Are you busy all day but not moving the needle? In this episode we unpack the power of focus and why concentrating on one growth lever beats chasing every shiny object.
You’ll hear real business stories (Starbucks, Airbnb) and practical steps to pick a 90-day priority that multiplies momentum and revenue.
✅ How “shiny object syndrome” stalls growth & how to fix it
✅ Why one growth lever (not 10) is the fastest path to income
✅ How to set a 90-day priority and break it into daily actions
✅ Simple accountability systems to keep you on track through distractions
✅ How to choose channels, momentum, and launches
Resources Mentioned
Free Class
Show Notes:
The Power of Focus: How to Stop Chasing Shiny Objects and Grow Your Business
Hey everyone, Kerry Beck here with Family eBiz, where we help families start and scale online businesses so you can find the freedom that you need to be able to follow your calling, wherever you've been called to do in this life. Thanks for spending time with me.
I have a question that I want to start out with, and this is it. Have you ever sat down at your desk, ready to grow your business, but you find yourself, 3 hours later, scrolling Canva templates, signing up for another free challenge, or researching a tool you know you'll never use?
That is called the shiny object syndrome, and it is one of the major reasons that solopreneurs stay stuck. They don't stay focused on revenue. They don't stay focused on what a real strategy is, a strategy that will actually start your business or scale your business.
Today, what I want to do is talk to you about the power of focus, and I want to start with a story.
It is Howard Schultz of Starbucks. I should have grabbed his book. It's sitting right over there on that bookshelf.
You see, before Starbucks exploded, Schultz focused on one thing. He was creating an Italian espresso bar experience here in the United States. His investors kept pushing him to sell his beans in supermarkets, or to start selling food in his stores, in his cafes. He refused. He focused on one thing, and that was the customer experience.
And that is what scaled Starbucks into a global giant. You see, success comes from focus, not trying to do all the things.
Now, I'm not saying you don't have to do something like, you know, if you're working on a funnel, you're gonna have to do some email and some images and things like that. But many of you start going down... I'm gonna build my list. Oh, I'm gonna make some... oh, I'm gonna create another product, because creating another product will bring me money.
If you're not making money from your current products, why going down those shiny object rows? That's not gonna bring you any money. So you need to take a lesson from Howard Schultz and focus on one thing, one major thing.
And we're going to talk about it at the end. I want you to be able to think: What is that one thing I'm going to focus on in Q4? This episode is published at the 1st of October, and that means it is the beginning of Q4. What are you going to focus on, and how are you going to get there by the end of December?
Let's talk about focus for a second, then we'll come back and see what you decide to do. You see, energy plus time scattered gives you a shallow impact. It is wasted energy. Scattered energy doesn't really do anything.
It's as if you took 1 cup of water, and then you tried to water 10 plants. Are they gonna grow? No, none of them are going to grow. You haven't focused on any of them. You just gave a little bit of time to each one of those little plants, a little bit of water.
And that's what some of you are. You're busy all the time, but you're not moving the needle in your revenue, or you're not moving the needle in your list growth, or whatever it is you're focusing on. There's a lot of motion, but no progress. So there's one of the problems.
Let's go the other side. That same energy could be focused. And if you focus that energy, you will grow deep roots in your business, and you will see real growth in your business. It's as if you take that one cup of water, and you water one plant. That one plant might start growing. It's the same in your business.
Don't go trying to water all the different areas, everything. I'll give you an example. Everyone, it seems like, is talking about Instagram and TikTok. Do I spend time on Instagram or TikTok? No. Do I post once a week? Well, I don't, but Ross does. Once a week, he posts to Instagram at the same time he's posting on Facebook.
My focus is Facebook. Why? And this is really important, why would I choose Facebook over something else? Because when I did a survey a couple years ago, 100% of my homeschool moms, when I said, where do you spend the most time online? Out of everything you do, where do you spend the most time? Facebook. Well, that's why I do.
