John Maxwell, a leading authority on leadership, addresses the value of focus from a different perspective. In Thinking for a Change: 11 Ways Highly Successful People Approach Life and Work , he discusses research that has demonstrated that simply having too many tasks, even if you have the time to do them all, is a distraction that can radically decrease your effectiveness. “Switching from task to task can cost up to 40 percent efficiency,” he notes. To create a working system that allows you to focus, you must create free time by limiting the sheer volume of different things to be done. Go-it-alone entrepreneurs do this through extreme outsourcing. In contrast, the vast majority of traditional solo entrepreneurs will tell you that they administer everything. They are the chief cook and bottle washer, as well as the CEO. The importance of this distinction cannot be underestimated.

Extreme outsourcing is, of course, closely related to personal leverage, discussed earlier. Indeed, they are the flip sides of the same coin. Go-it-alone entrepreneurs stand at the center of a highly focused business system, and their activities can be leveraged to provide extraordinary returns.

RELENTLESS REPEATABILITY: THE KEY TO LEVERAGING YOUR BUSINESS

To succeed, your business must do something that is repeatable. In Beyond the Core: Expand Your Market Without Abandoning Your Roots, Chris Zook borrows a well-known phrase from golf legend Ben Hogan, “relentless repeatability.” Hogan described this ability as the secret to his extraordinary success. As Zook notes, “it is an apt term for one of the most critical elements in

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