Feeling Overwhelmed with Running or Starting Your Small Biz? How to Prioritize

There’s a phrase from the Silicon Valley startup world that I love because it resonates with me as oh-so-true:

“Startups don’t starve, they drown.”

We fear that our startups will “starve” – that they’ll fail because of a lack of resources. The truth is, more often our new ventures fail because they “drown” in too many ideas and competing priorities.

Early on in a business, it’s hard to figure out where to focus.

Here are a few prioritization questions to start asking yourself:

1) Will this project give me great fulfillment and joy? A “yes” answer here doesn’t mean you should automatically do something, and a “no” doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, but this is an important factor to consider. There’s always a place in our portfolio of work for projects that give us great joy. And we can always get better about eliminating, altering, or delegating those projects that drain our energy.

2) Does this offering meet an important need of a customer group that is willing to pay for it? Often, when we ask ourselves this question, it reveals that we have no idea what the answer is! We get so excited about a new idea, we forget to consider whether our audience wants it. Or, we have assumptions and opinions about what our customers would want, but no real data to back up those assumptions. If the answer to this question is, “I really don’t know,” your next step is clear: doing some simple research or quick tests to find whether there is customer demand for what you want to offer.

3) We creative entrepreneurs love to keep embellishing and revising what we put out into the world. That’s a great impulse, but when you are considering adding any new components to something or making changes to an existing offering, it’s critical to ask yourself: is this likely to significantly move the needle – either on customer satisfaction or on sales? Do I have evidence it will do that, or is this just a guess on my part? (Yes, in our B-School bonus sessions we’ll talk about how you can gather that evidence.)

When I think back on my experience with Marie Forleo’s B-School, I can see how it really helped me get clear on what to focus on in my business, and what to let go of. In the Bonus Sessions I’m offering, we’ll take this even further. I’ll share the questions to ask, and the kinds of exercises I take myself through, to make prioritization decisions.

Marie Forleo’s B-School is a dynamic, fun, wildly helpful training for aspiring and current entrepreneurs, and the time to enroll is now – registration is closing in just a few days.

And, so exciting: when you enroll in B-School and take the two quick steps below, you’ll receive special resources & training from me to help you build your business. We’ll join together as a like-minded community for special sessions that blend practical training and inner work to help you create the business of your dreams:

Click HERE to learn more about our special Bonus Sessions and to sign up.

I fully believe in the power of this work given my personal experience with the B-School course content and may earn a referral fee if you purchase through my link.

To join B-School and access your special B-School Bonus Sessions with me:

STEP 1: Enroll in the B-School training through my link here.

STEP 2: Sign up to be a part of the special bonus sessions with me here.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email our team at playingbig (at) taramohr (dot) com.

Love,

Tara