Last week, several members of Mindshare got together for our monthly community coffee meetup.
The meetups are a chance for us to talk shop and get feedback on our immediate situations from others in the group.
One of the trends I noticed on this call—and in other contexts before this—was people wanting to do multiple things at once.
Multiple businesses, multiple target markets, and multiple value propositions across each.
There’s no shame in any of this. Literally all of us fall into this trap at some point. Including me.
That’s because as marketers, we have the skills to launch a number of ideas quickly and fairly easily.
We can help all kinds of businesses. We can do all kinds of things for people. And there are tons of opportunities everywhere.
But the problem is, when you chase too many things, it becomes hard to succeed at any one thing.
Our attention gets diluted, our energy is dispersed, and our time is always scarce. Our work suffers as a result.
And that doesn’t even take into account how the market perceives you.
When you confuse the market with mixed messages about various projects, markets, and claims of expertise, they begin to wonder what—if anything—you’re truly expert in.
It’s hard enough to get one idea off the ground, let alone multiple.
Better to get one thing going successfully first. Then, if you aren’t happy, consider trying something new.
Chase one shiny object at a time.