Focus and Grow Your Business
“In order to do a good job of those things that we decide to do, we must eliminate all of the unimportant opportunities.” – Mike Markkula
This simple statement can help you gain clarity on where to begin to create your web, mobile, social and email presence and marketing. If you are wondering who Mike Markkula is, he wrote the first business plan for Apple and owned one-third of the company for providing capital, business and marketing expertise. He became a father figure to Steve Jobs, a man I greatly admire for his ability to focus and create brilliant products.
In 1997 when Steve returned to Apple to focus on saving the company it was making dozens of versions of the Macintosh. After a few weeks of meetings he declared that what was needed was to focus on one desktop and one portable computer for the consumer and one desktop and portable computer for the professional. All other products were to be cancelled.
At first there was push-back, but Steve told the board “I can make it work”. We know the rest of the successful Apple turnaround story. Of course, Apple has many products now, but the lesson is, when you are in the trenches, fighting to survive, gain stability and sustainability you must focus. You must let go of lesser opportunities and focus on what will put your business on solid ground.
One of the things I noticed about Apple when I first started in social media was their lack of engagement in social media platforms. Perhaps Steve’s focus at that time was on creating great products rather than getting distracted. Of course now the Apple Facebook page is active with 4.8 million fans and their Twitter APPSTORE will soon reach a million. Both are growing. I took a lesson from that and stepped back from social media to refocus on my business. This is my first “re-entry” post.
There is not much more that needs to be said here. My goal is to raise your awareness of the concept of focus and let you get to work on your own business focus. We welcome your comments, experiences, suggestions and questions.
(Credit for the Steve Jobs story and quote goes to Walter Issacson author of the book on the remarkable Steve Jobs
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If you have a story about focus and it’s impact in your business or life please share here. You never know when you might inspire a genius in the making.
The topic of “focus” comes up as a key issue in many of my coaching engagements. Focusing on the urgent/important vs. the things that are not important or urgent key in clearing the lens to being effective and productive. I love Kegan’s premise in his book “The Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work” where he provides us with guidance in noticing/become aware of our competing commitments – what I am doing or not doing that prevents my commitment from being fully realized. I have found that, with more and more technology at my finger-tips – technology that’s developed to help me be faster or more effective – actually slows me down because I have too many options to distract me. I’ve gone back to creating simple lists, taking time to reflect on what’s urgent or most important and trying to remain aware of accomplishing those things. NOT an easy task! Thanks for asking the question and sharing your experience, Pamela!