In this article, our aim is to provide a detailed guide on how to manage multiple businesses all at the same time. The main points are:

• Start as a Project Manager
• Set Realistic Goals And Measure Them Frequently
• Use the same physical space to run both places
• Bring the two businesses together as much as possible across processes
• Delegate Or Outsource Tasks To Talented People
• Always take notes of Activities and Projects across all businesses
• Start A New Business That Compliments The Existing Business
• Use a time-tracker tool for your multiple businesses
• Work with your co-founders and team to help balance the workload
• Reuse Proven Ideas & Systems From Your Other Businesses
• Invest in videoconferencing technology
• Do not abandon Face-to-Face Time
• Transfer Knowledge from one business to the other
• Be open to more Learning
• Bring in experts to handle certain aspects of the company

Starting and running a business can be a very difficult and time-consuming task. However, the thought of managing multiple businesses can almost sound impossible. The truth is that no matter how hard it might sound, running multiple businesses at once is very possible.

Running an additional business is surely a good thing, perhaps you already have a business and you are planning on expanding.

Business expansion can be a sign of growth and progress. But it can sometimes be a move by an entrepreneur to spread their eggs in various baskets in the hope of one turning into something successful. When this is done, care has to be taken by the entrepreneur to ensure they don’t lose all their investments.

Read Also: 7 Legal Requirements When You Start A Business

Whether your business is experiencing unprecedented growth or you simply want to spread your investments to increase your chances of having one turn out successful, there are things you must do to increase your chances of success.

Start as a Project Manager

Running multiple companies will keep you on your toes. In order to succeed, you will need to become a master of time management. These are a few things that have helped me:

1. Balancing your time: Managing your email can be a huge timesuck. To prevent this, I turn off my Outlook for a couple of hours each day. This allows me to focus on getting more work done with fewer distractions.
2. Keeping your inbox clean: I like to keep my email inbox as empty as possible. After getting an email, I either respond, take action or delete it. This way I don’t have to reread the same emails in the future.
3. Focusing on learning: I set aside time (daily and weekly) for learning. Taking classes on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), watching videos, etc., helps me stay relevant and keep up with new technology.
4. Keeping your eye on the prize: Every morning, I decide what the most important area of my business to tackle is. Is it hiring, selling or building? Based on this, I plan my day and get to the most important items first.

Set Realistic Goals And Measure Them Frequently

When you are trying to run multiple businesses at the same time, there are many things that need your attention. One thing that can help you achieve as much as possible is to set goals. Not just set goals, but measurable goals.

Successful people set goals and consistently measure them. when you run two or more businesses, it becomes paramount that goal setting, measurements, amendments, and much more are taken more seriously than ever before.

You must set goals and keep reports on each business to measure your results, so you can stay accountable and make any changes that need to be implemented on time.

Use the same physical space to run both places

Moving from one office to the other can prove to be a daunting task, that been said, having a central location for both businesses saves on resources since they’re shared between the companies. It also allows me to be easily involved in both ventures, including any meetings or on-site needs.

Overall, having a central location for your business helps to get achieve a lot. Also, staff members like to interact with each other and even assist in projects with both. This in turn will help to maximize your assets in the long run.

Bring the two businesses together as much as possible across processes

Of course, they are separate and unique ideas that are not even in the same niche, but I’ve improved so many aspects of building a business by having two to deal with at one time. Creating a business plan, including marketing and sales initiatives, and determining online tools and platforms can all be done together.

This can help speed up the completion of each because the format and process are already in place and proven for one. And, since it can be benchmarked for the other business, this can save considerable time and effort.

For example, a colleague of mine runs an online invoicing and payments company and has just acquired a similar company, which enables him to meld marketing efforts and strategies.

Even if you run more than two companies that are in separate industries, you can still look for similarities and provide your outsourced team with additional projects rather than hiring separate teams.

For example, a colleague of mine runs an online invoicing and payments company and has just acquired a similar company, which enables him to meld marketing efforts and strategies. Even if you run more than two companies that are in separate industries, you can still look for similarities and provide your outsourced team with additional projects rather than hiring separate teams.

Delegate Or Outsource Tasks To Talented People

Trying to handle all your business processes can be a difficult task, it will eventually affect your productive overtime and even your health and well-being. The keys to staying mentally and physically stable are this.

When you’re running multiple businesses, it is key that you hire talented people to oversee the day to day operations of the business. You could equally outsource some parts of the business to consultants to handle effectively. When you do this, you reduce the workload, get to focus on other key areas that will facilitate growth, and stand a great chance of building a successful business.

Avoid trying to micro-manage every part of one business because it might put you on a likely path to failure.

Always take notes of Activities and Projects across all businesses

You should have a notepad by your side a lot of the time to enable you to take notes on the fly for ideas that should be implemented in any of your businesses. When you run more than one business, you could tend to forget details about certain actions that should be taken in a business. As a result, not having a place to write it down immediately the idea pops can cause you to forget.

