Focus On What's Important: Everything Else Is A Waste Of Time

And the reason why most businesses fail.

I am not a perfect entrepreneur.

I am constantly making mistakes and getting distracted on things that aren’t important. Yes, I chase shinny objects and I get caught up in ideas that sound fun but are really distractions.

I’ve written a lot about the important / urgency matrix, pioneered by Steven Covey, in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This concept completely changed how I operate my business, because it made me realize that I was spending most of my time putting out fires. Shockingly, I learned that when you let fires burn, you do upset some people, but eventually the fire burns out. As such, the time you were previously spending on putting out fires is now spent on doing important work. Once the smoke settles, you come out further ahead than you would have otherwise.

It’s difficult emotional work, but it changed everything for me.

What Is Important To Me Now?

I have so many ideas. I know this sixfiguredirectory.com product is going to absolutely crush. That is not urgent but it is important. I am currently planning for that and my goal is to have the product completely launched my the end of November.

However the work on my plate that is urgent AND important is the client services work I have. This is the work that generates the cash flow to make everything else possible.

Ever since opening up this directory service and taking on personal clients, I have quickly built a revenue stream that I can not drop the ball on.

I can’t give the names of these clients as that would be a privacy violation, but here are the main priorities …

• Fix the mobile CTA colors on the conglomerate client.

• Launch the link building services for one of my clients.

• Finish the filters on the directory I am building for a client.

• Swap over the domain name on the other directory I am building for a client.

• Launch the new site for the domain I just bought since I am rebranding my agency. (More on this in the future).

• Fix the process for getting reviews on GMB for a client

• Publish my YouTube video on “How To Start and Grow A Google My Business Agency.”

Boring Is Profitable

Sometimes I feel like the only person in the world who isn’t interested in raising capital and building a $10,000,000,000 tech product. That whole world seems like chasing squirrels to me.

You always have to be innovating and developing.

In my view, I want to be in the business of whatever doesn’t need innovation. What’s always going to have value? What is going to be just as relevant 20 years from now as 20 days from now?

For me, the answer is lead generation.

Most businesses need leads, prospects, and introductions to new customers. I know how to do that. But the work of lead generation isn’t glamorous or sexy. It’s profitable.

I’ve proven to myself, through my own experience, that if I focus on doing the boring work that generates leads for my clients (and for myself) then I make more money. For the record, it’s not a little bit more money but significantly more money over the long run.

I have to constantly sacrifice the short term work that is urgent for the long term work that is important.

The trick is to always reevaluate what work falls into which categories, because sometimes the work that is fun and exciting is actually the work that is getting in the way of your growth and sustainability.

Discipline. Focus. Honestly. Those are the personal pillars to make the right choices.

Hit reply and let me know what is important in your business? What’s urgent? What’s getting in the way?

Love you guys. Talk to you tomorrow.

Tim

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