How To Manage Multiple Businesses

How to manage multiple businesses

Congratulations! You succeeded in setting up a number of businesses! Now you want to know how to manage multiple businesses.

Entrepreneurs know how challenging it can be to establish a business from scratch.

Though they think they’ve learned the ropes, challenges will continue to arise with the everyday operations of a business.

Also, every new venture will need to grow and be taken care of.

Without effective business management skills, managing a business let alone starting multiple businesses can be quite a difficult endeavor.

Of course, this isn’t saying that you should only focus your attention on a single business entity.

Whenever a viable opportunity to become a multiple business owner presents itself, a businessman’s reflex will tell him to pounce.

Owning multiple small businesses

When you’re someone who has ideas for various businesses, it won’t be easy to let go of them.

If you find ideas that have a high potential for succeeding, your mind will encourage you to study it further.

Also, It’ll move you to invest in it should you have the resources to do so.

But keep in mind that to succeed with more business ventures, you’ll have to overcome a number of obstacles.

Some of them might require you to get the assistance of a few experts here and there.

Upon deciding to start more businesses, ensure that you can juggle them in a way that they can grow into full-fledged entities.

The process doesn’t end when you bring an idea to life.

It starts there, then you have the obligation, the responsibility to see things through to fruition.

How to Effectively Run a Business When There’s More Than One to Run

How to structure multiple businesses under one roof

If you can own many businesses, why not?

It may not be easy but it’s quite possible to manage multiple businesses effectively.

The thing about running multiple businesses is that it’s doable provided you know how to manage a business.

Here are some of the things that can be taken into consideration to achieve such a feat.

Invest in an HQ

Owning multiple businesses

You should invest in corporate headquarters.

This is especially if you’re working with the same people on these multiple business ventures.

One of the most important lessons on how to manage a business is to be present in operations.

By having one space to run your businesses from, it’s easier for you to oversee them and address their needs on time.

Not only will you be better able to monitor your businesses but you’ll also save resources over time.

This is because the HQ’s resources will be used by more than one entity.

This would easily lead to a significant amount of savings when it comes to your overhead.

Depending on the nature of your ventures, you could choose to employ HQ employees to work on multiple projects.

Thereby further decreasing your overhead spending.

Multiple businesses under one corporation

To effectively run a business, you also have to be smart when it comes to even the simplest moves.

When everything is in one location, the day to day operations of a business become simpler.

This includes meetings and everything else.

You’ll get more things done in a day and benefit from the collaboration amongst staff members to boot.

You can design your HQ in a way that areas are separated either by departments or by the business if necessary.

It’s still important that your people have the right space to work in.

Ensure that the central office is organized both in terms of layout and internal processes.

This is so you won’t have to worry about problems from misplaced paperwork to unaddressed job orders.

Focus on Developing an Integrated Process

Starting multiple businesses

Considering that you took the first suggestion to heart, further enhance the benefits of having a central office.

It brings your businesses together via an integrated process.

Basically, this means developing a working process that will be applicable across the different entities.

You’ll be monitoring more than one business, and an integrated process will make everything easier for you and the staff to address.

Imagine having several businesses, each with its own operational handbook.

Now that can lead to a lot of confusion and costly mistakes.

In this case, if you want to succeed with more, you might have to consider working with fewer components.

Multiple businesses

Obviously, you won’t be working with a similar idea applied across the board.

Chances are you will also be targeting distinct niches per business.

However, dealing with every one of them, one at a time, may not be the most effective move when starting multiple businesses.

Effective business management dictates that you be as wise with the use of your time and resources as possible.

When you have to create a business plan, work up a budget, marketing plan, and even sales strategies per business.

Streamlining them can be an efficient and effective solution to the task.

Managing more than one business

Speeding up the completion of every venture’s requirements will give you more time to think about the income-generating part of the equation.

Especially when you’ve already applied similar tactics, tried and tested, in a previous business.

Now, you have a benchmark for your new endeavors.

You have something that’s more inclined to work than fail.

In addition, you can enjoy more saved time and effort as you no longer have to test anything the second time.

Part of being a multiple business owner is being observant enough to know which processes can be merged.

Even if you have different types of businesses in your arsenal, chances are some of their operational processes will bear similarities and these are what you have to be mindful of.

Learn to Prioritize

Running multiple businesses

Just like with any other thing, focus on tasks that are high-priority.

You should address anything urgent that needs your attention.

So learn to categorize your daily responsibilities as such.

Regarding the question of how to manage multiple businesses effectively, it doesn’t really matter the type of businesses you’re running.

What matters is how you’re running the entire cluster.

Surely, you’ll have some legal form of ownership over the businesses.

Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean that you have to dip your fingers in everything.

This is especially so if you have staff, managers, and partners that you’re working with, collaborate and delegate.

See what you have to do and check which tasks you can outsource.

Managing multiple businesses successfully

As you assess which tasks need your attention, organize them into three categories: urgent, intermediate, and those which can wait.

Go through the urgent list first then move on to the second one.

If you can insert some of the more menial tasks in between the more time-bound ones, do it.

Sometimes, business owners use them as breaks because heavier responsibilities can be rather tiring or draining at times.

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

Successfully managing multiple businesses

When it comes to not sweating the small stuff, this goes beyond the fulfillment of menial tasks.

In business, you’ll encounter people who, no matter how hard you work, won’t be satisfied with what you’ve exerted effort in to put out.

Getting their feedback is fine but if you focus most of your energy on what they have to say then you’ll miss out on attending to the right people.

That is, those who continue to patronize whatever product or service it is you’re offering.

When it comes to the question of how to manage multiple businesses, one of the things you should remember to learn how to prioritize feedback and your reaction to them.

As long as your business is up, running, and thriving, then you’re doing something right.

