Running one business is incredibly hard, I think it would be virtually impossible to do two well. I launched my new venture once I had management in place to run my first company. An 8 month old company needs the vision and the culture of the founder.
Starting a new business is hard. It takes time and energy. While I applaud the ambition, wouldn't it be a better idea to focus on one or maybe two new projects at a time?
Once they are established and doing well, adding another might not be a problem. Starting a bunch of new businesses all at once seems like a poor strategy.
I am not saying a person should not. I am simply saying a person could not.
You can’t effectively run more than two companies at a time. And that is a rare success. Most are struggling running one. And here is a man running 5 or 6 companies each going to revolutionize another area in our life. It’s just don’t fit.
Would you agree that it's simultaneously simple and horribly challenging to start a company? It's more about consistency and determination, than it is strokes of brilliance. In that way, I think this advice is obvious but it's much easier said than done to run your own business.
Not necessarily. It will be a lot harder but by no means impossible, and you can have one more person working on the start-up in the beginning which is actually a benefit.
I have and I’m currently at an early stage startup. It’s an insane amount of work. I think most people could become proficient at the various roles, but they simply don’t have the time to actually do all of the roles. That’s ultimately the challenge- time to do everything.
Starting a business either requires having a good partner or a small enough market to manage everything yourself.
For most people, joining an early stage company will be a better trade off. The team will be established, but you’ll still have a bunch of freedom to take care of the thing you want.
I think it's really hard to do this personally because you will have to hustle business as if you own a second business. if you can get a part time gig or a job somewhere making what you need to make. It'll be easier, trust me.
I think a budding entrepreneur should think a lot more than twice about starting a company, but at the end of the day this post sounds like trying to "time the market" which just isn't possible. If you want to be an entrepreneur, then you have to be willing to start almost any business that has a chance to be profitable.
In my experience with local businesses (alt-weekly newspaper for the college / queer bar scene), the same people were starting clubs that lasted for a year or two, then closed, then they started up a new one. It was about trying out a new business plan that may or may not work and if it doesn't, clearing the slate and starting over.
The people who succeeded eventually landed on one with staying power, and the people who didn't eventually gave up. I bring it up to say that a single owner can be responsible for multiple business failures, and like you say, no one remembers those once you're successful.
Because that's only one aspect, you also have to consider other things like availability of investment capital, operating costs, and the bureaucracy of starting and running a business.
Most new businesses of any kind don't last very long. 80% fail rate isn't unusual in, say, the restaurant business. Starting a new business is hard, and risky, period.
People don't like to say it because they're afraid of sounding lazy, but you should do whichever is easier. Is building one of them going to be easier than the other? Is marketing/selling one of them going to be easier? Does one of the ideas require raising money?
Building a sustainable business is hard enough in and of itself. If you can avoid having to woo investors, or dealing with Chinese factories, or months long sales cycles, do it.
In addition, this will force you to think realistically about the skills and deficiencies on your founding team.
Regardless of field, the smart advice I've repeatedly heard and that I pass on is that, when you become a small business owner, you take on two jobs.
Once, the service you are providing. Two, running the business.
You should -- you need to -- think of them as two separate, full-time jobs.
I've repeatedly watched people, including family members, struggle with this. And failure to understand and plan for it, going in, and to address it pro-actively on an ongoing basis, seems to be a primary reason for business failure, here in the U.S.
If you know some people who have done what you're considering, who you think are genuinely smart, making a success of it, and whom you trust, have some honest conversations with them.
I also like jacquesm's alternative of raising prices, particularly if you like the work itself more than the idea of expanding into being an employer.
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