How To Effectively Diversify Your Internet Business Portfolio

[jerry1952]

When going into the online business realm, a question comes up as to how many business ventures should one undertake? There is something to be said for diversification, however, having too many eggs scattered in many baskets can also be detrimental. How does one choose? SHOULD one choose and thereby limit themselves?

I don't think there's any hard and fast answer to this question. I believe that the answer is a very subjective one. Taking on any new business is going to require an investment of three things: Time, Money and Energy It really comes down to how much of these three ingredients you can honestly do, on an ongoing basis.

Focus is a key issue that can make or break a new business (or any business for that matter). Becoming too scattered will ultimately hurt all your business concerns. Also, you run the risk of becoming overwhelmed by the time and effort needed to maintain and grow your businesses.

On the other hand, there is a lot to be said for expanding your horizons to take advantage of as many different opportunities as you can. There are, afterall, a lot of very exciting ventures, on the web, that do offer the potential for creating a fair amount of wealth and security. Should you choose to play it safe and ignore other inviting opportunities?

My best advice is to take it one at a time. Choose one business that excites and get you going, and put your focus and energy into that one. As you know, the actual start up requires the most time and effort investment for any new business. Once that business is moving along at a pace you feel good about, you can then start looking to add to your business portfolio, and take on a second inviting opportunity.

If you repeat this practice, and don't jump to a new business until your earlier one is up and running, you will find it to be a lot easier to manage and enjoy all your ventures.

One last quick note: Sometimes a business you may pick, may not be a good match or is just not taking off. If, after giving that business a truly honest chance to work proves to still not bear fruit, then it's also a wise move to smell the coffee, and move on. Never be afraid to make mistakes. That's how we learn and how we succeed. Don't let your temporary set backs get the best of you. Remember: That's all they are..temporary and very solve-able.

See you at the top!

[akula]

interesting points. i'm not sure what your overall thesis is, but i'll add a little observation;

the question: what is the secret to startup success? what is the surest way to make millions doing entrepreneurship?

the answer: without citing all the scientific evidence on this issue, the answer to this question is the same as "what is the surest way to make millions in the stock market?" (because both the entrepreneur and the trader are investing in the same product: equities)

the answer is "get lucky by a) placing lots of good bets b) cutting losers and c) riding winners"

in its long hand form, the above a well tested, widely accepted hypothesis, which positively corresponds with everything we know about statistics, probabilities and our observations of applied entrepreneurship

the problem: of course, is one of psychology. human minds are deeply flawed cognitive instruments which seem to be unable to consistently do either points a, b, or c. founders get irrationally excited about their ventures and place bets on stupid ideas; founders fail to cut losers and allow underperforming ventures to exist much longer than they should, and finally, founders either underinvest in their winners, exit too early, or fail to engineer an exit altogether

there's no great trick to being successful in startups..it's all a matter of abc's, following the science and recognising the human cognitive shortcomings