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Should you ever pursue more than one idea?

Idea threads

Bossgirl

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Would just like to get the views of the community on this. Most people emphasize focusing on ONE thing, then there are others that advocate for taking advantage of additional opportunities if they present themselves and you have the organization and capacity to get more than one thing off the ground. Is there anyone here that pursued more than one fast lane idea at a time? Lessons? Best Practices? Nuggets of Wisdom?
 
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SeanKelly

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Welcome to the forum!

The short answer to your question is no, do not divide your focus among multiple ideas. Expanding a business into new areas/products/etc is fine, but owning both a hunting gear ecommerce site and a maid service simultaneously is big no no (just an example). There are multiple threads, very similar to yours, on here that you can reference for more advice.

Good luck!
 

Kyle Tully

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Assuming it takes 4 dashes of effort to get a project profitable, then...

1 idea:
- - - -
You are profitable after the minimum 4 dashes.

2 ideas:
----
---
It takes you 7 dashes before your first project is profitable.

3 ideas:
----
---
---
It now takes 10 dashes to get the first idea profitable.

Obviously this is a simplification, but you get the idea :)

Focus on one idea.
 

Noxtus

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I think its important to model your ideas like a tree : ) start with one core idea that is your seed and then as it grows and grows it will start to branch out and the many limbs can represent your other ideas that you have built off the foundation of your core idea but i say yes only start with a single idea and let it grow.
 

The-J

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Nope. When you're making your goal passive income off of one business, then you can branch out. Don't do it sooner.
 

TJPB

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I am working on two ideas. They were both birthed at the same time. One has expanded exponentially and is my main focus, the other has taken way more product development time than I ever expected. If I had focused only on the 2nd idea, I would really be no where as of today....with only a few CAD designs completed. Focusing on both has allowed my 1st idea to take center stage.....really making the decision of "which one do I go with" for me.

My other idea is still in process but it has taken a back seat....I work on it as I have time.
 
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pickeringmt

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Billy at Forever Jobless made a wrote a great post about this

You can see it HERE

I struggled with this myself, and it can be challenging to channel all of your energy into a single project - especially when it moves slower than you want.

I still have a lot to learn myself, but i hope this helps.
 

NicoleMarie

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Here's the thing, even if you did succeed, would you rather have 1 killer business or 2 average businesses? :p

The only time I might slightly disagree with the multiple idea theory is if you don't have a job and are "hustling on the side" like offering your skills on Elance or something. To me though, that's only if you have bills/expenses and can't just wait around for the business to make money, or you don't want to get a full on job. I also think that having a freelancing job where you utilize your skills/interact with customers would be more helpful with business experience than, say, working at the grocery store.
 

throttleforward

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My view (and I'm in the minority) is that it's ok to do some MVP/market validation on multiple projects, see which one starts to get traction, and channel your resources toward that.

Doing things this way allows my mind to push through barriers and get more things done, at least in the initial stages. I don't have these thoughts of "if this doesn't work, I've got nothing in the pipeline," which has allowd me to push through where before I would have been stuck in analysis paralysis. I'm able to go "this is one of 3 ideas I'm testing - if I screw this up or it doesn't work, so what...I've got 2 others I'm testing as well."

That said, at some point you have to drop the other projects or get them to where they are truly passive (1-5hrs/week). You can't go full bore on multiple projects IMO.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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Everyone knows where I stand. However I do respect the idea of working multiple ideas and then 100% focusing on the one that gains traction.

Greatness only comes from commitment. Take any athlete in the world you will see only ONE focus, not many. Heck, Rory Mcelroy broke up with his fiancee to maximize his commitment to golf... the result? He's killing it and winning everything. When he had the GF, he was doing just OK. Take note on how a diversion of time, even in relationships, can distract from your core purpose-- if in fact, your core purpose aligns with some type of achievement.
 

RogerMay

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The truth is success takes intense focus and commitment. You have to make sacrifices. Once I sacrificed things like TV, going out to drink, and honed in on 2 strategic priorities instead of 10, I got a lot more done. Just keep moving, intentionally.
 

Blair

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I currently have several different businesses all working. Yes it is slower to grow multiple businesses then to focus on one but I find having diversity helps to spread risk and spark ideas and motivations in different areas of my brain. For example if I get stuck on one business instead of getting frustrated ill switch my focus to doing a task on another business and then take another look once I am feeling more clear headed. I also now know plenty across multiple areas instead of one and have resources and benefits that if I had one business would be a challenge. In a few years I will definitely refine the businesses I am focusing on but in the meantime my business partner and I are full steam working and trying new ideas.
 
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Hope

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Keeping with the theme of this thread, does anyone have any specific advice for me?

My current situation is that I am trying to make enough money through small businesses (affiliate sites, niche sites, niche eCommerce, etc.) until I have enough funding to start on a business that I have an idea/plan for but would take a decent amount of start-up cash.

Should I focus on making one site as passive as possible with income coming in, then work on another?

(also: thanks for all the great info from some of the business veterans on here, I learn something new every day)
 

Bossgirl

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Thanks for all the replies! I was more thinking along the lines if what @throttleforward said about having multiple ideas in the testing phase...I'm currently looking at both a saas model and a publishing model that has a lot of potential. I'm not "married" to any particular idea...once validation says no I'm willing to ditch it. Just not sure if it's better to do simultaneous or sequential validation...
 

Blair

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I currently have several different businesses all working. Yes it is slower to grow multiple businesses then to focus on one but I find having diversity helps to spread risk and spark ideas and motivations in different areas of my brain. For example if I get stuck on one business instead of getting frustrated ill switch my focus to doing a task on another business and then take another look once I am feeling more clear headed. I also now know plenty across multiple areas instead of one and have resources and benefits that if I had one business would be a challenge. In a few years I will definitely refine the businesses I am focusing on but in the meantime my business partner and I are full steam working and trying new ideas.

I thought I would trawl through my content on here and find this post in order to tell everyone that I was wrong. Multiple businesses are a bad idea unless you are earning so much money from one business that you can take your eyes off it for a while. Just remember if you have a second business you now have half the time to work on it then the other guy who is all in. This 2.5 year on advice is the result of costing myself potential profits in the business im good at, incurring losses in several other businesses which were more schemes and distractions then business and slowly my overall progress by one year.
 

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