This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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It's a classic case of focus versus diversification. How many projects can you work on at once? Should you go deep or go wide? Very common question, very common struggle. Or even if it's not a struggle for everyone, like actually over the years I have noticed that most side hustlers from time to time encounter this dilemma.
Even if it's not a struggle, they still face decisions about choosing between different ideas or just where to put their attention. You're working on something and you're excited about it, but then you notice something else. And is this something else just a distraction? Is it a shining object that's gonna take you away from what should be your focus? Or is it in fact the better opportunity?
Because we've had lots of stories where people begin doing something and then through that process, they discover the real project effectively. So how do you kind of resolve these issues or this tension? I would never say like you must choose only one business idea at a time, but I also understand the real risks and costs associated with not focusing at all. Like some of us actually have more of a risk on that side of things. So today's caller has a dilemma around this topic.
They have three independent ideas. They aren't sure whether they should eliminate any of them. So what should they in fact do? Or at least how can they make the best decision? Their question and my answer coming up in just 30 seconds.
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Hello Chris, this is Jasmine from Chicago. I've made this my year of the hustle and I'm working on three independent ideas. These ideas don't compete with each other for the most part and they can each be done according to whatever schedule I set. That said, even though I am excited about each idea and they don't really conflict, I'm worried I won't be able to give my all to each of them. My question is, should I drop two of them to focus more intensely on one?
Or maybe split the difference and drop one so that there's just two? It's tricky because I'm not relying on these projects for income right now, but I want to be able to do that in the near future. That's why I had three ideas and thought it would be good to spread the risk and potential profit around. Thanks, I'm looking forward to whatever guidance you can give me. Hey, thanks so much for calling in.
Congratulations as well on making this a year of the hustle for you. I've been hearing about that from a lot of different listeners who are saying, this is the year I've been listening for a while or whether I know the podcast or not, I've been thinking for a long time about starting something and I'm really dedicated to moving forward. So congratulations to everybody in that situation. And what do you do when you have multiple ideas? Well, actually everybody's gonna have multiple ideas.
So how do you handle this situation when it comes up? The general answer is that choosing to focus on only one idea is the right approach if your time is extremely limited, like everyone's time is limited, but if your time is extremely limited or if you're really worried about getting overwhelmed, you've tried starting projects and you never get very far because you feel overwhelmed. Or perhaps if it appears clear that one of your ideas is really gonna take off, like you're sure that it's much more profitable than the others than in those situations, like that's a good time to focus on only one idea. And in terms of this situation, where we're looking at three independent ideas, it's hard to say, but most likely I would recommend you drop one of them. But more importantly, whatever you do there, I would recommend you identify the key actions that would cause any of these ideas to take off.
And this is a really helpful thing to do when you have multiple projects and you're trying to figure out how do I focus, identify those actions that are related to profitability and growth. We often get sidetracked by lots of little things that have nothing to do with those two factors, like profitability and growth. What's going to cause you to make more money? What's going to cause this project to go far beyond what you initially imagined, perhaps, or however you like to think of it? The point is more than just choosing the number of projects, focus on mini, diversify, broad versus deep, et cetera.
It's important to spend your limited side hustle time on the key actions that will really make a difference. So I think that's actually more important than how many projects and such. It's how are you spending your time on those actions that are going to help you make money, create more freedom, opportunity, and ultimately give you more autonomy so that you have more choice. And then, of course, you'll have to go through this whole process again, but it's not an unhealthy cycle. It's actually very good for you.
So that's what I think about that. Good luck. Let me know how it goes. Listeners, if you've got a question, sidehustleschool.com/questions. Love to know what you're up to, what you're struggling in, what's going well, all those things.
Let me know, we will report back. And, of course, I hope you will join me again tomorrow, new episode every single day. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
from the Onward Project.
