the power of nested focus

focus(focus(focus(focus)))

I spent years trying to do everything at once. Multiple businesses, countless revenue streams, every marketing channel available.

The result? Mediocre performance across the board and constant exhaustion.

The solution I eventually found wasn't just about focus – it was about nested layers of focus, where each layer supports and strengthens the others.

Here's how it works.

---

This week’s issue is sponsored by

Elestio is a fully managed DevOps platform to deploy your code and open-source software. With effortless installations, automated backups, and seamless updates, you get all the benefits of a managed service with none of the lock-in or cost.

---

Layer 1: Business Focus

The first is a tough pill to swallow, but perhaps the most crucial layer.

Commit to one business at a time.

This isn't about limiting your long-term ambitions. It's about acknowledging that every business requires:

• Dedicated customer service

• Specific market knowledge

• Unique systems and processes

• Individual growth strategies

When you run multiple businesses simultaneously, you're splitting these crucial elements across different ventures. None get the attention they need to reach critical mass.

---

Layer 2: Revenue Focus

Within your single business, limit yourself to two revenue streams:

• Primary: Your core offering that drives 80% of revenue

• Secondary: A complementary offering that supports your primary

Multiple revenue streams widely recommended, but they each need:

• Separate marketing approaches

• Different customer support systems

• Unique content strategies

• Individual sales processes

These can be hard to pull off as a solo-founder.

Instead, limit to two in order to do them well.

Two well-executed revenue streams will consistently outperform five half-developed ones.

---

Layer 3: Marketing Focus

This layer is about ruthlessly limiting your marketing to two channels maximum:

• Primary channel: Where your ideal customers are most active

• Secondary channel: That supports and feeds into your primary

Each marketing channel demands:

• Regular content creation

• Community engagement

• Analytics monitoring

• Strategy refinement

Mastery of two channels beats partial presence on many. It's not about reaching everyone – it's about reaching the right people effectively.

One approach is to try more to start with and then cut those that don’t perform as well, and double-down on those that work best.

---

Layer 4: Task Focus

This final layer acts as your daily decision-making framework. Every task must align with your:

• Single business focus

• 1-2 revenue streams

• 1-2 marketing channels

Create four priority levels:

• P1: Critical tasks that directly support your primary revenue stream and marketing channel

• P2: Important tasks for your secondary revenue stream and marketing channel

• P3: Tasks that support overall business growth but aren't time-sensitive

• P4: Everything else

Weekly Implementation:

1. Sunday/Monday: Review all tasks against the nested framework

2. Assign priority levels based on how they align with each layer

3. Schedule only P1 tasks for the week

4. Add P2 tasks only if P1s are fully covered

5. Keep P3 and P4 tasks in a backlog for review next week

Monthly Implementation:

1. Review your business focus - are you staying true to it?

2. Analyze revenue stream performance - are both functioning effectively?

3. Assess marketing channel effectiveness - do they need adjustment?

4. Clean up task backlog - what can be eliminated?

The Benefits of Nested Focus:

• Clear decision-making framework

• Reduced context switching

• Faster growth in chosen areas

• Better resource allocation

• Improved execution quality

We all have limited time each week. The idea behind this framework is to give every minute maximum impact.

Each layer reinforces the others, creating a compound effect that's impossible to achieve when spreading yourself too thin.

Every time you're tempted to add another business, revenue stream, or marketing channel, run it through this framework first. If it doesn't fit within these constraints, it's not a priority right now.

Next week, I'll share specific metrics to track within each layer of this framework, ensuring you're not just focused, but focused on the right things.