In my last post in this short series we discussed, how the small business owner can fail due to being overwhelmed.
In this post we shall discuss a similar situation which is extremely common with small business owners
Trying To Do Many Things At The Same Time
In the first post of being overwhelmed, I was specifically discussing being overwhelmed with too much information and not knowing what to do next.
This trait is around…you know what you want to do but you try and do too much.
Trying to spread yourself too thin across too many tasks or too many projects normally means you don’t finish anything or no progress is made…and it causes more stress.
I went through a stage of running several blogs.
I got into this “pick a profitable niche” and “you’ll make money” syndrome.
At one time I was running about 9 different blogs…which included this one.
How can you successfully run and market that many blogs?
Perhaps many do and it works for them…great!
It didn’t for me. And I made hardly any income.
Getting your blog to highly rank in the search engines…takes a lot of effort. Getting traffic to your blog…takes a lot of effort. Creating free guides and products to sell…takes a lot of effort.
And I was trying to do this in 9 different niches.
Then I made a decision…just stick with 2 blogs. That was last year.
This year, I’m only sticking with one…this one!
I’ve decided this is my passion. This is what I want to blog about…now I work just as many hours but it is not like work.
When I had 9 blogs on the go…it was real hard work.
Now…this may sound odd…but what I do each day is not work…it’s like a hobby.
So…when you set your goals…don’t try to take on too much. Don’t try and create 50 different blogs by the end of the year or create 10 new products to sell this month.
Yes…set stretching BUT realistic goals.
You are better off tackling one major project at a time…not 5.
Create one product at a time…not 6.
Get one blog successfully running before you move onto the next (if that is what you want to do).
In the next post, we shall discuss, one of the easiest things you can do as a business owner to help you be successful but most are afraid to do it…don’t miss this one!
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What do you think about ‘taking on too much’?
Please share your views in the comments below.
Previous blog posts in this “Small Business Owner: How To Fail At Running Your Business”:
Andrew is a website builder and helps small businesses with their on-line presence…so they can grow their customer list and increase sales. That’s it! That’s what we do each and every day.
For some reason, this post made me think of the saying, ‘Jack of all trades, master of none.’ When people spread themselves too thin in any area of their life, this is exactly what they’re letting themselves become. As you mention (and I agree), it’s better to just focus one one area. Then there’s also much greater potential to do that one thing really well.
Petra
Of course, we all have to multi-task…but you can still limit the amount of multi-tasking we have to do by only creating one product at a time (for instance).
Andrew
Hey Andrew,
Thanks for the awesome advice my man!
You are absolutely right, because no one can single handedly handle 9 different blogs. No way possible unless they were all half ass blogs, and one’s that aren’t going anywhere. Before I even think about trying to manage another blog i will have a team, because then the work can be divided amongst us. The strategy will pretty much be divide & conqour. ( :
If you want to get traffic, ranks higher in search engines, and have fun, then you need to only take on what you can handle. If you take on more then what you can handle there will be a multitude of headaches.
Just my 2 cents.
God bless,
William Veasley
William
I totally agree with your 2 cents.
I suppose you could outsource everything but even then you be spending most of the day managing your outsourcers!
Andrew
Andrew,
We share a similar story. I found myself doing the same thing last year trying to run 5 or 6 different websites at the same time. I found myself just like you spreading myself way too thin. I had the mentality that “Let’s see what website takes off and that’s the one I will concentrate on”. It never worked and none of the businesses took off. This year, I decided to concentrate my efforts on one business and things are progressing smoothly. I’m not as stressed out either and I see a real difference.
Danielle
It does sound exactly like what I went through. But we have learnt from our mistakes…so that’s good.
Andrew
Many of us are great creative thinkers – full of ideas, rush to start something new, and then.. plop… so much work to keep it all going. Better to stick it through and finish, then pick up another when there is time for creative energy again. Thanks for the thoughts!
Michelle
I agree, entirely. Got one job up and running smoothly…then move onto the next job.
Andrew
“Guaranteed Failing” could be another title for your excellent “They Are Failing Because” pieces. Many of the behaviors you describe are guarantees for failure … much as jumping off a high building is a guarantee to fall down, not up. But then we all go – well, most of us go – and do it anyway … :-]
– Beat
Beat
That is a good ideal – thanks for sharing. I shall remember and use!
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
oh boy, do I understand what you mean when you say: “Trying to spread yourself too thin across too many tasks … causes more stress.”
I never regretted starting only ONE blog two years ago and sticking to it until it became profitable.
I am thankful to my mentor James Martell (www.jamesmartell.com) who taught my to stick to one blog until it becomes successful. James had the same experience you had Andrew. He once maintained around 50 blogs! Guess what, he is now working on a handful of them.
Matthew
Sounds like James certainly shared some great advice.
But guess what is even better…YOU listened!
Andrew
You are failing because you going to wrong way and have no good plan to do.
Hi Andrew,
It is a very nice and informative post.Thanks for sharing your knowledge here.You explained reasons of failure of small business owner very well.
Reading your post made me smile…You are so right! After being laid off in March, I decided to see how can I do a home business online and by end of April I visited one of the IM forums:
Next thing you know, I was going to do PLR, no.. facebook ad, no.. offline marketing, no.. affiliate marketing, no… As a totally newbie, I got my wheels spinning like crazy! and i was overwhelmed!
So, yes! Focus! and focus big time!
Thanks!
Olga
You are not alone!
I experienced exactly the same.
Good luck in your business.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
I definitely agree to all the points you made in this post about small business owners trying to do everything by themselves, setting too many things to do at a time which they can never accomplish in a day, and of course, end up failing in the end. Small business owners should start small, dream big (but not open extra sites they cannot handle!), and advance one step at a time. “Progress may be slow, but nevertheless, it is still progress” 🙂
Felicia
Personally I think you can make faster progress by focusiing on one site / one business.
Andrew
Hello Andrew, this is totally helpful for me. I was wondering about starting some businesses. But now, I think I’m going to start slowly, one by one, concentrate only in one sector first, then goes to another sector later. Great tips dude!
Andrew
Good luck…I hope the blog post helps and you succeed!
Andrew
Hi, Andrew! It’s great to do what you’re passionate about. I’m in the learning process on how to blog and I will follow your advice regarding focus 🙂 Susane
Great, Susane. Let us know how you get on.
Andrew
Hey, Andrew! I hear you when you talk about trying to do too much. I have also tried to get off the ground several projects and learn SEO and Social Media at the same time. Didn’t work….Now I’m trying to focus on just a couple a projects and really drive them up.
Alison
Alison,
Good luck…I hope it goes really well for you.
Andrew