And now, I'm sure I could grow my business on Instagram and other things, but that's where I focus it. Where do I get the most traffic? Pinterest. Not... I mean, there's lots of ways, out of the social ways. Pinterest, 30% of my traffic comes from Pinterest. So I'm going to focus relationships in Facebook and try to build traffic in Pinterest. I'm not going to worry about all the other things. I do do some other things, but that is where you need to focus.
Channel your energy into one direction, and you will see your results multiply over and over. Consistency feeds one offer, one funnel, one audience, and you will have stronger growth. So, focus your energy.
Focus also creates momentum. Shiny objects are all out there! That just resets you back to square one! And then you got a new learning curve for every single one of those shiny objects. If you double down on one thing, it will accelerate your progress instead of starting over. Momentum.
So, if you will focus, that will build momentum. Momentum will compound over time, and you will start stacking up results as well.
And I can tell you, let's go back to Pinterest. I've been doing Pinterest, I don't even do it the right way. I am sure I do it all wrong, but we try to be consistent on pinning all the time. I've been doing that for 10 or 15 years. I still have the ugliest pins in the world, and getting rankings somehow, I don't know.
Why did I go, one year I'm gonna do this, now I'm gonna do Instagram, now... no, I just kept doing it, because it kept sending traffic. So the core truth is scattered energy means your business is probably going to get stuck. Focused energy. That's where you're going to see growth and income and impact.
So let's talk about 3 practical ways that you can regain your focus. I want you, and think about this, and if there's a place to leave a comment, leave it wherever you're listening to this.
1. Pick One Growth Lever
One growth lever. Is it list building? Is it one offer that you're going to work on in Q4? Or maybe a launch you're going to launch? One thing.
I was talking in a coaching session last week. She's going to launch something in January, but two of them are like, well, I've got to do these other things in October, November, December. I'm like, no! Focus on that launch.
When I first launched Raising Leaders, when I redid everything back in 2022, I spent October, November, December, and January. My focus was getting Raising Leaders launched. Now, there were lots of little pieces in between, but that is what I focused on for 4 months.
So, pick one growth lever.
2. Set a 90-Day Priority
90-day priorities. What are you gonna have done? What are the main things you need to do with that one growth lever?
It's not whack-a-mole, you know that little game, you get the thing and the moles are always coming up, and every day you're hitting something different? That is not going to do anything for you. You need to look right now at what your goals are at the end of the quarter.
3. Get Accountability to Stay on Track
Because distractions will pop up. Or tech issues, or you get sick, or you have a family emergency. You need to get some kind of accountability, because there will be things. And there's always gonna be shiny objects popping in. So you don't want to go running down those shiny object roads.
There's a man named Brian Chesky from Airbnb. Early on, he and his team focused on one thing. Their first 100 customers.
Now, think about, Airbnb is global. I'm going to El Salvador to see some of the teachers in the school that I helped found back in 2020, and I'll be staying in an Airbnb. This is not a very... this is a poor area of San Salvador, and there's Airbnbs right there, so they are all over the place.
But what did they focus on in the beginning? Their first 100 customers. They hand-delivered key exchanges. So here, we're gonna hand you the key, you go stay at this place. Or, like, I know we stayed at... this is the first year or two, I don't remember, but we stayed in Sausalito. It was founded up there in San Francisco, somewhere area, and that girl was there. She led us into her apartment and gave us the key, told us where everything was, and then left to go stay with a friend. Hand-delivered.
Maybe we were one of the first 100 customers, I don't know. They photographed apartments themselves. They weren't always professional back then. They perfected the process, and their obsessive focus on the first 100 built a foundation for millions. Billions by now.
So... Pick one growth lever. 90-day priorities, and get accountability.
Now, if you're tired of chasing shiny objects and ready to focus on what actually grows your business, I hope you'll join me for my free training, 5 Ways to Make More Money Online. We're going to walk through how to build some systems and sell consistently.
If you're serious about accountability and clarity and momentum, you're going to love what I'm going to share at the end of that masterclass. So, find the link in the show notes. I can't wait for you to join me. If you get there 15 minutes early up until we start, there'll be a free little surprise just for you.
Hey, I'm Kerry Beck with Family eBiz. We'll talk to you next time.