Tips to help you Focus & Win!

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Starting an online business is a longer and harder process than starting one offline.  This is a fact.

If you wanted to open an Italian Restaurant, for example,  then once you have done your preliminary homework and it’s time to invest, there’s only one or two avenues you can take. You simply borrow the money from the bank, invest in a property, invest in staff and go about opening your restaurant. When you are online things are a little different. When you have decided on your business model/plan and you are ready to invest, there is still a gamut of options available to you, and a myriad of directions you can take this. The information available on the web is overwhelming and can stop many an entrepreneur from ever getting started as they are bombarded with options and ‘new systems’ that can do what they were going to do, but faster and better!

So how do we get through this process and still come out optimistic?

The key to beating information overload and your inner demons is not in the mindset or getting yourself the ‘winning attitude’ to succeed. The problem I see is that too many bloggers talk about the importance of getting into the right mindset and having a can do attitude. “you need to think like a millionaire before you can become one” BULLSHIT!!

How can you think like a millionaire if you have never experienced even a modicum of success online??

People have it all the wrong way around. Why spend all this time listening to self hypnosis and getting all positive about your venture when you could spend the same time actively promoting and learning and building your business. Do this and guess what?! When you make that first big sale, or even that first dollar- you will INSTANTLY GAIN A WINNING MINDSET.

But the process we employ to grow our business is of utmost importance!

A friend of mine was recently telling me about a class he is taking at his local gym called the ‘Couch to 5 Kilometres’ (about 3 miles). He was telling me about how it’s a really good class to build your fitness levels and ultimately improve your health, but I could not help but notice how it is also a really good metaphor that I can apply to the way I build my online empire.

Baby Steps!

Would you try and go from being a couch potato to running 5 Kilometres in one go? NO. You would obviously start training. In order to run 5 kilometres straight you need to work your way up to this point. Maybe on day one you would run 100m and walk another 100. Then on day two you might run 250m and walk another 250. The point is baby steps. There is no way you could go from being a couch potato to running 5 kilometres without going through a process to work up to this point. (don’t believe me, just watch the Biggest Loser!) So why is it that we try to take this same approach to our online business venture.

Your new business is a new direction, it’s like going from being a couch potato to being a marathon runner. In order to reach this point you need to set goals that are in bite size chunks, you need to apply realistic expectations to your goals and stick with them until they are achieved.  What this means is that you need to give yourself a break. I set a goal to do 4 hours of work everyday. When I failed to achieve this I got down on myself and ironically got even less done as a result.

Why did I fail to meet this expectation? Because it was not realistic! (I was trying to get off the couch and run 5 Kilometres!)

So what can I take away from this and how can I apply it to my circumstance?

In order to achieve success we need to FOCUS and WIN

FOCUS = Follow One Course Until Successful

This is a very powerful acronym that has been applied to this word and one that I remember whenever I see it written. It’s quite straight forward and takes all the variables out of the equation (and we know how many variables there are online). Quite simply, follow one course of action until you see success with it, then use this success to motivate and leverage the continued growth of your business.

WIN = What’s Important Now

This is as simple as it is beautiful. You want to win? Then focus on what is important now. If what you are currently involved with does not directly lead to building your business then why are you doing it?

Follow the link to my next post where I talk in more detail about SMART goals and the ‘SMALL WINS’ strategy that my business coach and I have developed to help me achieve my dreams that much faster.

What are your thoughts? Do you have any tips or strategies that you employ to help manage your business and yourself?

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Tagged as: baby steps, mindset, realistic goals, setting goals, smart goals, win