Why is it that so many businesses out there are trying to be everything to everyone? There's a store I often pass in East Atlanta with a huge sign exclaiming, "THE PLACE FOR EVERYTHING!" Do they really have everything? I'm going to go with probably not. Not only are they filthy liars, but they also want to be known for everything and instead will be known for nothing.

Maybe in the Wild West Saloons and General Stores of John Wayne's Day the rule was the more you had on your shelves the more you would profit, but those days are over. It is the day of the brands my friend- ¡VIVA LOS BRANDS!

I must admit, as a business owner, it is not easy to have focus. Fear seems to drive the comfortable conservative bus when its comes to narrowing your focus or niche. Why is that? Isn't being safe and cozy the real risk? The safe and cozy formula always builds mediocrity, and mediocrity inevitably builds failure. I believe to be extraordinary you first have to stop being ordinary and narrow your focus.

There's an analogy I love called "Floods and Rivers". Floods are a mile wide but an inch deep and cause destruction and damage. Rivers, on the other hand, are narrow and deep. They produce things like food, energy, and transportation. Rivers are good, Floods are bad.

Another example, Virgin Enterprises. What comes to mind when you think about Virgin? Is it their Record Label, Mobile Service, Airline, or the nut ball dare devil englishmen of a founder? Probably the latter. The power of the Virgin brand is spreading thin. Imagine if Richard Branson (the nut ball dare devil englishmen) would have put his billions into just the Airline, or just mobile service. He would have the best mobile service ever to grace the Western Hemisphere, with a brand that would rival Coca-Cola. Instead, without dramatic change, Virgin will sink out of existence capsized in an "Everything to Everybody" type of flood (which is Ironic because Branson's first attempt to cross the Atlantic in his "Virgin Atlantic Challenger", ended when the boat capsized and was dead in the water with an English Rescue Helicopter on its way).

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