One of the difficult things about entrepreneurs is maintaining focus.
Most entrepreneurs are interested in many things, so the BSO (bright shiny object) threatens to pull them away from their core mission because that other thing would be soooo interesting to work on.
Still others wonder what their core mission is.
Just this morning I heard a guy ask “What if I don’t know what I want to do?”, in response to a suggestion that he find his purpose in life and focus on finding a way to make a living serving that purpose.
If YOU don’t know what you want to do, I’m not sure how anyone else would. Still, why not ask someone what they think? Ask them “What kind of work would you call me in to perform before you’d call *anyone* else?”
One way
We’ve discussed this in the past and one pragmatic suggestion was to consider the things that you get asked to do by the smartest people you know. Stuff you actually *want* do, that is.
A bit more entertaining way would be to think about some others who do amazing things in their line of work.
Say for example that you asked Clark Kent. He’s Superman. His answers might be: “Leaps tall buildings in a single bound”, “Faster than a locomotive” and “X-ray vision”. In other words, he has super-human strength.
If you asked Peter Parker, he might talk about his ability to walk up a skyscraper.
You get the idea.
So…when you perform from your strengths as if you are a superhero, how would you describe your power? What super-human strengths do you have?
Here’s an example
So you see what I mean, I’ll give you mine as an example.
- Though I don’t always exercise it, I seem to find it easy to have a conversation between warring parties without either of them wanting to fit me for a pair of Jimmy Hoffa Concrete Galoshes (No, I have no desire to play detente-boy in the Middle East).
- I find it easy to ask troubling but non-confrontational questions about situations and opportunities that others don’t often see, though I think a good bit of that is because people are too close to their situation to be honest with themselves (or to have clear vision). I’ve been guilty of that as well. We all have forests that keep us from seeing trees.
- Processes (technical, marketing, operational, you name it) have always intrigued me. I feel very much at home looking at them from perspectives ranging from 10000 ft to piece by piece dissection. “Seeing” how they can be improved has always been a core strength. I have to be careful with this one because it’s easy to become the guy wielding the shovel. All I have to do is I let “my altitude” get too low – and thus too close to the process rather than going big picture. Yeah, I know that’s a little wishy washy, but this is what merges the marketing side of my head with the geek side.
Enough about me…does that help you see how to describe your super power?
What do people repeatedly ask you to do that should be telling you that you’re the Joe DiMaggio or Steve Jobs of your market? Even if your market is limited to local customers, I’d love to hear about your super power.
Why is this important?
It’s important so that you don’t spend your nights staring at the ceiling wondering what business you should start so that you never again have to worry about being laid off by BigCorp.
Yes, that does mean you exchange that worry for a bunch of others, but it’s a bunch you have a lot more control over.
A few weeks ago when the Montana Economic Development Summit was held in Butte – there was very little talk about what government could do to create jobs. Rightfully so, since small businesses create most jobs.
The speakers (including Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, Warren Buffett and General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt) were all about encouraging Montanans to innovate and solve problems (as I mentioned last week) with the goal of creating sustainable revenue, and thus, good jobs.
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a business, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site or contact him via email at mriffey at flatheadbeacon.com.