As if running one home-based business is not enough, some home-based professionals juggle two, three, or even more home-based businesses. The reasons that people choose to have multiple businesses are as diverse as the combinations of businesses that they own. If you are thinking of starting your own business but you are not sure whether you are comfortable directing all of your time, energy, and resources into one business then you may want to ponder whether multiple businesses would work better for you than just one.
For example, some home-based professionals have seasonal businesses that they only operate for part of the year. They often operate another business or two at other times of the year. You may see them selling fruit and vegetables at your local farmers’ market. They could be mowing lawns in your neighborhood in the summer, and plowing driveways in the winter. The same person that plans weddings in the summer might teach ski lessons in the winter.
Some home-based professionals have a few businesses going all at once. Of course, this requires quite a bit of finesse and organization so that you do not take on more work than you can handle. This type of arrangement works best for contracting types of jobs, because as a contractor you can select as many projects as you can comfortably fill your plate with and then stop taking new work while you work on what you already have. Once a project is completed, you can seek out a new project to replace it with or you can work less for a little while and maybe take a vacation.
One benefit of having multiple businesses is that you do not have all of your eggs in one basket. If you just have one business and the demand for that product or service declines sharply, it could mean big trouble for your business. If you have other businesses, however, you can focus your energy on attracting more clients to those other businesses until the demand picks up again. Multiple businesses also help to keep income flowing in at different rates, so there always seems to be at least a little money coming in from somewhere. While running multiple home-based businesses is certainly not for everyone, it is an option that you may wish to consider when you make a plan to go into business for yourself.
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