Focus your attention in the right places and you’ll be at the top of your field in five years…
Focus your attention in the wrong places and you might be out of a job.
As an entrepreneur and business owner, where you focus your energy is one of the most important decisions you have to make.
Here’s how I like to think about it: As the CEO of Smart Marketer, it’s my #1 job to hold the vision.
As the Big Lebowski says, I can’t drive the car, hold the bag and answer the phone all at the same time — so it’s my responsibility to decide which of those options leads to the most value for the company.
And in an industry as fast-paced and noisy as digital marketing, it’s also my job to decide which of those opportunities — no matter how shiny they may look — we can’t focus on right now.
Because there’s always going to be a new marketing tool, or platform, or product we’re excited to test.
But just because an opportunity falls in my lap, doesn’t mean that I should take it.
Learning how to focus your attention and your business effectively is the topic of this week’s blog post.
In this 2-minute video, four high-performing marketers share how they keep their business focused on what’s important and don’t waste resources on “Shiny Object Syndrome.”
Video Highlights:
0:02 It is easy, as a business grows, to have shiny object syndrome
0:42 We need to remember that we’re talking to a human being
1:21 Learning yourself, so that you know your strengths and you can just focus on those strengths, and then outsource the rest
1:27 There’s always going to be ways to make money in business.
1:41 Focus and simplifying, even if you’re a larger business, is so important
Click Here For Video Transcript
Molly Pittman: It is easy, as a business grows, to have shiny object syndrome. We all have it. Let’s launch this new product, let’s use this new strategy, let’s hire this new person, let’s hire all these new people, right? Let’s do 50 million things because now the opportunity is there.
Michael Jackness: One of the things that I know I have a really hard time with is staying focused on one thing. I think it’s a typical entrepreneurial problem. You get that shiny object syndrome. They call it the squirrel in the office, where I’m constantly like going like that.
Maxwell Finn: We as marketers focus on bright shiny objects. We focus on the latest and greatest tool and widget and gadget, and thing I can use out there to retarget people and hit people in this way. At the end of the day, we need to remember that we’re talking to a human being, right? At the other end of that, that retargetting ad, that email, that direct mail, whatever it is, is a person that has desires, they have problems. And if you can understand what that problem is and what motivates your ideal customer, you’re gonna be really, really effective regardless of what medium you’re using. Regardless of whether we’re using Facebook or Google or YouTube or T.V. or radio, if you understand what makes money tick, you’re going to be able to leverage those mediums more effectively.
Charles Livingston: I think there’s a lot of power in one, being very clear on what your strengths are in your business. So you need to take as many personality tests, and the Kolbe test, and DISC test, whatever test you can get a hold of, and find out more about yourself. Learning yourself, so that you know your strengths and you can just focus on those strengths, and then outsource the rest.
Michael Jackness: There’s always going to be ways to make money in business. And the thing that I found is the more you focus on the one thing that you’re working on right now, even if that there might be a better or different opportunity out there, staying focused on the one that you’re working on right now is been the best.
Molly Pittman: Focus and simplifying, even if you’re a larger business, is so important or you’re never going to get anything done.
