How to Manage Multiple Businesses

Choncé Maddox — February 20, 2019

Running one business can be hard enough. That said, could you ever see yourself overseeing two or three businesses at the same time? I have a few entrepreneur friends to run multiple businesses.

Recently, I got a new type of business and was wondering how I’d find the time, energy, and structure to work on the new venture alongside my main business.

Luckily, I’m taking advantage of these key tips. If you’re looking to manage multiple businesses, here’s how you can do it without losing your mind.

Take on More of a CEO Role

CEOs make corporate decisions, serve as the main point of contact, and manage the overall operations and resources of the company. If you’re going to have multiple businesses, you can’t work in all of them like a producer. You have to take on more of a lead management role.

This means you need to outsource. You can’t possibly work full time in two or three different businesses. Hire a team you can trust and rely on. Be the person with the ideas and the strategy, but not the one who necessarily does all the work.

Connect the Two Businesses in Some Way

To make managing multiple businesses easier, try to connect all your businesses in some way. Whether you can cross promote, repurpose content, or market your products to the same audience, it will help you avoid splitting your focus so many different ways.

Prioritize What Needs Your Direct Attention

Get clear on the tasks you want to take on early on. Ideally, you’ll want to make the final decision on all important matters. You should also focus most of your attention on the areas of your business that you love and that are the most profitable for you.

Pay attention to analytics, expenses, and core strategies so you can assess what’s working and how to keep moving forward. Prioritize what needs your attention and delegate the rest.

Split Responsibilities with a Partner

Have you ever thought about getting a business partner? Having a business partner! can be helpful in several ways. One one end, two heads are better than one. You can both pull on your networks, experience, and skills to build a better business.

You can also split up tasks and focus on one end of the business while your partner focuses on the other. Generally, you want to partner with someone who you can trust and has something unique to bring to the table. The partnership should benefit both sides and you can save time and money by working with someone else without sacrificing a successful business.

Track Your Time Spent on Each Project

Tracking your time spent working on your business can be a complete game changer. Even if you’re super organized and feel you work pretty efficiently, you may have no idea how much time you’re spending on your business.

Tracking your time allows you to get a more realistic view of how long certain tasks take so you can structure your day better.

You also may want to track your time spent doing other activities as well. For example, the average American watches around 35 hours of television per week. If you could cut some of your T.V. time out, you could likely find enough time in your schedule to oversee a second business no problem.

Summary

Running multiple businesses is not for the faint of heart. The main obstacle entrepreneurs face is lack of time to manage more than one business. If you want to run an additional business, focus on taking more of a CEO role and employing a dependable team. Also, improve your time management skills and prioritize what you focus on realizing you can’t do every single thing on your own.

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