When you write down your ideas, you can quickly go back to focusing on what you were doing without the fear of forgetting it.

You don’t necessarily need to use a physical notebook. You can use the apps on your phone or a popular digital notepad like Evernote.

Start A New Business That Compliments The Existing Business

The best second business to start us usually one that compliments the existing business provided the existing one is successful.

For instance, an eCommerce company with a fleet of about 50 motorcycles could start a local courier service for private businesses. Since the eCommerce company already supplies its own goods and need the services of its courier bikes, it could as well spin off the dispatch department into a brand new company that will not just manage the current courier needs of the company but can go on to scale as an independent entity that serves a much large client base and could even become extremely successful like the likes of DHL and FedEx.

When the new business is a complementary business to the existing business, success for both businesses is a lot easier. This doesn’t mean that the new business must always be a complimentary business. It simply means that starting up a complimentary business generally provides a higher success rate.

Read Also: Secrets to Home Business success

Use a time-tracker tool for your multiple businesses

Tracking your time and attention across all businesses helps you to determine if you are balancing both effectively rather than spending more time unknowingly on one over the other. This also helps you understand if there are any places where you can improve my productivity across both businesses.

You should also incorporate this time tracking method in your team as it will help everyone understand where improvements can be made or where we might automate more of the process.

Work with your co-founders and team to help balance the workload

When running multiple businesses at the same time, it is impossible for you to be everywhere at the same time. This fact makes it necessary for you to work closely with your co-founders at both companies who are intimately involved in the build-outs and daily operations.

Also, before adding partners or anyone else that has this much ownership of the business, check to see if you are on the same page in terms of philosophy, what you want to accomplish and overall vision. Knowing you have someone who thinks and feels similarly can help make having multiple businesses that much easier.

The same can go for the team you have in place at each company. You might have some talent on board that works with just one organization, while others bridge both. Through regular communication, including one-on-one sessions, you can provide an open and flexible environment that lets the team flourish and get involved with projects where they can lend their expertise and knowledge.

Reuse Proven Ideas & Systems From Your Other Businesses

Successful entrepreneurs with multiple businesses do well to never make the same mistake twice. They always learn from their past lessons and reuse them in new projects.

Study your existing business and replicate proven ideas and systems that have worked into your new business.

Invest in videoconferencing technology

With all the videoconferencing technology available today, is it really the best use of a CEO’s time to fly halfway around the world for an in-person meeting?

Video conferencing allows people at two or more locations to see and hear each other at the same time, using a computer and communications technology. They exchange visual information with Webcams (digital video cameras) and streaming video. Audio content may be distributed via a computer or the telephone system.

This method will help you save time and resources in the long run, it reduces the stress of moving from one meeting to the other.

Do not abandon Face-to-Face Time

When you’re responsible for a family of companies spanning the globe, encompassing vastly different geographies and cultures, it’s critical to be able to visit each enterprise and experience them in their own unique ecosystems. And there’s simply no substitute for in-person, face-to-face time.

Subtleties of office culture, the dynamics between executives, unspoken rules and latent problems — none of that can be conveyed on a conference call, no matter how good the connection or how long you talk.

But being present isn’t always easy, even when you’re in the same room. Just like bilingual speakers who flip between languages, serial CEOs must find ways to flip the mental switch from one culture and one company to another.

Transfer Knowledge from one business to the other

In business, cross-pollination is the transfer of knowledge from one company to another. Taking what you learn from one market and applying it in another context can dramatically reduce the learning curve.

For example, in the optical sector, for instance, the profile of a contact lens customer is remarkably consistent from country to country.

When your businesses are in similar sectors, you can also benefit from synergies — opportunities to pool or share resources to improve efficiency. Group purchasing of raw materials keeps costs down. Sharing R&D and technologies accelerates innovation. New products that result can be leveraged throughout all the enterprises.

Disney’s media conglomerate, for instance, is the perfect distribution vehicle for Pixar’s films, and in turn, Disney is able to make toys from the movies to produce hundreds of millions in additional revenues.

Read Also: What to do when your Business Fails

Be open to more Learning

Constantly learn ways to be more effective at everything you do. Every day, you should set aside time for learning activities. The internet today enables better and faster learning at a lower cost. Also, attend meetups or local events when possible and attend industry conferences a few times a year.

Bring in experts to handle certain aspects of the company

And by bringing in, I mean outsource those items to multiple people so that you can focus on the core issues of each business, rather than try to multitask across both on areas where you aren’t an expert. You should rather send that work out to the developers and talent can find using various freelance platforms.

Lastly, while running multiple businesses is not for everyone, it can be done. Just be sure to think through the above recommendations before tackling this challenge. Consider how you work as part of the dynamic before you take on two companies (or more) at once.