Ep 78: Why it is So Important to Focus on One Thing

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Dawn:

Welcome to episode 78 of Dawn of a New Era. And I am so, so happy that our podcast, Dawn of a New Era, which launched in 2018 is still ranking in the top 3% of global shows. Now that, as I’m sure you agree, is pretty epic really. Because with podcasts, it is a real slow burn.

It’s one of those things that you start and you build your listeners. You start to get people taking notice, you get subscribers, the downloads increase. But there’s a lot of effort that goes into it because recording the podcast is one aspect, but marketing and getting the podcast out to lots of different people on a biweekly basis is tough.

Now not only this, we have two podcasts. I have Digital Marketing Made Easy, which today is ranking, I think number 25 in Canada. And this is amazing because with podcasts, they reach absolutely everywhere. We are tapping into markets we didn’t even know that we would have interest in.

And literally, it never ceases to amaze me how many people reach out from these different places. Now in this podcast, I am going to focus on something that I think we all need to hear once in a while. Because every time I speak to marketers, business owners, entrepreneurs, even people in a role, corporate leaders, it doesn’t matter, the same thing is always true.

How long is your to-do list?

It’s always about trying to declutter and get rid of these literally ridiculous to-do list. I saw someone the other day who had a hundred items on the to-do list. I mean, can you imagine the overwhelm? Can you imagine the feeling that they would have? Now in this episode, we’re going to really look at what does it mean to be focused and why is it better to focus on just one thing, because it absolutely is.

It’s probably the biggest lesson as an entrepreneur that I’ve ever, ever benefited on a daily basis from. And when you start to focus on one thing at a time, it means you’ll get more done. And it’s crazy to think about it because multitasking is great and you can kind of flitting around things and you just feel busy.

You feel like you’re nailing it. You feel like you’re plowing through. But what are you actually achieving? And on the other hand, when you start to look at single tasks, it’s far more likely you’ll get into this state of flow, this deep focus when you’re doing meaningful work or focusing on difficult tasks.

So we know there’s been loads of neuro scientists who’ve looked at this whole kind of being focused, what does it mean. But if you think about what does it actually mean to be highly focused, well, we know that the most successful people on this planet are highly focused.

They pay attention to the present moment and present tasks. Now what this actually does is it ensures that they’re absolutely 100% engaged in activities. They get more done, but really efficiently. They kind of flow through life events feeling better, and they are more mindful and present in what they’re doing.

Now, the other thing is, is that when you are really busy and you’re doing lots of different tasks, you start to get a bit…. I love this word, but it’s about looking at your whole kind of perception, your memory, your learning, your reasoning, your problem solving and your decision making.

A lack of focus affects your ability to deliver results

Because as soon as you start to get too much going on, your brain starts to jumble up. The feeling of pressure or overwhelm. You may have had this if you’ve got lots going on. If you haven’t got good focus, it really does affect your ability to perform well.

And as a business leader or as an entrepreneur or in a role, one of the things that we need is we need mindset, we need to be mindful, we need to have motivation. And marketing is one aspect, but we see so much going on.

And I think this has got worse over the years because we’re consuming, we’re seeing so much, which means that it’s triggering our brains with all these different ideas, all these different things.

And overwhelm kind of puts us into this stop state where as soon as confusion hits, we haven’t got clarity, we start to feel like we don’t know what we’re doing. And when you start to focus on one thing, I always think about all roads lead to one thing. And in business, I have multiple businesses. We are always working on lots of different things.

So how do I focus on it? Well, I think on the end goal, so I know that we need six new clients each month and that adds a million to the business. Now that’s crazy, isn’t it? So six new clients. It’s because I know my model, I know how the marketing works, I know how the whole money piece goes together.

So I’m focused on all of the roots, all of the things that get me clients. Now generally, that could be like a, say a strategy call, let’s say. So if all roads lead to one place, how do you get people, let’s say on a strategy call? If that’s your sort of conversion, how do you do that?

The business pipeline

Well, it could be that you run a masterclass and you just focus on marketing that masterclass each and every month. You know then you get maybe 20 discovery calls and that results in five new clients, right? So it’s pushing people down a pipeline. So when I think about all roads lead to one place, I think about my business pipeline.

I think about my leads. I think, where do my clients come from and how do I get more of them? Or if I’m looking at a client’s world and business, I look at their model, first of all. And I try to understand, are they pulling in business in the right way? And this is something that 90% of people who come to me are not doing correctly.

