By JOHNNY CARCIOPPOLO / Community Columnist

Are you an entrepreneur? More importantly, do you ever wish that you weren’t? Entrepreneurs are a special breed. They have an extraordinary capacity to dream and dream big. Not everyone has what it takes to be an entrepreneur; it takes determination, vision, enormous energy and creativity, as well as lots of patience.

It’s not easy to rein in all that creative energy enough to have the right kind of focus. There are two kinds of energy in business, unfocused and focused. One kind tangles you up in knots and the other moves you forward. 

Ineffective Focus

When you think about focus, you probably think thoughts like, “I should have more focus” or “I need to learn how to focus.” In business, it’s important to be able to focus effectively and switch your focus as the need arises. If you are having difficulty, ineffective focus may be the culprit.

What Is Ineffective Focus?

Ineffective focus occurs when you focus on the wrong things. It’s easy to focus on what isn’t working, what we don’t have and what’s not right. The result is often more things that don’t work. When you get into a negative rut, you tend to see only the negatives. You lose sight of your successes and the positive things.

When you focus on your successes, you can then go ahead and create them again. When you think about your problems, they expand. There are other types of ineffective focus, as well.

Wanting To Do Too Much for Too Many

It’s easy to get caught up in business as an entrepreneur in doing everything yourself. You feel that nobody can do it the right way or nobody will do it like you. You might feel that it’s just as easy to do it yourself rather than take the time and the trouble to train someone else to do it.

When you fall into the habit of wanting to do too much for too many in your business, you lose your authority. You also lose productivity because the places where you are needed the most – like leadership – are the places that will fall by the wayside.

Not Knowing Your Target Audience

So, you’re a creative. That probably means that you have a million “great ideas.” It also probably means that your mind is all over the place. You want to create so many products and serve so many people, that you’ve lost all control due to lack of effective focus.

It’s great to have all those creative ideas swirling around in your brain, but you must know who is in your target audience. Once you know this, you can develop products and services for the group. You can also hone in on them for marketing purposes. When you have effective focus, you know your target audience and you can market to them appropriately.