Maybe Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket is Good

What’s the saying: “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”? Yeah, we’ve all heard it before. As entrepreneurs, we naturally want to hedge our risks by focusing on various streams of revenue through – what else – various companies that we start.

I am somewhat ambivalent to this way of thinking.

Eggs in one basket

On one hand, you can focus on one or two related solid ideas, pour your heart into them, and watch it (them) grow into a huge, successful, gigantic business with tons of revenue and clients bursting at the seams. But the risk is that you can spend all your time and energy on something that simply won’t turn into anything for whatever reason.

Eggs in many baskets

One the other hand, you can create a series of decent businesses that are somewhat successful. Probably unrelated in nature. They bring you a “so-so” source of revenue; nothing spectacular. Maybe 1 out of the 10 businesses is something to talk about, but the rest aren’t even worth your breath.

What’s an entrepreneur to do?

Knowing that this may be the “wrong” way to think as suggested by many entrepreneurs, I truly believe that focusing your energy, passions, and drive to succeed on only one or two – possibly three (at most) businesses – is the best course of action. Businesses that can help each of your other businesses grow: cross marketing, having the potential to share clients amongst them, etc…

It’s so damn easy to spread yourself thin and fall into the trap of trying to build a million-and-one companies when the fact of the matter is that you haven’t even accomplished the goal of creating “one” successful company. Doesn’t make sense, does it? Nope.

As a savvy entrepreneur, you have to come to terms of what you do best in life. Though it may be hard facing the reality that we aren’t good at everything, there comes a time when you have to ask yourself: “What do I really, really, really do best in life… what brings me the most joy… what can I do for hours and hour without getting bored?”

Once you answer that question, your best bet is to start building a company around the answer to that question. And in time – once you have found success with your first idea — build another company that still coincides with that same answer. So in essence, if you do decided to create a million companies, at least they’ll all fall under the same umbrella of what you do best in life as opposed to running around in different directions.

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