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5 Steps to Focusing On Your Business Priorities

Written by: Jenny Stilwell

Article Overview: Whether you are trying to get clear on your business direction, or your daily tasks, you have to chunk up from the detail swimming around in your head to a higher level focus.

5 Steps to Focusing On Your Business Priorities

Whether you are trying to get clear on your business direction, or your daily tasks, you have to chunk up from the detail swimming around in your head to a higher level focus.

Step 1: Get everything out of your head and onto a page

Do a ‘brain dump' of everything - your to-do items, your opportunities (for new clients, for new business directions, for new partners, for new products or services, for new marketing activities, etc). It's easiest if you do this on a spreadsheet because then you can sort (by importance!)

Step 2: Rank Everything According To Impact - High, Medium, Low

Create a column heading for ‘Impact' and use H, M, L to indicate what sort of impact each item has.

In order to identify the impact of these items, ask yourself the following questions:

- What is the outcome associated with doing/having/accepting this?

- Does that outcome move me closer to my [monthly/quarterly/annual] goal?

- Is the impact on my business short term or long term?

Answers to those questions should help you identify how significant the impact of that activity/item/opportunity will be to your business.

Step 3: Assess Resource Requirements

For example, if you have an opportunity to expand your business into another city, and another opportunity to partner with someone on a big project, and another to set up an affiliate partner, and another to promote your business into an industry association, they all take resources. Ask yourself the above questions, and then ask what sort of resources it would take to make it happen.

Add in another column for ‘Resources'. Again, identify those that are High, Medium or Low. A ‘High' resource requirement may be the complete redevelopment of your website. It takes people, time and money in order to complete.

You always need to weigh the resource requirements against the expected outcomes or returns.

Step 4: Group Like Activities Together

In a column for ‘Activity Type' key in what's relevant to your business, such as Sales, Finance & Admin, Client Work, Marketing, Projects, People, etc

If one area of your business is really critical, for example it may be ‘People' because you must recruit two new people to your team, or you don't have a team and you need to sort out how to build one, or you must conduct performance reviews.

If that area of the business in itself is urgent, just focus on that for now until you get some results.

Step 5: Sort - By ‘Impact' & ‘Resources'

All the activities or opportunities for your business that are of the highest propriety will be at the top of the list. Focus on all High Impact activities/options that are also Low Resource requirements as you will be able to do them faster and achieve the outcomes faster.

That will get you started.

This is even more important if you are facing a tougher market - you need to be very clear on your priorities, the outcomes you expect and the resources required to achieve them.

Clear priorities = Focus = Results

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Article Tags: business prioritiesbusiness direction



Related Forum Posts
Re: Fill in the blank: The best decision I ever made with my bus - Focusing on my Internet Marketing Business
Re: Great start, but no finish - My advise is FOCUS on your business. Focusing is the main factor to succeed on business. If you have a great idea, then follow it only, don't look anywhere else. It is especially essential in an online business. Because there are a lot of mind blowing sales letters promising millions dolllars or overnight success, people find it difficult to concentrate on one business and they lose their energy. Concept is simple. 1- Have a good idea; 2- Build your business on it; 3- Monetize your business; 4- Promote it; 5- Build list of responsive customers; 6- Maintain You Business. Focusing and not fearing from competition (instead you can learn from competitiors) are main tips of billionaires ,BTW. Orxan
How do you know if you have a good idea? - [quote="orxan":3118uboz]My advise is FOCUS on your business. Focusing is the main factor to succeed on business. If you have a great idea, then follow it only, don't look anywhere else. It is especially essential in an online business. Because there are a lot of mind blowing sales letters promising millions dolllars or overnight success, people find it difficult to concentrate on one business and they lose their energy. Concept is simple. 1- Have a good idea; 2- Build your business on it; 3- Monetize your business; 4- Promote it; 5- Build list of responsive customers; 6- Maintain You Business. Focusing and not fearing from competition (instead you can learn from competitiors) are main tips of billionaires ,BTW. Orxan[/quote:3118uboz] Thanks orxan! But how do you know if you truly have a good idea or not? If we ask ourselves, we may be suffering from tunnel vision. On the other hand, friends/family may try to discourage us from pursuing a small business because of their own fears, while others will simply give us an empty "you can do it!" line.
Re: What is your biggest challenge? Today? - Focusing... and finding time to focus! Maybe they are related!
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.


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