Overwhelmed by Opportunity

Overwhelmed by Opportunity asks: I’ve come to a bit of a roadblock in my business. There are so many opportunities and ways to spend my time — PR, marketing, networking, partnership, events — these are all great, but I am feeling completely overwhelmed with these. How do I know what to take on and what to pass on? I don’t want to regret a missed opportunity, but I also don’t want to spread myself too thin and get burn t out . Any advice?

Dear Overwhelmed,

I hear you. I love opportunity, but I also know what it means to have more options than I know what to do with. It’s true that too much opportunity can be a detriment to success if you get bogged down in it and spread yourself too thin.

It sounds like you need to refine your focus and get really clear about what it is that you want to accomplish. Here are a few steps to get you started:

Revisit your business plan: What…you don’t have a business plan? Hmmm…that could be the root of your problems. Look a business plan doesn’t have to be some 30-page monstrosity. It can be a simple 1-pager that outlines your numbers and your goals for the next year. Having a clear plan will help you prioritize. And if you do have a business plan, now is a great time to revisit it. What have you already accomplished? What is still on your list? It’s likely that things have changed since the last time you looked, so set aside a few hours and do some strategizing.

Research what is unclear: One of the biggest reasons why entrepreneurs don’t make decisions or move forward is because they just don’t know what to do. If there is something that you find you’re avoiding, it may be time to pull that monster out from under the bed. And the best way to do that is research, reading and talking. Especially talking. Let’s say you’re considering a partnership but you don’t know how to structure it. To figure out what that entails, ask several respected entrepreneurs their thoughts or post the question online. There is power in tapping your community. The SparkplugU classes are a great way to brainstorm with other entrepreneurs who are thinking about the same things.

If you’re baffled by marketing, our own Marketing Eggspert, Susan Payton here at Sparkplugging has some quick and very focused answers in her recent post 5 Ways to Immediately Improve Your Marketing.

Focus on the immediate goals: Now that you have a plan for the next year, it’s important to start breaking that plan into manageable pieces. Write out what your immediate goals are for the next six months. It’s good to have the big picture in mind, but it does take steps to get there. Writing down what HAS to happen in the next 6 months will help you from getting distracted by all the pretty shiny things along the way.

Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize: Now that you have planned and strategized, it’s time to prioritize. What are the most important tasks, and what are the steps you need to do to get there? Add some dates to these and check off your accomplishments as you go.

If after you’ve focused, strategized and prioritized you still feel overwhelmed, you may want to weed some things off of your list. This is about getting things done and keeping your sanity in tact.

Follow up: Be sure to take time out once a week to see what needs to be done, but more importantly what you’ve accomplished. Allow yourself the option to make changes as you go – it’s inevitable and makes it all so much more exciting.

Try as we may, we can’t do everything. We can do a lot though, and a good way to get there is to plan as best we can and to give ourselves kudos for all of our accomplishments!

To finding your focus!

Starla