Are seminars a powerful catalyst for business success? Or are seminars an entrepreneurial addiction that prevents success?

At their best, seminars are powerful catalysts for success. Especially for online entrepreneurs who spend much of their time working in solitary confinement in front of a computer, a seminar is a window to a larger world. At a seminar, you can meet other entrepreneurs. You can find joint venture partners. You can discover new and exciting technology. Some of the most successful online entrepreneurs claim that attending seminars was the most significant breakthrough factor in their success.

At the same time, the same qualities that can make seminars such catalysts for entrepreneurial success can also sabotage your business. The problem lies in the essential nature of entrepreneurs.

In his description of the E-Myth, Michael Gerber has taught us to think of three functions, often residing within the same person: the visionary, the manager, and the technician.

When a visionary entrepreneur attends a seminar, the experience is much like a child being set free in a toy store. The visionary entrepreneur gets new ideas, new contacts, and visions of new possibilities. The experience is wonderfully energizing.

The challenge is that a successful business needs more than an entrepreneur excited with new visions. Massive success results from focused and sustained action on the primary vision of the business. And this is where seminars can be the downfall of the entrepreneur. An endless stream of seminars, with their hot new technologies, new contacts, and new possibilities, can become an addiction for the entrepreneur who loves the excitement of new ideas.

One seminar can ignite new visions and possibilities. Multiple seminars can create so many visions and possibilities that the visionary entrepreneur keeps bouncing from one exciting new idea to the next, never maintaining focus long enough to turn any of the visions into reality.

Business success requires steady and disciplined focus to translate the exciting vision into measurable reality. In other words, the entrepreneur needs to go to work on the vision of the business, not come up with new ideas.

This entrepreneurial addiction to new ideas and the heady atmosphere of seminars is very real to me. I have just returned from yet another seminar. During the seminar, my mind was focused on exciting possibilities. At the same time, attending the seminar meant a four-day distraction from work on my business.

It happens every time I go off to another seminar. I lose momentum and lose track of what I was doing. I come back with new ideas, but the truth is, I don't need new ideas as much as I need focused attention on the core vision of my business.

The most basic business question is the one that is hardest for many entrepreneurs to answer: "What business are you in?" Many entrepreneurs don't know what business they are in because they keep bouncing from one hot new idea to the next. And since they don't know what business they are in, they cannot be known for that business.

Having a clear core vision of your business is what will set you apart from other energetic entrepreneurs with more ideas than follow-through. Continual loss of focus on the core vision is the real casualty of too many seminars.

It is much like my son's soccer team when he first started to play as a young child. Before the children learned positioning and strategy, they all moved as a group, chasing the ball up and down the field. As they learned to play the game, they learned to hold their positions and let the ball come toward them.

Success in business is much like success on the soccer field. It is not a matter of chasing the ball all over the field. It is impossible to maintain focus while bouncing from visionary idea to visionary idea. It is a matter of knowing your position, having a strategy, and maintaining focus on the object of the game.

And so are seminars powerful catalysts for business success or distracting addictions that prevent success? Seminars can be catalysts or they can be distractions. The critical difference hinges on your ability maintain focus on your core business vision. .