming instant customers. You have to build a robust online presence, attract visitors, nurture them, turn them into leads, and eventually convert them into customers. This is a goal you should focus on as it will pay off big time. Neglecting it will not drive your business forward. Instead, it will simply bring it down.

Business Goal #3: Thou Shalt Make Profit

If you have a great product or an outstanding service, you have generated some buzz and your status on the web is quite remarkable, do not bask in the glory of your greatness! Just roll up your sleeves and make some profit. After all, you are running a business and you need to earn your living! Hence, focus on initiatives that can get you customers. Here, you have you set your priorities straight and focus more on your immediate customers rather than concentrate on the million community projects you might be contributing to. Indeed, at the end of the day, business is all about profit and you are in it to win. If you do not generate enough income, you probably cannot invest in research and development, let alone in marketing or other related promotional activities. Hence, adopt a hands-on approach! For instance, craft a good social media strategy that could get you some prospects instead of aimlessly twitting around. Alternatively, focus on attracting people who might be interested in purchasing what you are offering. The same goes for community projects. It is not a bad thing that you participate in those, but do not do so at the expense of your customers or potential customers. Strike a balance between your commercial and non-profit efforts. Otherwise, before you know it, bankruptcy will be knocking on your door.

The Mother of All Business Goals: Thou Shalt Prioritize

Before I wrap this article up, I should elaborate on something very important. Whereas I argue that you need to focus on the right goals in order to succeed in business, I realize this will not be possible if you lack the ability to prioritize. Indeed, the capacity to determine your priorities is the invisible string, the super glue if you wish, which holds it all together. If you are short of manpower, you really have to choose between doing one thing over another. Or you need to bootstrap. Indeed, this is the time when you can really lose your focus and when you can stop seeing things straight. My only piece of advice, stemming from personal experience, is to concentrate on the things that can help you generate profit rather than getting stuck in the morass of community projects or pointless meetings. If you bear those tips in mind, everything else will fall into place.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read this blog post. I hope you find it helpful as far as avoiding hidden entrepreneurial traps goes. Remember, staying focused is the only way to make it. Keep away from distractions, get on your feet, and rock them all.
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