Achieving Your Goal

The Power of Focus in Achieving Your Goals

Richard Wilson of the Hedge Fund Certification Program and Hedge Fund Blogger recently told me a story from a conference he attended.  This lesson is applicable to any goal, from capital raising to opening a private equity firm.

Last week, I was speaking with an investment fund manager who was looking to raise capital and they were doing so by approaching every investor they could possibly speak to.  They were explaining how their firm has so little resources compared to their $1B competitors.  I recalled the following quote: 

“You can take a $5 disposable camera and take it out of the box, stand 10 feet from a building and take a great picture that will be developed and look good if not great. You could stand in that same position with a $10,000 camera with every gadget, lens, and a tripod and it will not take as good of a picture if you do not do one thing, focus.”  - Brian Tracy

The Point: You can beat your competition with a smaller staff, with less financial resources, and less experience if you just learn to focus. Focus on your top prospect investors, focus on local potential investors, and focus exclusively on the types of investors which are most likely to make allocations to your fund. If you can dial-in on these three areas your hot prospect list, local investors and the right investor mix (family offices, wealth management, pension funds, etc.), than you can really cover a lot of ground quickly.

I've worked with Richard for years and he is a testament to the power of focus.  I gave similar advice to an aspiring private equity professional at a conference in New York last month.  He was doing a great job of actively networking.  Instead of waiting for professionals to initiate a conversation, he was reaching out to everyone at the table.  I could tell he was a little discouraged as people were less than enthralled by an eager young professional looking for work, and he asked me "How do you think I'm doing?"  I told him that it almost always takes hundreds of rejections to get that dream job, that great sale or to achieve any other goal you set for yourself.  We hear this all the time growing up, but too often we still look for the easiest path. 

Set a difficult but attainable goal for yourself and achieve it, whether it is to raise more capital or to advance yourself in a PE firm.  Focusing on this goal means not getting caught up looking for easier solutions to come about or waiting help from someone else.  I have every confidence that the person I was speaking with at the conference can find a great job in private equity if he doggedly pursues that goal.  


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Link to This Resource: Achieving Your Goal

http://privateequityblogger.com/2009/10/achieving-your-goal.html