If you are, it may be costing you more than you know.
NOTE: This article was originally published on SuccessNet.org in 2010.
For many entrepreneurs, the temptation to always be innovating, creating and launching new things can be pretty addictive.
It’s great to be constantly improving, but it’s also real easy to let go of the routine fundamentals that have built and support our business.
New things are more interesting. They capture our attention and engage our entrepreneurial spirits. It’s exciting to be working on something new.
We like to talk about how passionate we feel about our business. And a new project, venture or undertaking can fuel that desire.
But the truth is, what is good business, what pays the bills and creates profits, is oftentimes not all that exciting. A good deal of business is routine. And some of it is downright boring—at least for entrepreneurs.
We’ve been working for many months on the launch of the next phase for SuccessNet. It’s been both fun and exciting. It has also taken time and energy needed for some of the essential work that must be done to maintain what we have.
The good news is we’ve done OK in maintaining a good balance.
But “OK” isn’t really enough when your business is about creating excellence.
So as we get ready to launch this new generation of personal and professional development, I also had to take a hard look at what I might have let slip.
And we all have to do this from time to time.
We don’t have bosses. And most entrepreneurs don’t have a coach.
And that’s all the more reason to get honest with yourself and take a serious look at what you’re doing—and NOT doing.
What did you do to get where you are that you are no longer doing?
What are you not doing as well as you used to do?
What are you not doing as often as you did before?
Go back a year, two years—maybe three years—and examine the activities, the processes and the systems you employed that have slid into extinction. If they NEEDED to be retired, OK. But if you’ve simply FORGOTTEN to do them, it may be time to go back to what worked.
For me, I realized that what had slipped was my writing.
I’ve been busy not only with the upcoming launch, but also with my Diamond Club and my EMC Team.
And all of these things are important.
But as I look back over the last year, I have to admit that the number of articles I’ve written for my subscribers and other publications has declined.
And that is largely what people have signed up for.
New tools are great. Enhanced services certainly add value. But the core of our business is knowledge. My job is to remind you—and myself—about what’s important and what matters.
Mostly that’s about getting clear, staying focused and consistently moving in the right direction.
What about you? What are the essentials of YOUR business?
What have you let slide?
What have you slacked of from?
Where have you lost your edge?
And how do you get it back?
For most of us, it’s getting back to basics. It’s letting go of our need for something new and different and concentrating on what already works.
You see, your new great idea, your next cool project, may actually be poison to your current business.
We can still start new projects and create new things, but we can’t forget about or neglect the core of our business.
If you need to constantly be working on the new and different, you’d better have people on your team who will continue to do the routine stuff. Otherwise, you’ll likely find yourself without the resources to fund your new ventures.
I invite you to invest some time thinking and journaling about what you may have lost sight of—where you might have slacked off. If you have, don’t beat yourself up, just acknowledge it, make some new decisions and take action.
Let’s go to work, OK?
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