Have You Seen My Focus?

It's the bane of so many online business owners trying to get their businesses profitable ==> FOCUS. I know that when I first got started (and even sometimes now!) I was like a kitty-cat distracted by every shiny object that came around my way. ;-)

I lost my focus a lot of times.

When my friend Kelly McCausey released a course for moms who need to find focus in their business, it got me thinking about all the seemingly conflicting information that is out there for all online business owners.

The fact of the matter is, if you are just getting started or have been doing this "forever" and still aren't making any decent money - it's time to realize that you need to make at least one project profitable before you can move onto another. If you have 10 things going and none are making any money, there is a problem.

But there are lots of people talking about creating multiple streams of income and making a lot of websites, so it becomes confusing to know what to do. There's John Reese talking about "Virtual Real Estate Empires" (and believe me, I'm building mine!) and even I am encouraging you to sign up for this Thursday's free mini-site class. So, where's the focus if you're building a bunch of sites?

Again, when you're getting started, you need to learn the basics of marketing and you have to know how to make money with one thing before you move onto the next. It's all an educational process. If you keep putting up stuff that does nothing for your bottom line, you are not participating in the education process. You're just hoping you'll "get lucky" next time.

Yes, if you're smart (and I know you are!), you are going to create these multiple streams of income and that's the beauty of online business. If you have an offline store and it goes under -- you're out of luck. If you do business online, you can always have many "back ups" in case one project goes sour.

Here's a few tips to get you to where you want to be:

• Stay educated: If you want to cut your learning curves dramatically, learn from others who are already successfully doing what you want to do.
• Hire help: For example, if you want to create a network of mini-sites, don't do it all yourself. Hire a virtual assistant, a programmer or whomever you need to help you get the job done. I would be totally lost without my assistants and techies. They do the work I don't want to do (or don't know how to do) and I can focus on the things I do best -- growing my business.
• Have a plan: Jumping around from idea to idea isn't going to get you anywhere quickly. What is your business model? What are your businesss goals? Your model and goals may evolve over time, but if you understand what your focus is...you'll stay on track (or at least as much as you can...sometimes those distractions are really, really shiny and it's tough not to look. Hee hee!)
• Keep a notebook of "ideas": Sometimes that idea that seems like a real winner at 1:45 AM doesn't seem so bright in the light of day. Right down your ideas before you act on them and then go back and see if they are still the "brilliance" you thought they were.

Overall, don't beat yourself when you lose that focus. Just get back on track and keep working toward your business goals...and your business will continue to grow and prosper.