Where is your business focusing?

When asked about his outstanding performance on the ice, Wayne Gretzky replied, "A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be."

The million dollar question for any business entrepreneur is basically, where is business going to be in 1-year, 3-, 5- and hopefully 10-years out. Where is your business focusing? Where do you see your business and yourself in the the next 3 years? If things were going according to your master plan, where do you see yourself an your business in the next 5 and 10 years? As you may be struggling with business today, it is very easy to get caught up in the minutia and forget about your long-term focus.

Now is the time to review your business plan, and measure your current success against the goals you set in your business plan. Mark every success and celebrate it. As you find areas you may have fallen short in, do not berate or punish yourself, but look at the underlying reason why you did not achieve that particular goal and then find ways to improve so that during the next measurement period, you will hopefully meet or exceed your goals. You need to keep your business focused on both the long- and the short-term goals.

If you focus only on your short-term goals, you may lose sight of where you ultimately want your business to grow. It is like looking directly at your feet while you are walking down a sidewalk. Even if you use the cracks along the side of the sidewalk to guide you, you will get off track and possibly wander off the sidewalk. Even if you do stay on the walkway, you will not be moving forward very effectively. If you set your eyes ahead of your feet as you walk, you will observe obstacles and barriers to your way before you come upon them. By focusing forward (not too far) you are able to see and anticipate potential problems and begin working on a solution now instead of going head-first into the obstacle and getting tangled up in it.

Focusing your business goals is the same thing. You need to look ahead an anticipate problems and challenges. No matter how well you plan, there will be problems to deal with. That is life, don't dwell on the bad parts, focus on what you are going to do to get past those proverbial bumps in the road. Do not take a Pollyanna attitude about your business either. There will be situations that will not be easy to navigate through. There may even be situations that you cannot get past. The difference is, if you anticipated the situation, or if you saw it before it became a huge problem, you may have been able to mitigate the damage to your business.

Don't let your feelings of self-doubt, insecurity and vulnerability affect your business plan. You most likely made a good plan, hopefully you had others review it for reasonableness, so, stick with your plan, adjust to accommodate your current situation and continue moving forward with your business. Don't let any negative emotions you may be having damage your business. When we feel down or negative about the business, that is not the time to make significant business decisions because those decisions may result in financial losses, lost jobs or bankruptcies.

Tomorrow we will continue along these same lines and debunk some myths about attitude. We will provide tips on what you can do to combat these false beliefs and help your business to grow. Where is your business focusing?

If you are looking for an income opportunity, we may have something that would interest you. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.

Until tomorrow...