Strategic Project Selection: Choosing the Right Projects for Your Business

As a digital entrepreneur, you’re likely bombarded with endless project possibilities:

“You should launch a podcast!”
“Have you created a membership site yet?”
“Everyone’s making money with digital courses these days!”

Sound familiar? With limited time, energy, and resources, you simply can’t pursue every opportunity that crosses your path. The truth is, not every project deserves your attention – even if it seems promising at first glance.

Many digital business owners don’t realize they’re managing a project portfolio that directly impacts their business success. Without a strategic selection process, you risk wasting months on initiatives that don’t move your business forward.

Sara, a web designer and digital business coach, learned this lesson the hard way. After simultaneously trying to launch a YouTube channel, create a course, and develop a new service package, she found herself three months later with three half-finished projects and zero new revenue.

“I was chasing too many opportunities at once,” Sara explains. “Once I learned to evaluate projects strategically before committing, everything changed. Now I launch fewer projects but complete them successfully.”

Here’s a practical framework to help you choose the right projects for your digital business:

1. Check Alignment with Business Goals

Key question: How does this project directly support my business vision and objectives?

Before diving into any new initiative, clarify how it serves your bigger business goals. For example:

• If your goal is to increase passive income, a template pack or digital course aligns well
• If you want more high-ticket clients, a case study showcase or authority-building speaking engagements might be better choices

Quick tip: Write your top three business goals on a sticky note near your workspace. Before saying yes to any new project, check if it directly supports at least one of these goals.

2. Run the Numbers

Key question: Will this project deliver a positive return on my investment of time and money?

Calculate the potential ROI considering:

• Development costs (your time valued at your hourly rate + any outsourced help)
• Ongoing maintenance requirements
• Realistic revenue projections based on your current audience size and engagement
• Payback period (how long before you recover your investment)

Quick tip: If you’ve created similar projects before, use that data to make more accurate projections for new initiatives.

3. Validate Market Demand

Key question: Is there genuine interest and willingness to pay for this in my target market?

Before committing to a large project, gather evidence of market interest:

• Survey your email subscribers or social followers
• Create a small pilot version to test response
• Research what similar businesses are offering (and what’s selling well)
• Look for patterns in client questions and requests

Quick tip: Pay attention to what your audience asks for repeatedly, not just what they say they want in surveys.

4. Identify and Assess Risks

Key question: What could prevent this project from succeeding, and how can I mitigate those risks?

Common risks for digital business projects include:

• Technical challenges beyond your current skills
• Market timing issues (too early or too late to a trend)
• Underestimating the time needed to complete the project
• Unexpected competition or market changes

Quick tip: For each major risk identified, develop a simple contingency plan to reduce its potential impact.

5. Evaluate Resource Requirements

Key question: Do I have the necessary skills, time, and tools to complete this project successfully?

Honestly assess what you’ll need:

• Your available time (considering existing client work and commitments)
• Skills required (what you have vs. what you’ll need to learn or outsource)
• Tools and technology needed
• Budget for outsourcing aspects you can’t or shouldn’t handle yourself

Quick tip: Block out the actual time needed on your calendar before committing to see if it’s realistic with your current workload.

6. Consider Timing and Seasonality

Key question: Is this the right time to pursue this project?*

Factors to consider:

• Personal energy levels and existing commitments
• Industry seasonality (e.g., launching a course during vacation season)
• Market readiness for your solution
• Upcoming changes in your business or personal life

Quick tip: Create a simple business calendar marking your busy seasons, planned vacations, and known high/low energy periods to identify optimal project windows.

7. Balance Your Project Portfolio

Key question: How does this project balance with my other ongoing and planned initiatives?

Aim for a healthy mix of:

• Quick wins vs. long-term investments
• Low-risk vs. higher-risk opportunities
• Revenue-generating vs. audience-building projects
• Client work vs. business development initiatives

Quick tip: Limit yourself to no more than 2-3 significant projects running simultaneously, with only one in the intensive creation phase.

8. Use a Simple Scoring System

Key question: How does this project compare to other opportunities I could pursue?*

Create a basic scoring model:

1. List your potential projects in a spreadsheet
2. Create columns for your evaluation criteria (alignment, ROI, risk, resources required, etc.)
3. Rate each project on a scale of 1-5 for each criterion
4. Weight more important criteria if needed
5. Calculate total scores to compare options objectively

Quick tip: Download our free [Project Evaluation Worksheet] to quickly implement this scoring system (link at the end of this article).

Real-Life Example: How Jenny Selected Her Next Project

Jenny runs a digital marketing business primarily serving health coaches. She was considering three potential projects:

1. Creating an in-depth SEO course
2. Developing a template pack for Instagram
3. Writing an ebook on email marketing strategies

Using the framework above, Jenny scored each project and discovered:

• The SEO course aligned perfectly with her business goals and had strong demand, but would require 3+ months of focused work during her busiest client season
• The Instagram templates could be completed quickly but served only a small segment of her audience
• The email marketing ebook aligned well with her expertise, had strong demand signals, and could be completed in manageable phases around client work

Jenny chose to pursue the email marketing ebook first, followed by the template pack as a quick win, and postponed the course for her slower season.

Strategic project selection isn’t about permanently saying “no” to good ideas—it’s about saying “not now” to some so you can say “yes, absolutely!” to your best opportunities.

To implement this framework in your business:

1. List all potential projects you’re considering
2. Use our [Project Evaluation Worksheet] to score and compare them
3. Choose your top 1-2 projects to focus on now
4. Create a “projects for later” list to revisit during your next planning cycle

Remember: The most successful digital entrepreneurs aren’t those who pursue the most projects—they’re the ones who strategically select and successfully complete the right projects.

[Download our free Project Evaluation Worksheet to get started today]

This article has been revised and expanded from the original article “Strategic Project Selection: Optimizing Your Business Portfolio” published on June 12, 2023.