We all know the 80 - 20 rule. "20% of __________ account for 80% of __________." Well here's a backward twist that will expedite the growth and value of your business.
Most of us want to get better at what we do. To do this we work on our weaknesses. We get training to gain knowledge that we lack. We practice or roleplay to build skills that we don't have. We make resolutions to do the things we'd prefer not to have to do. All of these are necessary parts of improving ourselves and our businesses, and we need to be allocating a part of our available improvement resources to these things. A 20% part to be exact. That's not a typo, I don't mean 80%, I mean 20%.
What drives business your way, instead of someone else's way, are the things you are good at, and especially the things you are the best at. 80% of your improvement resources should go toward becoming even better at those things. There are three important reasons why this is true. First, you will enjoy working more on what you're already good at, which will energize you rather than draining you. Second, you have competitors who have your business in their scopes, and some of them are catching up to your strengths and targeting your market. Third, and most importantly, your strengths are drawing business to you for a reason. Your strengths have proven to be what your market finds valuable, if you are attracting business. Making your magnet more powerful is expanding what you already know works, and it works because your clients value it.
We are all bad at something. I know what I'm bad at, and you should know what you're bad at. We do need to become less bad at some of those things. Some of them we even need to become good at. But our clients don't choose us because we are less bad at something. They choose us for what we are the best at because that is what is valuable to them. We have to remain the best, and to do so we have to keep getting better so we don't get passed.
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