Prioritise Your Business Focus In Three Easy Stages

August 16, 2017

Your business is your baby. When you start, everything is down to you, from development to sales. While this can seem overwhelming, there are significant benefits to being responsible for everything. It’s the only real way to ensure things are under control.

But, when you expand (which you want to do!), you’ll find it’s no longer possible to keep on top of things alone. In fact, trying to do so will burn you out and ruin your prospects. Don’t risk it. Instead, accept you need help. Get in some staff, and start delegating. It’ll be tough at first, but well worthwhile. To assist you in the beginning, consider these points.
Never compromise on your product

The first and most important thing you need to keep in mind is to never compromise on your product. It is still, and will always be, the primary focus of what you’re doing. You may have to make compromises you don’t like when it comes to other factors, but never do the same with your product. This should remain your baby throughout.

It may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how clouded your view can get when things kick off. You may think you’re above getting distracted by money, but it happens to the best of us. At some point, you’ll likely value your profits above your product. If you find that happening, bring yourself back down to earth. Remember why you’re doing what you’re doing. Profits are important, of course, but never at the cost of production. At the end of the day, good production is all that brings the money in.

What can you do?

Keeping in mind the importance of your product, consider how much work you can realistically do. No one cares about this enterprise as much as you, so the more you can do, the better. But, it’s a harsh reality of business that you can’t do it all.
Look at this from an objective standpoint. Consider what jobs you would delegate yourself if you were another worker. You can do this by considering your strong points. Perhaps design is your forte. In that case, stick to the creative tasks, and trust other people to deal with the selling side of things. Or, you may want to focus on the business aspect, and let your staff take over with general production. As the boss, you’ll have to dabble in both, but knowing your primary focus is essential for smooth running.

Who could take control of the rest?
It’s important to ensure you’re assigning all the jobs you aren’t taking to the best people. Opt for trained salespeople. Get an accountant on board who can take care of money worries. Advertise for payroll recruitment from Portfolio Payroll or other agencies like them. It’s even worth entrusting a lawyer with your legal issues.
It won’t take long to see that this is the best move. And, with trained professionals taking care of what you can’t, you may even see your business improve.

Mark Asquith

That British podcast guy, Mark is co-founder of Captivate.fm, the world's only growth-oriented podcast host. A Harvard, TEDx, Podcast Movement and Podfest speaker (amongst many more!), he's a wildly approachable Brit and Star Wars/DC Comics geek.

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