Can you do it all? Can you meet with clients, make recommendations, do the follow-up and close the deal? Can you do the marketing and promotion to get things moving in the first place? How about some local public relations? What about getting yourself published and using that exposure to build your brand in your local community?

Let’s shift gears for a second. How about all of those social media options? Can you be a prolific tweeter, manage a Facebook page, do some pinning on Pinterest and more? Another shift: a client calls and the hotel you booked them in doesn’t have the room reservation? Crisis management mode kicks in!

Okay, did get all of that? But wait. What about your website updates and the latest promotional mailings?

Are you overwhelmed yet? If you had to do all of these things, and do them all well, then you’d probably be on suicide watch right about now. The fact is you can’t do all these things and do all them all well. You have to find the right areas to focus on then use other resources to fill the gaps.

I speak from experience. For years I tried to do everything, from meetings with clients to working on the marketing to new product development and more. Many of you have noticed that I’ve also focused on outside public relations as well.  Indeed, in the past 24 months, with the help of my PR folks, I’ve been able to reach over 20 million consumers with insights into travel, and in particular, travel agents.

In the midst of all of these efforts I came to what I consider my Travel Forward moment, which just happens to be the name of my new book set to launch early next year. When you try to focus on everything, something inevitably gives. In my case, it was my sanity!

So here’s something to think about: When you can find a better solution to many of the questions I’ve posed, make that choice. Get the things that can be handled by someone or something else off your desk so you can focus on the key drivers of your business. A good place to start is in finding a website solution that can take care of your customer’s information needs while you take care of their planning needs.

You’ll have happier customers when you focus on them and their needs. Plus, you’ll maintain your sanity in the process – which is a very good choice indeed!

Mark Murphy is president and CEO of travAlliancemedia, parent of TravelPulse.com, Agent@Home magazine, Vacation Agent magazine, Travel Agent Academy, Virtual Travel Events and Agent Studio.