Should I stay focused or is immediate revenue more important?

Every entrepreneur faces this conundrum. Should she focus on one segment and build expertise or should she consider any business that comes her way? There are many who swear by building revenue as quickly as possible and some who have the luxury to maintain perfect focus. Theoretically, it should be OK to accept any business that comes one’s way as long as the organisation does not get distracted. After all, if one were to get some revenue, it increases the chances of survival of the firm. There is no progress without survival.

I knew a company that was crafting IT solutions for telecom companies and the founder happened to meet a hotelier socially. The hotelier liked something this founder said, you know how these things are, and suggested he come and talk to his IT team. The founder was going through a mini-crisis with one of his two telecom clients delaying payments and the two other telecom opportunities taking time to close. An opportunity to do some work for this hotel chain seemed like a godsend. He took on the work, it seemed to be profitable, it provided the much-needed cash to pay his four employees but two of the employees got really busy working for the hotel client and the prototype being developed for the potential telecom client was delayed and eventually shelved. Why would you waste your time on a potential sale when there is a paying client wanting something done? Three months became six and the work at the hotel chain slowed down. The two IT specialists he had poached from a telecom company had left to join a competitor and he had no choice but to shut shop and go home.

I think it is perfectly acceptable to take on work in new areas, away from your stated area of focus but it is critical to stay aware of what is happening.

Ask yourself, why are you taking on this new work? Do you want to make some money opportunistically that you can plough back into your “real” business? Are you testing the market to see if there are opportunities outside your “focus”? How much impact on your existing business are you OK with? Who on your team will continue working on the “real” business and who will spend time on the new area?

Being disciplined and ruthless about how you handle this can make all the difference.