Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

How Far-Reaching Is Your Vision?
Do you suffer from business nearsightedness? You know how a nearsighted person constantly has to pull what they're reading as close to their eyes as they can? There's an affliction of vision that affects most small business owners, too.

But this business myopia seems to affect the ability to distinguish between tasks and end results.

Tasks are the daily things you do to run your business. End results are the tangible, measurable results you're in business to achieve.

Yet most small business owners never get beyond focusing on those tasks that are pulled up so close to their noses.

But there's power in focusing on end results. Marketing guru Joe Vitale pointed out in a recent interview about generating traffic with publicity on the Trafficology Platinum membership site that the reason that so many people achieve nothing with their press releases is that they approach the press release as nothing more than a task. They look no farther than simply getting one done and off their to-do list.

He said that the business owners who write powerful, traffic-generating press releases never see completing the press release as an end in itself. They instead focus on the end results they want that press release to achieve. They set measurable milestones before they start and then focus on what they'll have to do to get that press release to accomplish those milestones.

Focus on the press release as an end in itself and you settle for any boring, unnewsworthy drival that you can quickly jot down on the page. Focus on measurable end results and your mind shifts from "What can I write to fill a page?" to "What and how do I need to write to interest the media enough that the press coverage brings in another 100 subscribers to my newsletter?"

See the difference? Focusing on the task settles for simply going through the motions; focusing on the end results forces you to find a way to accomplish the growth you want to achieve.

And this doesn't apply only to press releases. Focusing on end results can power just about any task you do. And demanding of yourself that any task must be tied to measurable end results can help you identify and eliminate tasks that really serve no purpose.

The key comes down to answering three questions:

• What end results do you want to see in the next thirty days?
• What tasks do you need to do to achieve those end results?
• How do I need to do those tasks to ensure that they achieve those results?

Take some time and figure out those answers for your business—and then put those answers into writing so you remember them, and into practice so you accomplish them. I think you'll be surprised at the difference it makes.
Jeff