Every year I celebrate the anniversary of my online business, which I founded in 2010. And I’m thinking a lot about the power of focus in business.
The importance of focus in business can’t be overstated.
When I look back on these past ten years, I can see that when I put my head down and focused on hitting just a handful of milestones, my business grew by leaps and bounds.
Related: How to Build Your Business Online, The Ultimate Guide
And when my focus was scattered?
Sadly, I ended those weeks (and sometimes months) without much to show for the time I spent at my desk.
That’s hard to admit.
But if there’s anything I’d like to share here, it’s what I’ve learned from my successes and what I’ve learned from my mistakes.
Because, my friend, if you can learn how to focus on online business in a way that helps you be successful faster, all my mistakes will have been worth it.
Learn how to harness the power of focus in business using the five simple steps I share here. Go straight to my Focus Finder quiz to get started.
Read on to put them to use in your online business starting now.
How to focus in business so you make progress faster
- Find your current business stage.
- Focus on the milestones for the stage you’re in.
- Go into “learning mode” for a limited amount of time.
- Actively ignore content about other online business stages.
- Stop learning and start doing.
Sounds simple, doesn’t it?
But the real trick is to apply this approach.
Ready to focus on online business like never before?
Let’s dive deep into each step of the process.
Related: 14 Easy Ways to Carve Out Creative Time for Your Business
Step 1: Find your current business stage
Businesses are built in stages.
Your priorities when you’re starting a business are very different than your priorities when you’re scaling a business.
You can only be in one stage of business growth at a time.
I know this is a super obvious statement — but in this age of content glut, knowing the business stage you’re in is 100% crucial if you want to use the power of your mind to achieve success.
[clickToTweet tweet=”When you know what business stage you’re in, you can focus on hitting that stage’s milestones — and you can ignore the rest.” quote=”When you know what business stage you’re in, you can focus on hitting that stage’s milestones — and you can ignore the rest.”]
Discovering your business stage allows your focus in business to be on the milestones you need to accomplish in that stage.
More on that below. In the meantime …
How can you figure out which business stage you’re in right now?
Take my Focus Finder quiz.
It’s a fun, fast way to pinpoint what business building stage you’re in right now.
Step 2: Focus on the milestones for the stage you’re in
Every stage of business growth has important milestones to hit.
When you know your stage, you’ll know your milestones.
Focus in business means your planning, your learning, and your efforts are directed exclusively on hitting those important milestones, you’ll hit them faster.
Plus, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment that will give you the momentum to keep going.
Step 3: Go into “learning mode”
Content glut is a real problem.
I’ve seen this scenario more times than I can count. It just happened this week!
I get an email from someone who says they have:
- Read All The Blog Posts.
- Taken All The Courses.
- Watched All The Webinars.
- Listened to All The Podcasts.
And yet … they’re still not successful.
The reason they’re not successful comes down to one three-letter word.
“All.”
Online business success is not about doing All The Things.
You build a successful online business when you focus on the milestones you need to accomplish right now — and ignore the rest.
Here’s how to focus on your current milestones:
- You decide how long you’ll spend in “learning mode.”
- You research the topic you want to learn.
- You take notes and actively absorb everything you can about the topic.
- You ask questions in courses, groups, or on social media to expand your understanding.
- Then you stop learning and start doing. (See Step 5.)
I’m all for researching and learning new things! That’s what this site offers — information so you can successfully build your online business.
But …
[clickToTweet tweet=”If learning and researching is keeping you from getting things done, you need to put some parameters around your learning and focus on taking action instead.” quote=”If learning and researching is keeping you from getting things done, you need to put some parameters around your learning and focus on taking action instead.”]
Step 4: Actively ignore content about other online business stages
This step might be the most difficult of all.
Focus in business is a powerful skill — but your ability to truly focus might be weak right now.
It’s understandable.
We’re building online businesses in an environment that’s full of distractions. We’re pulled in different directions with every piece of content that floats by us.
That’s why I’m asking you to actively ignore content you don’t need right now.
It’ll be easier when you embrace this important truth:
By the time you need to learn more about future milestones, best practices will be different than they are today.
Here’s an example of how you can focus in business:
Let’s say you’re in the first stage of business growth, the PLAN stage.
(Not sure about your growth stage? Take the Focus Finder quiz now.)
The milestones you need to hit in the PLAN stage are:
- Pinpoint your ideal customer.
- Choose your business name.
- Create a tagline.
- Build your visual brand.
- Plan your first online offer.
Do you need to read an article about improving conversion rates?
NO. You don’t have a product or service to sell yet!
Do you need to buy software to build an online funnel?
NO. You don’t even understand your ideal customer — how can you sell something without knowing your future customer?
Do you need to buy a course on creating product launches?
NO. You don’t have a product to sell!
It’s not easy, but I encourage you to actively ignore all online education, courses, and content about other online business stages.
By the time you need to research your future milestones, best practices will change.
Wait until you’ve arrived at your future milestones and then start your research.
Step 5: Stop learning and start doing.
You know what stage you’re in. You understand what milestones you need to hit. You’ve researched and learned all you can. You’re actively ignoring content about other online business stages.
Now it’s time to spring into action!
What does this look like?
You stop learning and start doing.
Sounds so simple, doesn’t it?
But it’s tough. Here’s why:
Learning is comfortable. Absorbing new information doesn’t stretch us.
Learning feels “productive.” Time spent researching and taking notes feels productive — but productivity means actually producing a result.
Learning sounds noble. When friends, relatives, and colleagues ask us what we’ve been up to and we share how much we’re studying, it sounds admirable. It’s safe.
[clickToTweet tweet=”The only way to see real results is to take actions that create results.” quote=”The only way to see real results is to take actions that create results.”]Taking action — even if it’s imperfect, even when you’re unsure, even if you don’t know what you’re doing — is the only thing that will get results.
Stop learning and start doing as quickly as possible.
That’s how you’ll build your online business faster!
How to focus in business — even in today’s distracting environment
A quick review of how to use the power of your mind to focus on your most important online business goals:
- Find your current business stage (use my Focus Finder quiz).
- Focus on the milestones for the stage you’re in (you’ll get a list of milestones after you do the Focus Finder quiz).
- Go into “learning mode” for a pre-determined amount of time.
- Actively ignore content about other online business stages and focus on what matters right now.
- Stop learning and start doing: Action is what gets results.
I wish I’d understood this back in 2010 when I founded my online business.
Here’s to using focus in your business — it’s the best way to make progress faster.
