3 SIMPLE WAYS TO FOCUS YOUR ATTENTION IN YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS
Whenever I have a discovery call with a new client, I get one main question about their online business.
What do I do first? What’s the most important thing? Where should I be focusing my time?
We all want to be given a specific place to start in order to know that we’re doing all the right things in all the right places. But this can be difficult if you’re decided to invest in some education and personal development. You want to do all the things and you just can’t decide. Sound familiar?
In this post, I’m going to offer a few key steps to take the pressure off that feeling of wanting to be doing things the “right” way. I’ll also help you to make some decisions about what’s right for you right now when it comes to how to build a successful business.
Spoiler alter though. “What is the most important thing for me to focus on?” is very much a “how long is a piece of string?” question. There is no right, wrong or definitive answer. It all depends on your own piece of string, your online business, and you.
So no, this post isn’t going to tell you the number one thing to do (surprise surprise), but it will help you to find the right thing for you.
Want to dive deeper into how to prioritise for your online business? In this workbook I coach you through how to work through five key focus areas. Grab your FREE workbook below!
YOU CAN START FROM ANYWHERE
If you’re just starting an online business, that’s fine. It doesn’t matter where you start, it only matters that you take action. I know clients who get so overwhelmed wondering whether to focus on their Instagram or their blog, whether the pictures should be more important than the words, and which blog post to write next?!
Here’s the truth. In the grand scheme of the history of your online business, it doesn’t matter. I can’t remember what my first blog post was (you don’t have to go back and check, honest!) But I know for a fact the most significant thing about it was that it was the first of many more. It started the habit and routine of posting consistently, which happens to this day.
As humans, we have a linear view of time, but that’s not true for the life of your content. A blog post will show up in search results years after you post it. The most popular post on my blog is one from October 2017 and it stays that way month after month. It doesn’t matter what order they’re posted in, just that they were posted.
The most important thing is that you start somewhere and continue to take action from there.
EVERYTHING NEEDS TO WORK TOGETHER
When someone asks where they should focus their attention with their marketing, this is the answer I always give. For ease, marketing is often divided up into these sections:
Social
Content
Ads
Email marketing
Everything else
But that fragmentation means we forget that all those elements work best together, not on their own.
To give you an example, one client I work 1:1 with at the moment found me via Instagram. But she didn’t decide to work with me based on my feed. That comes from exploring my blog content and receiving emails from me. There is never one single thing that makes up somebody’s mind, which means I can never prioritise one element of my marketing mix over another.
Instead, think about the jobs each element does for you and your online business, and think which channel is the priority for you right now. Let’s take my example again. Instagram and outreach are my acquisition channels, while my blog, podcast, and my email are my retention and conversion channels. So if I have a lull in enquiries and want to boost my acquisition, then I’ll temporarily prioritise Instagram (getting in the DMs) and outreach.
If I’m launching new products and want to get my existing audience involved, I’ll focus more on email and content.
So it’s not about what should always be a priority. Instead it’s about what’s lacking in your online business right now and what element of the holistic whole is stronger at fixing that for you.
THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE FOR YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS RIGHT NOW
Over the last week or so, I’ve had emails and DMs from people asking them if my program, the Busy To Boss Method, is right for them. And my answer is always another question: what are your goals?
There are so many options and opportunities out there for online education which promise the world and sound so enticing, and I definitely get that it’s a slippery slope trying to work out which to take. Do I need to learn to write, take photos, or uplevel my marketing? Is an ecourse enough or do I need more of a coaching approach?
Stop reading the sales pages, drown out the noise and listen to yourself. Where are you trying to get to? What are your short term and long term goals? What would you like to achieve in the next three months? Now - what’s going to make that process difficult? There’s your decision made.
Take the education that will help you with that stumbling block to your goal. Once you reach that goal, set another one and join the programme that will help you get there too. And repeat.
The world of online businesses can be a real struggle. But when it comes to how to make money online, you need to prioritise the things that are right for you. No one can tell you what is right for you. They can only guide you and you can decide. That’s how you’ll find success with your online business.
What area of this do you struggle with the most? I’d love the opportunity to support you!