Narrow Your Focus
By Paul Esajian on September 18, 2013
As perhaps the biggest reason new businesses fail; they attempt to please everyone. Instead of finding a niche and narrowing their focus, they get caught up in trying new things and being mediocre across the board. Investing in real estate is no different. There are so many different paths and ways to make money as an investor that it is easy to get distracted. If you find your business struggling, or you are having a tough time getting new deals, try narrowing your focus and becoming an expert in one area of the industry.
There are many people in business who make a great living at being the best in a field you would never think of. As an investor, you could be the condo king or the modular home buyer in your area. You can master tax lien auctions or commercial projects. If you try a little of everything, you will find out what you like and what you are good at. That may be true, but in that time you become too scattered and lose deals in the process. By working on only one area, neighborhood, niche or market you will become much more confident and successful over time.
The same thing applies if you are trying to work on multiple deals at once. Having a deep pipeline is the lifeline of your business and keeps you productive, but you have to have the focus to work on whatever deal you are working on now with all of your attention. You can multitask and accumulate new leads, but you have to know how to put them aside to work on the most important deal at the time. All it takes is one slip up on a deal to lose it. Most times these errors are self-inflicted and can easily be caught. Focus on what you are doing, when you are doing it and block out any other distractions. This sounds easy enough, but in a world with distractions everywhere those who can improve their focus will improve their business.