How to Successfully Run Multiple Businesses A guide to not running yourself ragged.
By Chris Kille Edited by Bill Schulz
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Running several profitable companies, at the same time, is a lot more doable than you'd think.
For starters, make a "to-do" list, which will differ for every business. If you have a website, you might have tasks like "write a blog post" and "create the opt-in page". If you're overseeing an e-commerce store, your list should include "check inventory levels" and "place an order with a supplier".
The key here is to make sure everything is placed in its order of importance.
You'll likely find that some items can be delegated to others (like contractors or employees), while others require your attention. When you have time, check off completed tasks to know what's been accomplished.
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Expedite an expert
If you're not good at something, pay someone to do it.
I don't know anything about SEO or website design, so I employed someone to do it for me. The same goes for accounting, legal matters and much more.
In addition to outsourcing tasks that take away from building your business, there are other ways to maximize your time. I use a virtual assistant who manages my social media accounts and emails, so I don't have to worry about that stuff while I'm working on my company.
Breathing room for brainstorming
When juggling multiple businesses, it's easy to get bogged down with the day-to-day tasks of running each business. In the process, you might lose sight of what made those achievements successful in the first place.
To avoid this trap, give yourself some weekly spots to check in with your vision for each investment. What do you want to accomplish? What are your goals? What are the most important things that need to get done?
Don't be afraid to adjust if your game-plan has shifted.
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Data-mining for decision-making
Data is the best way to determine what is working and what isn't. It will help you see which products are selling well and which aren't and the clients that need more attention. If you're running multiple businesses, customer relationship management is essential.
A CRM system can help you track everything from sales leads to customer service issues and marketing campaigns, so you don't have to rely on guess work when making business decisions.
Pull the perfect people
Hire good employees for each business, so you don't have to do everything yourself. That may mean hiring full-time team members, but there are other options. For instance, you can recruit freelancers or outsource to virtual assistants.
The key is finding someone who can handle your business while you're busy working on another one. If one of your businesses is an online store, hire someone who knows how to optimize conversion rates so that customers buy more from your site, thus increasing revenue for that part of the business. If another is an offline store, find a person who knows how to run a retail operation efficiently so that customers always walk away happy.
The right tools and techniques
When managing multiple ventures, your first priority is ensuring that your time is spent on what matters and that you are spending the majority of it growing your businesses. Although there is a thriving community of professionals working on multiple businesses, it's a unique path and something that can require some deliberate planning.
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