Get on with it and don’t let the small stuff discourage you from doing good work.

Focus on the positives as much as you can.

How to run multiple businesses successfully

Of course, you shouldn’t disregard negative feedback.

However, just like what was mentioned earlier, consider it, apply when necessary, but leave it at that.

Nevertheless,  to save you from similar occurrences down the line, you might want to prepare contingency plans that can address such feedback should you encounter them again.

The faster you address these concerns, the sooner you can set them aside.

Improve Your Organizational Skills

Running more than one business

If you own any businesses, it’s important that you be as organized as possible.

Here, lists are your allies so make tons of them; as much as you need and more.

Depending on your preference, you can go with old-school handwritten ones but do consider digitizing your efforts.

This makes it easier for you to track your progress and share these lists with those you work with.

They can also update them in real-time across multiple devices.

Again, when it comes to running multiple businesses, efficiency matters tremendously.

The great thing about digital lists is that there are special applications that will actually help you merge lists.

Also, addressing tasks becomes much easier since the application can combine related tasks for you with the click of a button.

This means that you can hit two, or more birds with one stone whenever possible saving you lots of valuable time.

How to run more than one business

Particularly, if you have more than one type of business organizations to attend to, you need to be organized so that nothing is left unattended.

If you need to bring back the art of color-coding tasks then, by all means, do so.

Just be sure to record everything each business needs properly so that they will be addressed accordingly.

Improve Your Time Management Skills

How to run multiple businesses

Time management in business is extremely important.

It’s not just something that will help ensure tasks are attended to when they have to be addressed.

Time management also helps you balance the degree of attention that you give to each of your businesses.

It helps you determine whether or not you’re spending the right amount of time for each business and know where said hours have been spent.

Over time, as you assess your time distribution table, you can determine which areas you can be more productive in.

In this case, it’d be wise if you invested in time-trackers.

Considering that you’ve already invested to attain a legal form of ownership over the business, spending a bit more on tech tools shouldn’t be a problem.

This is true especially if it will help you become more productive in the long run.

Owning more than one business

Also, asides tracking your man-hours, another application of proper time management can be done with the help of boxed-out business schedules.

Considering that you’ll be working on multiple businesses within a day, use time blocks to effectively divide your day across your different businesses.

For each time block, just focus your attention on the business entity dedicated to it.

This way, you’ll be able to reduce confusion amongst tasks and be better able to manage the requirements of each business.

Measure Performance

Managing multiple businesses

Data is something you shouldn’t ignore.

No matter how basic you might think something is, what you have here is information that helps you assess your businesses’ performance and maintain accountability.

When starting a second business or creating more of them down the line, you can refer to data gathered from previous businesses.

It helps you create enhanced strategies per applicable niche.

This is the great thing about data, it can easily improve the way you build, manage, and grow your business.

As you measure your performance, you can also identify weak points in your operations.

This includes other areas that you can alter to improve your overall efficiency.

You can see which areas need more attention, which resources you need more or can save from, and so on.

Successful management of multiple businesses

When it comes to your business data, make sure that you have a file of records.

Particularly for those which apply to growth, social media exposure, reputation, customer satisfaction, lead generation, conversions, and other categories that showcase your marketing and operational strategies.

Delegate and Collaborate

Successful management of multiple businesses

Earlier, it was mentioned that time management in business is extremely important.

In line with this, you should be organized and shouldn’t really sweat the small stuff.

This is where delegation comes into the scene.

You’ll be working with different people across your different businesses.

Use this to your advantage.

If there are tasks that need your attention, see if you have to work on them or if you can find someone among your staff to attend to these requirements.

You probably have a finance person or accountant, leave them to update and manage the books and focus on the generated reports.

If there are admin tasks that need to be addressed then let your front office person work on them.

The more tasks you can delegate and trust to be managed properly, the better.

Save your time for tasks that need your personal attention.

Owning and running multiple businesses

Also, it’s important that you learn to collaborate.

Working on multiple endeavors is never easy and chances are, you’re not an expert on all fields and niches.

So make sure to listen to your partners and staff.

Also, involve them in the operational process as they might have valuable insights that your company can benefit from.

It will be a great idea to create the kind of environment where everyone can have the opportunity to work on various projects.

There’s a lot of expertise and knowledge to be shared here so take advantage of it.

On the part of the company, you can gain valuable insights into your brand.

For the staff, you’ll be giving them more opportunities to shine.

Bring In the Pros When Necessary

How can i run my multiple businesses successfully

Of course, it’s not about simply trying to learn everything; there are times when you need to bring in reinforcements to ensure that all businesses run seamlessly.

Especially if you’re working with more than one entity at a time, you’ll definitely benefit a whole lot by hiring experts to manage important daily tasks.

Focus on the core components of your business and let the pros handle everything else.

As much as possible, try your best not to multitask especially when dealing with serious parts of the process.

For example, if you need to create specialized programs, hire a team of expert developers rather than have you or your existing staff play around with amateur software apps online.

If you need someone to manage the books, don’t leave it to your admin personnel.

Instead, hire a certified accountant or bookkeeper.

How do i manage my multiple businesses successfully

An expert on-board will reduce the onset of costly mistakes and gets tasks done right the first time around.

Also, you’ll have the expertise of these people.

The kind that can answer any of your inquiries in a thorough manner.

Managing a business can be daunting enough.

Having to worry about more than one business can be quite overwhelming indeed.

But as previously mentioned, it really isn’t impossible to learn how to manage multiple businesses.

All you have to do is organize your processes and start on a clean and orderly slate.

Hopefully, these tips will help you run your business umbrella more effectively moving forward.

Remember, it will be challenging but it’s not impossible to manage more than one venture at a time.

You just have to know where and how to start.

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how to manage multiple businesses