The Focus Trap

Last month, I watched a talented entrepreneur spend 23 hours perfecting her email welcome sequence. She A/B tested subject lines, crafted the perfect brand voice, and designed beautiful templates that matched her website aesthetic.

Her open rates improved by 3.2%.

That same week, she could have spent those 23 hours having conversations with 50 potential customers. Based on her usual close rate, that would have generated roughly $15,000 in new revenue.

Instead, she got a marginal improvement in email metrics and felt incredibly productive because she was "being focused."

This is the focus trap that's killing more businesses than lack of focus ever did.

The Productivity Lie That's Stealing Your Revenue

We've been told that "focus is everything." Stay disciplined. Pick one thing. Go deep, not wide.

But there's a massive blind spot in all this focus advice: it assumes you're focusing on the right things.

I've worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs who are incredibly focused – on activities that generate zero dollars.

Meet Jennifer, who runs a $120K/year coaching business. She's laser-focused and works 50+ hours per week. Here's what her "focused" week looked like:

• Monday: 4 hours optimizing her Instagram bio and highlight covers
• Tuesday: 6 hours researching the perfect project management tool
• Wednesday: 5 hours redesigning her lead magnet PDF
• Thursday: 3 hours organizing her Google Drive folder structure
• Friday: 8 hours batch-creating social media content for next month

Total: 26 hours of intense, focused work. Revenue generated: $0. Customers served: 0. Business problems solved: 0.

Jennifer was caught in what I call "Fake Work Focus" – the trap of applying intense concentration to activities that feel important but don't move the revenue needle.

The cruel irony: The more focused you become on the wrong activities, the further you get from your actual business goals.

The Revenue Focus Framework

After analyzing the work patterns of 200+ profitable entrepreneurs, I discovered they operate with a fundamentally different focus filter. Here's the framework:

Step 1: The Revenue Proximity Test

For every task, ask: "How many steps away is this from generating revenue?"

• 0 steps: Talking to prospects, delivering to customers, asking for referrals
• 1 step: Creating content that directly addresses customer problems, following up on proposals
• 2 steps: Building systems that free you to do 0-step activities
• 3+ steps: Everything else (optimization, organization, beautification)

Step 2: The Customer Impact Assessment

Before diving deep on any project:

• Will customers pay me more because of this?
• Will customers buy faster because of this?
• Will this help me serve more customers without burning out?
• If none of the above: why am I doing this?

Step 3: The Perfectionism Circuit Breaker

Set "good enough" thresholds before you start:

• This email sequence needs to convert at X% (not win a design award)
• This website needs to answer three questions clearly (not win Webby)
• This process needs to save me Y hours per week (not impress other entrepreneurs)

Step 4: The Focus Audit

Weekly check: What did I spend my most concentrated time on this week?

• How much time on 0-step activities?
• How much time on 1-step activities?
• How much time on 2+ step activities?

Key insight: Profitable entrepreneurs spend 60%+ of their focused time on 0-step and 1-step activities. Everyone else gets trapped optimizing the wrong things.

Real Examples: Right Focus vs. Wrong Focus

Case Study 1: Tom (Software Consultant)

Wrong Focus Version (6 months):

• Built elaborate proposal templates (12 hours)
• Created detailed project timelines (8 hours)
• Designed professional invoicing system (15 hours)
• Optimized LinkedIn profile (6 hours)
• Revenue: $23,000

Right Focus Version (6 months):

• Had coffee chats with potential clients (40+ meetings)
• Followed up on every proposal within 24 hours
• Asked every happy client for 2 referrals
• Created one simple case study per month
• Revenue: $78,000

The difference: Same amount of work hours, completely different focus.

Case Study 2: Maria (Product Creator)

Wrong Focus Trap:
Maria spent 3 months perfecting her course curriculum, filming professional videos, and building a beautiful course platform. Launch revenue: $8,200.

Right Focus Approach:
Her second course: spent 2 weeks creating a basic curriculum, pre-sold it to her email list, improved it based on student feedback during delivery. Revenue: $31,500.

The lesson: She focused on customer validation and iteration instead of perfection.

Case Study 3: David (Service Provider)

Wrong Focus Pattern:

• Spent weeks researching "the best" CRM
• Built complex intake processes
• Created detailed service packages
• Designed comprehensive contracts
• Monthly revenue: $4,500

Right Focus Shift:

• Asked existing clients what other problems they needed solved
• Raised prices on current services
• Asked for LinkedIn recommendations
• Spent 2 hours/week reaching out to warm connections
• Monthly revenue: $12,800

The insight: Revenue problems are rarely solved by better systems – they're solved by better customer relationships.

Your Focus Audit Implementation Guide

This Week: The Reality Check Track your time for 5 days. For every 30-minute block, mark it as:

• R0: Direct revenue activity (customer conversations, service delivery, sales)
• R1: One step from revenue (content creation, proposal writing, follow-ups)
• R2: Supports revenue activities (systems that save time for R0/R1)
• R3+: Everything else (optimization, learning, organizing, perfecting)

Week 2: The Focus Shift

• Aim for 40% of your time in R0 activities
• 30% in R1 activities
• 20% in R2 activities
• Maximum 10% in R3+ activities

Week 3: The Elimination Experiment List your 5 most time-consuming R3+ activities. Stop doing them for one week. Track what actually breaks vs. what you just thought was important.

Week 4: The Revenue Review Compare your revenue results from this focus shift to the previous month. The numbers will surprise you.

Pro tip: Set a timer for all R3+ activities. If you can't complete it in the time limit, it's probably not as important as you think.

Common Focus Traps (And How to Escape Them)

Trap #1: The Optimization Rabbit Hole
​Symptoms: Spending hours tweaking conversion rates, testing subject lines, perfecting workflows.​
Escape: Set "good enough" thresholds. 15% email open rate beats 0% from the email you never sent.

Trap #2: The Learning Addiction
​Symptoms: Always taking courses, reading business books, watching tutorials before taking action.
​Escape: Implement-to-learn ratio of 3:1. For every hour learning, spend 3 hours doing.

Trap #3: The Tool Perfection Trap
​Symptoms: Researching the "best" software, building elaborate systems, organizing digital files.
​Escape: Use what you have for 90 days before evaluating alternatives.

Trap #4: The Content Creation Black Hole
​Symptoms: Spending more time creating content than talking to potential customers.
​Escape: For every piece of content created, have one real conversation with someone who could buy from you.

The most dangerous focus trap: Mistaking activity for achievement.

Being busy with business-adjacent tasks feels productive, but revenue only comes from activities that directly serve customers or attract new ones.

Your focus is your most valuable asset. Make sure you're investing it in the right places.

P.S. When you're ready to take the next step, here's how I can help. Drowning in business tools? Get The Platform Purge guide ($7)​ ​Join 130+ entrepreneurs simplifying their businesses in our community. Kayin Hunter Simple Takes Work Did someone forward you this email? Subscribe here.​ Follow me on Threads.​

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