Focus

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For a long time I had one of those cheesey posters on my office wall meant to inspire. This one said “FOCUS,” and had a picture of a par three golf hole with an island green.
This poster goes back almost fifteen years. I had it on my office wall in our business. I used it as a visual tool to help keep our managers and employees focused on our vision. There were so many opportunities in those days that it was easy for us to get distracted and even over-stimulated by all of the possible directions we could take our business. Many times I would not even say a word, but just point to that silly poster.
I have also found it useful during my last eleven years teaching. So many start-up entrepreneurs we work with suffer from that same affliction — lack of focus — that ends up dooming many start-ups. Why is focus so important? Limited resources is th obvious reason. You can only do so much with the scarce dollars most entrepreneurs have to work with. Spread it too thin and you do nothing very well!
Less obvious is one of the major struggles that all new ventures face. They need to be able to get known in the market and attract customers, or they never can survive. Without focus, entrepreneurs never get above the nose of the competition and fade away due to lack of traction in the market.
Although it has faded and is no longer on the wall, I still have it close by and pull that poster out fairly often. Most of my students and alumni know the importance I place on that one word — focus.
One of my alums, Erin Anderson, sent along a great article that reinforces the importance of focus in entreprneurial ventures. It was recently written by Wil Schroter of Forbes.com and re-published at Report on Business.
Whatever the exact figures, no one would argue that scores of budding new ventures die on the vine. One of the most common killers: lack of focus.

With precious few resources to expend, hewing to a specific, well-defined vision is critical for start-up companies. When entrepreneurs attack too many problems or chase too many opportunities at one time, they often end up with nothing to show for it.
Whatever the exact figures, no one would argue that scores of budding new ventures die on the vine. One of the most common killers: lack of focus.
With precious few resources to expend, hewing to a specific, well-defined vision is critical for start-up companies. When entrepreneurs attack too many problems or chase too many opportunities at one time, they often end up with nothing to show for it.