• Survey of Rural Challenges results
  • Small Town Speaker Becky McCray
  • Shop Local video
  • SaveYour.Town

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS

Focus

By Becky McCray

“The best way to beat the competition may be to do less.”
Anne Fisher, Fortune
“Focus is cash in the economics of attention.”
Merlin Mann, 43 Folders
“You = your calendar”
Tom Peters

How you spend your time tells everyone what is important to you. When you are your own boss, and maybe even the only one in the company, no one tells you when to or how to focus on the most important things. Focus is a do it yourself project. So, how’s your focus?

It takes time to develop this skill. It takes locked door, no interruption time. An hour a week would make a huge difference. Pick one day per week, and

  • Get up one hour early,
  • Close up shop one hour early or open an hour late,
  • Skip lunch,
  • Schedule a meeting with yourself,
  • Give up an hour of TV or internet, or
  • Hire or bribe someone to sit in for you.

How do you spend the time? Here are four steps you can use to improve your focus.

  1. Set a clear vision. Know what results you want from your business. How do you want it to look in 1 year, 5 years, or 10 years? (See Simplified Business Plans for the Real World for some ideas.)
  2. Decide which tasks are important income producers. What do you do in your business that uses your unique talents? These are the ones for you to keep and focus on. (See Focus on your IPAs: Income Producing Activities.)
  3. Delegate some of the other tasks. If you have other people in your business, start letting them take on more of the “other” tasks. If you are the only one in the business, start being creative in your delegating. (See 10 Ways to Delegate Without Hiring Staff.)
  4. Stop doing some tasks. Make some careful choices. Ask, “what would happen if I just didn’t do this?” Think through the consequences, and give up some things. (See Getting Things Done.)

If what’s important to you is revealed by your calendar, then isn’t improving your business worth one hour of focused time per week?

[small biz] [rural] [entrepreneurs] [focus] [finding time] [organization]

3-25-06 edit: Added link to new 10 Ways to Delegate Without Hiring Staff article.
3-26-06 edit: Added link to new Income Producing Activities article.

  • About the Author
  • Latest by this Author
Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.

www.beckymccray.com
  • Shop Local tools: Easy Editorial, Letter to the Editor template to copy
  • Innovative Rural Business Models: video
  • Entrepreneur week advice for small towns: 3 practical steps for economic developers and chambers of commerce

March 22, 2006 Filed Under: rural

Wondering what is and is not allowed in the comments?
Or how to get a nifty photo beside your name?
Check our commenting policy.
Use your real name, not a business name.


Don't see the comment form?
Comments are automatically closed on older posts, but you can send me your comment via this contact form and I'll add it manually for you. Thanks!

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Partners

We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses. Logo with "Shop Indie Local"Move Your Money, bank local, invest localMulticolor logo with text that says "Global Entrepreneurship Week"Save Your Town logotype

Best of Small Biz Survival

A shopkeeper and a customer share a laugh in a small store packed full of interesting home wares.

How to get customers in the door of small town and rural retail stores

Rural Tourism Trend: electric vehicle chargers can drive visitors

Wide view of a prairie landscape with a walk-through gate in a fence

Tourism: Make the most of scant remains and “not much to see” sites with a look-through sign

Holyoke Hummus Company cart

How one food business keeps adapting, from table to cart to truck, to restaurant and back again

Make extra money from extra workspace: co-working and 3rd workplaces in small towns

Newspaper story headline says, "Made in Dorrigo Markets a bustling success"

Boost your maker economy with a “Made in” day

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

Copyright © 2023 Becky McCray
Front Page · Log in