“Focusing exclusively on what is in our power magnifies and enhances our power,” says Ryan Holiday in The Obstacle is the Way.
This is great advice in times of real difficulty. It’s also great advice just for planning your business, your life, your day.
Getting narrow is a great way to define a business strategy. To focus exclusively on what’s in your power, identify your deep talent. Then maximize that one thing. Ask yourself what you have to offer that only you can do. Ask yourself which types of clients or customers you most want to serve. Look at the clients and customers you’ve won so far. What’s the common need they’re trying to solve? How do you solve it in a way that no one else does?
One great exercise is to force yourself to narrow your target market five times, like this:
- I want to make great food.
- I want to make great lunch food.
- I want to make great lunch food that’s grab and go.
- I want to make great lunch food that’s grab and go and organic.
- I want to make great lunch food that’s grab and go, organic and different – aren’t we all sick of kale???
See how much easier it is to create a plan when you are super specific? Now you know you want to talk to a person who goes out for ten minutes every day to grab healthy food in a hurry. Someone who’s sick of the lunchtime standards. Someone who wants something new. You can create a business plan, an operations plan, a marketing plan, a communications plan. Because you know exactly what you’re doing. Because you’re acting from and focusing on your power.
When you’re grounded in clarity you know when to say yes and when to say no. You have the energy to forcefully chase what matters and the discipline to ignore what doesn’t. You can create and deliver the perfect message to entice your target market to come see what wonderful things you have to offer.
When you focus you magnify your power to communicate!
Communication is the essential last mile in finding and motivating the right teams, acquiring strong allies, powerfully bonding with customers, and capturing mindshare with compelling stories. Nothing will serve you and your vision better than developing exceptional communication skills.
