Even good things we choose for our businesses, may have unexpected ramifications.
By specializing in red widgets, you necessarily eliminate customers looking for blue ones.
Saying “yes” to a time-consuming custom project, means saying “no” to others who may not require as much time or attention but do require some that you no longer have.
This works in the other direction too. Seth Godin makes this point in his post on unreasonable clients. Saying goodbye to clients who aren’t ideal, frees you up to focus on those who are. The idea that choosing to be great at one thing causes you to be bad at others is also reiterated inUncommon Service.
Business decisions have consequences. Some good. Some bad. Some you can expect and others you can never anticipate. It would be nice if all our decisions were clear. In the meantime, as you contemplate a choice in your business, be sure your pro list is long. You’ll want the benefits to be worth it since you can’t always know the cost until after the fact.
