“ What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a question that most
of us heard by the time we were four years-old, with the expectation
that the answer would be a single profession or career.
But times are
changing fast and many people are now rejecting the idea that they
should choose to define themselves by only one job for life.
Many young professionals and entrepreneurs are embracing the idea of
pursuing multiple professional interests in search of better earning
power or more personal satisfaction.
Becoming an accountant doesn’t mean
that you need to give up your dream of running a restaurant on the
side; taking on a job as sales rep doesn’t stop you from earning some
cash pursuing a passion such as freelance writing.
Serial entrepreneurs who move from one business to the next are
becoming more common; so are entrepreneurs who run more than one
business at once.
Sage research shows that 94% of young entrepreneurs in Nigeria and 82% in South Africa
expect to start more than one business in their lifetime.
The most
common reason for wanting to do so is that they believe they have so
many great ideas to share with the world.
If you’re an entrepreneur, there are many reasons to start up a
second (or third or fourth…) business. For many people—and this is often
true for African entrepreneurs—one business isn’t enough to cover their
living expenses.
They might need to run a taxi service and offer
part-time maths tuition to make ends meet.
It could be that your existing business has hit its maximum growth
potential, so you could get better returns by investing your cash and
time in a new venture. Or you might want to diversify your income
streams to reduce your financial risks.
Alternatively, you may simply
want to pursue a passion project that allows you to spend at least part
of your workday doing something you love.
Managing multiple business interests can be tricky and demands great discipline. At the Sage Summit
this year, we learnt that there are many well-known people such as
Ashton Kutcher who are involved in multiple businesses other than just
being an actor.
Such business owners whether big or small have one
common trait – passion.
Here are a few ideas about how you can juggle multiple business interests:
Bed down your first business before starting another
Starting a new business venture has a major strain on your time and your money for at least a few months.
If you try to start two businesses at
nearly the same time, one or both will suffer from the lack of focus. Be
careful of overcommitting yourself when you have limited capital, time
and energy to spend.
Ideally, your first business should be stable and
providing you with a constant income before you try to launch the next
one.
Be choosy
The problem that many entrepreneurs face is not a shortage of (seemingly) good business ideas and opportunities, but an excess of them. Pick your projects carefully and dedicate enough resources to them to give them a good chance of taking off.
But also be brave enough to
walk away when a side project will not be a success.
Hire a talented team
If you want to run multiple businesses, you’ll need to accept the fact that you’ll need to delegate more of the day to day operations to your team.
It’s important to find people who you trust and work well with so
that you can be comfortable leaving them to get on with it while you’re
busy elsewhere.
It can work well to share skills across your businesses
and work with the same external consultants.
Get advice about how to structure your businesses
When you decide to diversify, you’ll need to look at the right structure for your different businesses. It might make sense to simply add your new line of business to an existing company, or to treat it as an associate, or to set it up as a completely new company.
Discuss the pros
and cons with your financial and legal advisors, with a view to
minimising risk and optimising cost efficiencies.
Share infrastructure and skills where you can
Don’t double up on skills, services and infrastructure when it isn’t necessary. For example, you might be able to share an IT backbone, receptionist and an office between two or more businesses.
As an
extension to this thought, if you’re thinking about expanding into a new
business or market, why not look at ideas that can leverage off the
skills, infrastructure and assets you already have in place?
Source: biznisafrica
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