Focus? Think again!

http://arsimaprojects.wordpress.com/2012/12/22/focus-think-again/ Focus? Think again!8/8/8Just one month prior to Lehman Brothers’ collapse started a global financial crisis in September 2008, Ilaunched my sole-proprietary company, named ARSIMA Projects.At that very start, on August 8th 2008, I defined a double focus. Delivering temporary assistance forsetting up financial consolidation systems was my short term focus. Interim-management agencies,specialized in finance, would help me to find customers. On the longer term my plan was programmingand selling my own financial consolidation system, called Consolite.21/12/12 (+1)Today, 4.5 years later and one day after “the end of the world”, where do I stand with regards to myoriginal focus?Well, to state the obvious, it has been quite a ride since 2008, as many, many other activities wereadded, including writing blog posts.About one year ago, at the end of 2011, I made a strategic decision to offer my services on a differentmarket because the demand for my services had dried up at the bigger sized companies (let’s call themBCs) and multi-national holdings. So I decided to assist and address the needs amongst starters andsmall & medium sized companies (let’s call them ADs).So I got out of the building, met interesting people, got referred and introduced to many others, set upjoint activities, learnt a lot, gave presentations, courses and workshops, and even invoiced some ofthem for my services.For the record, on the Consolite side, my little pet software project, things surely have moved andevolved, but unfortunately at a below-average pace (due to a lack of focus from my side). So this on-going project will surely be continued in 2013, also for a reason stated here below.

Se faire rattraper par son passé / Ingehaald worden door zijn verledenEven in my current AD-time, customers from my BC-time sometimes catch up with me and request myassistance. Currently this is the case. I just started a 3-months mission in Kortrijk, for the Belgian officeof the US-based world wide leader in carpets. This mission, operational activities to fill in a temporaryhuman resource gap, is not remotely related to financial consolidation systems. And I got this missionthrough a person I met during an Excel course I gave last year in Mechelen. So much for my originalfocus...As has already happened several times to me, another BC-customer contacted me just three days after Istarted in Kortrijk, and offered me a six months’ mission, close to Brussels. We will have to see if thatoption is still open in 2013...Being a full-time interim-manager in my BC-time, where I cannot duplicate myself for two or morecustomers, and a part-time financial coach in my AD-time, what by definition cannot be combined withanother full-time job, I am the perfect example of un-scalable services. Consolite would be one of myattempts to resolve this conundrum. On-going discussion to work together with other interim-managersand coaches is another attempt.Focus? or Pivot?Focus is indeed important, as it is generally stated for all starters or entrepreneurs. Speaking for my selfI should have stayed focused and say ‘no’ earlier to specific ventures. When your inner-voice, gut, bellyor other part of your body tells you something is wrong with that specific business deal, person ororganization, listen to it and act accordingly, quickly. Get out! It is your personal decision, so do it. Youwill gain a lot of time, and remember that your time is very precious. Additionally, you might evenreduce some hazardous cash outflows.Notwithstanding the focus objective, you should not close all doors by principle. Using the terminologyfrom the lean methodology I believe you can and should ‘pivot’ yourself if such would be ‘proven’ byyour own build-measure-learn feedback loop. This lean approach is usually used for the new product,market, service you have in mind, but I believe it is valid for your very own strategy and market positiontoo. There might even be ways to apply this to your personal life.I am not saying it is easy to find the right balance between focus and pivot, but at least you shouldconsider it, not knowing what it will bring you. Paraphrasing the famous words of Steve Jobs, you canonly connect the dots afterwards.While closing the accounts for my fiscal year, I am both surprised and happy to see how many differentcustomers I had this year and the range of services I rendered to them. If I had followed my original,limited double focus-path, that specific dot/moment in my business life would never have materialized.Now, if only I could find a way to clone myself... Martin - MvanWunnik 22/12/12Related links: www.arsimaprojects.eu www.FinanceCoach24.com www.consolite24.com 10steps2.com/scalable-business/

Focus? Think again!

by MvanWunnik on Dec 22, 2012

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