It’s focusing on the wrong things and trying to sell perhaps upwards. So let’s say the easiest kind of option I hear from clients is that, “Oh, well, I’m selling a 27 pounds product because I want to give them an entry and then they can upgrade to X and Y and Z.” Now you have to sell a lot of things at 27 pounds to get the conversion. And not everybody’s going to convert.

Plus, there’s a sales cycle, right? Doesn’t happen instantly. I could have people in my world, you’ve probably seen this too, who haven’t bought and maybe come to me three years down the line, five years down the line. So my essence of good business is that when you get it right and you get your model structured correctly, you sell down.

And this changes the way that you hit your monthly revenue. Because to hit your certainty number, to get to that point, it’s easier to sell less. Okay. Actually at a higher ticket. Sounds crazy. Right? But would you like to have to think, “Well, I’ve got to find a hundred new customers every month,” or would you like to find five or 10?

So this is all about looking at your pipeline, looking at all roads lead to one thing. And my point here is, is that when all my roads or my client’s roads lead to one thing, it’s the highest ticket thing. And then what we do is we down sell onto the other things we have. We don’t lead our promotion with the smaller.

Knowing your financial certainty number

Now there’s lots of different models out there. There’s lots of people doing memberships, there’s lots of people doing all sorts of different things, but you’ve got to remember that maybe people started the membership once they’ve got something else coming in.

It’s about knowing what you need as a financial certainty number. And that’s the number that all the bills and you and everyone in the business are paid. And that means that once you hit that point, everything above it is profit. So what is it you need. You have to look at your model to see what’s going to work.

It could be that having 10 people on a membership model works because the rate that you charge out works. There’s no right or wrong, there are lots and lots of different ways you can structure your model. Each person will have their own goal of what their business does and what they need to achieve. But it’s having that right mix.

And when you focus on one thing and you become laser focused and all you’re doing is every activity as a marketer, as a business leader, as an entrepreneur is leading into that pipeline, you start to get clarity, you start to get confidence, but you start to get amazing results.

So when you start focusing on it, it’s all about productivity, creativity, but also the quality. Now, again, I see lots of people flitting around doing huge amounts of social media and then getting burnout and getting fatigue. And it could be that you’ve hit this point. I certainly have in the past. But how do you change that?

How do you make that a different cycle? Well, when you start focusing on one thing, it’s a powerful tool because you are not procrastinating, you don’t lack direction, you don’t have confusion because you know every single day, that all roads lead to this one thing.

Now try this out, have a think about what you get confused about, what you feel overwhelmed about. If you have a huge to-do list, think about the bigger goal. Think about the one thing that you have to achieve. Now, lots of businesses, it could be that their goal is around freedom.

It could be financial, it could be around about flexibility, not feeling tied down. What is this biggest goal and how are you going to achieve it? So let’s say it’s financial, many businesses are. And if you’re trying to increase sales, you have to focus on the pipeline.

And every single day you look at how do you get customers now and how do you get more of them. And then you just get rid of all of the other activities outside that don’t lead to the same goal.

So my biggest piece of advice is to declutter, delegate, get your diary in order, start thinking about what you could change to become super focused and feel super light that you have this clarity and creativity that gives you this amazing power. So I hope this episode helped.

And if you are feeling overwhelmed at any point, take a step back, take a breath, right? And think about, remember the bigger goal, the one thing that changes things. In many businesses, this could be monetary, it could be the freedom or flexibility, whatever it is that you’re looking to achieve, try and get rid of everything else that you know that doesn’t directly impact on achieving that goal.

So remember to subscribe and come check me out at Dawn McGruer on all the channels. And you can visit the website too and find out about our amazing program. We have the marketing mentorship and mastermind program. And it is one of my biggest passions of life. It’s the absolute creation that has given me the ease, the joy, the flow, and has changed my world as much as it’s changed my clients.

And to know that many of my clients increase their sales as much as 20% in 30 days, that’s a pretty epic result. So you can see why it brings me so much joy. And if you’re interested, hop onto the website, you can always book a strategy call with me and a discovery session, and we can have a chat and find out more about your business. So have an amazing week, and I will see you on the next podcast.

Thank you for listening to Dawn of a New Era podcast. And for your free checklist to find out how to boost your business for growth, profit, and success, and join our community go to DawnMcGruer.com.com.