How to Manage More than One Business at a Time
Years ago, I read a book called The One Thing, written by Gary Kellar.
The book is about the correlation between success and singleness of purpose.
It's very rare that people are able to succeed while working on different projects at the same time.
I remember reading this book and being annoyed, because I love juggling projects. I love getting involved in new ideas and I love the rush I get from the feeling of starting something new.
After I finished the book, I told myself that I didn't believe it. I wanted to show the world that I was the exception and I was able to run multiple companies at once.
What do you think happened?
I failed. Of course I failed.
I was miserable and my plan wasn't working. Everything I was working on was doing ok, but nothing was exceptional. My ego was in control and as a result, I fell short on my goals.
I've learned the harsh lessons from the book, and have discovered first hand how wasteful it is to try and build more than one business at the same time.
Make sure every day you do what matters most. When you know what matters most, everything makes sense. When you don’t know what matters most, anything makes sense.”
Gary Kellar - The One Thing
If you want to get wealthy, you're much more likely to generate income by focusing all your attention on one business.
How Warren Buffet Put it Into Perspective for Me
A few years ago, I was flying back from Los Angeles. I went to LA with Butcher, (one of my best friends), and we spent a few days in Topanga relaxing, hiking, and eating. It was a great time.
On the plane ride back, I watched a documentary about Warren Buffet. You may have seen it. It's called Becoming Warren Buffet.
In the documentary, Buffet was talking about his relationship with Bill Gates. The two of them have been friends for years and there is a shared personality trait between them.
The camera went back to Buffet and the interviewer asked him what that personally trait was.
Buffet sat there and spoke one word that I'll never forget.
He said ... "focus."
The actual clip from the documentary isn't on YouTube, but here's a clip from a similar interview.
I especially gravitate towards the idea that you have the highest likelihood of success if you can double down on what it is you obsessively do from ages 13 to 19.
Bill Gates obsessively coded, Warren Buffet obsessed over investing.
What Did I Obsessively Do from Ages 13 to 19?
I wrote.
I wrote every day. When I was in class, I was writing poems in my notebook. When I was out skateboarding, I was writing stories. Till this day, I bring a notebook with me everywhere I go.
My notebooks are filled with ideas I have and observations I make. I would read my favorite books and write the authors words into my notebook to try and understand how they were writing such masterpieces. The pages of my older notebooks are packed with song lyrics and excerpts from Fight Club, Lord of the Flies, The Great Gatsby, and Dracula.
I have stacks of filled notebooks littered in my office, under my bed, in closets, and drawers.
I always knew I wanted to be a writer.
It is writing that got my where I am, and writing is what I will do for the rest of my life.
How My Passion Turned Into "The One Thing"
Getting back to the point, it's true that I own and operate multiple businesses, but in reality, I only do one thing.
I produce written content.
Obviously I don't personally write every page of content that gets published within my company. At this point, we have dozens of clients and multiple online assets which all publish written content on a regular basis.
But, it is my love of writing that has formed the singleness of purpose. The writing has created the system, and all my companies follow the same system.
How does it work?
Step 1 - I produce and publish long form written content that generates traffic (mostly through search) to a website.
Step 2 - I leverage the web traffic and convert it into email subscribers, usually by giving away a free course, e-book, report, or newsletter.
Step 3 - I write long form copy and landing pages to sell products and services.
Step 4- I use email marketing and automation to sell my products and services by sending traffic to the sales pages I write.
Writing is at the core of the entire operation.
Stodzy Internet Marketing drives almost all of its business through long form content.
Sober Nation built a worldwide community through longform writing, providing resources, and sharing personal stories.
Copyblogger is a website dedicated to great writing and direct sales copy.
YourBoulder.com writes local news stories and then sells access to a weekly newsletter.
On TimStodz, (what you're reading right now) I write a blog article each week, and then sell access to TheBootstrapper which I write and publish every Friday.
As my businesses have grown, so have my responsibilities. I've had to learn management skills, leadership skills, technical skills for WordPress, and how to master dozens of software platforms.
I've had to learn about taxes, invoicing and many other business skills that are required for success.
But at the core of my companies is one fundamental skill.
I produce written content.
The Hybrid Media Business (Half Agency - Half Production Company)
My purpose in writing these articles is to teach you how to create multiple revenue streams for yourself. I want to help you increase your income, advance your quality of life, and rid yourself of the financial burden that affects so many millions of people around the world.
Through all my experiments, failures, and successes, I've determined the best option for you and for most people is to build, develop, and own more than one media asset that sells digital products and/or services.
In addition, the best way to do that is by building a marketing agency that transitions itself into a production company. The end result for you is a production company that serves as the labor force to build your businesses for you.
You use revenue from the client services side of your business to fund the production side of your business, which will compound into multiple revenue streams and multiple businesses.
It's a simple process.
In fact, I put together a free course to help you get started on this process.
Your success won't come overnight, but if you follow the steps outlined in this course and in the Agency Clarity course, you will be able to build a production company that serves as a vehicle to help you build more businesses.
It's a great method. It can change your life.
In Conclusion
This article was meant to show you that it's possible to run more than one company at the same time.
Paradoxically, the only way that's possible (at least for me) is to run one company which builds the mechanism to manage and operate the others.
You can't do this alone. You need a team who is dedicated and shares in the success. Yes, I am the CEO of Stodzy Inc, but in reality I would never be able to do this without having teammates who share in the profits. Shared success and incentive is a critical ingredient to making this work.
It took me years to learn this lesson and to put the pieces of the puzzle together in a way that was advantageous to me and everyone else.
It is my hope that you can learn from my mistakes so you don't have to learn from your own. This is possible. You can do this.
If I can do it, anyone can.