The Problem with Wanting It All

It’s a challenge that I’ve fought for years… imagine being in a candy store and wanting this kind and that kind and oh, there’s another kind! Can you relate? Maybe you’re not a candy lover so it might show up elsewhere.
I have a couple of my friends that when someone asks them what they do… they go on and on with a litany of all the services they provide. I know a few others that when someone asks them who their ideal client is they go on and on… “I serve youth, salespeople, leaders, generals, drywaller’s etc., etc.” Do you know anyone like my friends?
There is a problem with wanting it all and it’s just this… When you’re for everyone, you’re really for no one. Being specific is the key to success, in asking for referrals, telling people what you do and who you serve and especially whatever it is you are pursuing.
An assessment I took one time when I was first starting my business reported back to me that I suffered from a thing called Goal Diffusion. Goal Diffusion can sometimes be thought of as lack of motivation but what it really is… is the inability to focus in the face of numerous options and therefore not achieving your goals in a satisfactory way. It can be thought of as a form of overwhelm.
My former client and good friend Sarah is a great example of the concept of focusing but she wasn’t when I first met her. When I first met her, she had five different businesses none of which was really working out like she thought they should. After some discussion about her passion, we settled on only one of the five and she really focused on that business and as a result, she became the dominant solution in that line of work. The secret of her success was, besides being an amazing person, leader and entrepreneur was that she focused on her one business. More ideas and ways to serve her clients in that business. Success followed and in a huge way. Today, Sarah has as much work as she wants and is the go-to person in her field.
If you are or have experienced overwhelm in your business, here are some thoughts that might be helpful. Like most of us, hundreds of things are pulling at you seemingly all at one time. You’ve got marketing going, production to oversee, calls to return, employees that need your advice. It’s never-ending right?
Most of the small business owners that I talk to keep almost all of these things in their head. I ask them where their business plan is. It’s in their head. I ask where their employee training manual is. It’s in their head. About the only thing that’s written down is their calendar of appointments. Even many of their to-dos are in their head. Here’s one simple and powerful way to get out of overwhelm—write it all down, get it out of your head.
Start by taking a little time each day to document your business processes. Make a list today of the processes that you haven’t recorded. Cover marketing, production, training, accounting, etc.
Then take one of these areas and document it in detail this week. Each week, for the next few weeks document another area. Within a fairly short period of time, you should have at least the basics of marketing procedures, production procedures, client follow up procedures, and employee training procedures in place. In other words, you’ve now got business processes. Processes that you can rely on. Processes you don’t have to think about. Processes that you will use to grow your business without all that overwhelm now that it’s not all in your head.
Pick one and work it and you will be even more successful!