How many businesses do you have?
 

I was just reading Dons last post and it got me thinking...
How many businesses (or income streams) do you have?

In particular, Don, and everyone else - How do you manage these?
I have a real estate investment business, a real estate ad magazine, and a small (soon to be big) marketing business.. plus a full time job.

How do you keep things straight..

Jim talks about having a couple of businesses as well -- whats your secret? What do you systemize?

Thanks,
Jason

Re: How many businesses do you have?
 

Jason,

I have just one business. I'm full-time self-employed in a business I started 22 years ago. In that time, the biggest change I made was switching the distributor I'm affiliated with.

My business is home-based, and I tend to work far more than 40 hours per week, but much of that is in my home office, checking email, posting on forums, and following up on paperwork afterhours.

My one business offers 2 income streams. I earn straight commissions on every order, but enjoy override compensation on the sales made by my 70+ associates who I have sponsored over the past 13 years.

Whether I'm working with customers, or assisting associates, my focus is still on the same industry and product lines. Easy enough for me. Helping one of my associates with a product search or prospecting for new accounts, may help me in my personal sales.

Keeping all my energies focused on just one business works for me.

Dennis Bevers

Same here...
 

I've been doing my "Ad Programs" since the first year "Ronaldo the Magnificent" became Pres....when he took the country from stifling 23% interest rates (Carter and Congress were Democrats) down to "normal" rates. And the country's business people started to "breathe easier" and could "let go of some of their cash" on Ad Programs.

I usually take a month to set up a new Ad Program....getting 20 to 30 participants....creating their ads and producing the program. My Ad Programs are usually for 12 months so it is very easy to know WHEN it's time to Renew.

And "Renewals" are usually a matter of sending participants an Invoice and I then spend a few days filling in any spots not renewed.

So...during any given month...I am;
1) Renewing programs
or
2) Starting a new one

Some months I do nothing but renew programs. I have a "Graphics Gal" who creates all my ads....and if I need printing or laminating or collating done, I farm it out.

Makes for a pretty simple, yet lucrative business. On almost any given day, I can "take off" and go "shopping in the big city"....or go to the coast and sit on the beach....or go to my favorite fishing hole....or go "hunting for Antiques". And, almost every day I take my wife out to lunch.

No "system" is required.

Don Alm....Advertising Salesguy

Re: How many businesses do you have? + DON
 

Thanks guys --
Don, so do you just resell your boards, menus, etc whatever is ready to renew/initiate? every month?
so.. like Jan you might sellout Bobs pizza menus renewal, the menu board at ABC diner, etc? In feb, you have others, etc.
Do you just keep track of whats renewing.. just seems like you have a lot going on , and would be tougher to keep it all straight.
Thanks again,
Jason

Re: How many businesses do you have?
 

I started my first business in 1993 when William Jefferson Clinton(Democrat) took over for Shrub Senior and took country out of a recession and over saw longest economic expansion in history.

Although it is good to have multiple streams of income, it can get confusing so now I concentrate on one core business and slowly build a secondary business.

Mark

Re: How many businesses do you have?
 

Robert Allen Wrote a great book on the subject called "Streams of Income" He also put in audio.

I do taxes in January -April and joint venture other times. And sell books on the net. I also have a few accounting work that I do all year.

Re: How many businesses do you have?
 

Jason, I had to let things go for the time being but here are some things that worked when I was multi-lining things.

A spiral bound notebook that I use to note briefly what takes place on a day to day basis. If I'm not sure something was done, I can look here.

I have a card file (tried database but too inconvenient) for contacts and URLS ect.

A file for each biz plus sub-files for each portion such as advertising/promo for that biz, clips and info for future use for ezine (each ezine has own file), and so on. It was suggested that I use different colored files for ease in determining where things belonged but I found it pointless when I could just read the tab on the folder. I was always running out of the correct color anyway, no matter how many I purchased so gave it up.

Most importantly I have and USE my Day Minder to list appointments, to-do's and reminders. It's mostly for business but if something personal takes place during business hours, it will go in there, too, so nothing is overlooked and no conflicts occur. I find the 8" x 5" size works great for me. It sits, open to the current date, on my desktop so I don't overlook something important.

I also use colored highlighters on times according to which biz it relates to. Makes it easy to see at a glance what the noon appointment relates to versus the 4:00 P.M. one so I have the right folders handy if needed.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Sandi Bowman

Re: How many businesses do you have?
 

I'm also VERY close to leaving my full time (graphic design) job for good. I make a few bucks a month with Fearless Graphics - mostly designing/printing business cards, I got my Real Estate license last year which has almost given me the freedom to leave that full time mess behind, and I've been trying various other income ideas for years. Right now, have a joint venture with parking/selling domains for my broker. I tried a Don Alm inspired idea of selling ads on hotel maps, had samples, permission from all 3 area hotels, but couldn't get sales to make it worthwhile (yet).

My wife gives me a hard time for always trying some new "hairbrained scheme", but so far, I've made a couple of these crazy things work well enough to come out ahead, and all I need are a few good ones for steady income!

I understand the management issue though, I have a tendency to really focus on whatever is working well at the time (right now Real Estate). My plan is to get some things automated enough that my wife can take some of the workload - chattelling for instance (she can list stuff online - and boy can she shop!). And I'm trying to get her to help me with filing and accounting so I can focus on keeping everything else going.

Are you ready to be TOTALLY confused?.....
 

I get asked this a lot so I drew up a little chart to explain how thing work.

The simple answer to your question would be 3. I actually have 3 registered and licensed entities.

But they all work together so to me it just feels like one big business with lots of parts if that makes any sense.

Anyhow, here's the best I can explain it....