How to manage multiple businesses, from the serial entrepreneurs who do it best

The only thing better than one great idea is many great ideas. As a serial entrepreneur, you live in a world where the possibilities are infinite and the experiences enriching. Therefore, most entrepreneurs today work on different platforms, managing multiple businesses – in some cases, awe-inspiringly well, in others, not quite.

Here are nine quotes from serial entrepreneurs that can help you manage all the strings that come attached along with all your business ventures.

“Being able to focus is vital. It’s just so easy to become overwhelmed or to spread yourself too thin. If you can’t compartmentalize and apply yourself completely to one thing at a time, it’s unlikely you’ll get very far with any of your businesses.”

– Colin Wright, Podcast host of Let’s Know Things and co-founder of Asymmetrical Press, on the importance of focus-building

“In the business world today, failure is apparently not an option. We need to change this attitude toward failure – and celebrate the idea that only by falling on our collective business faces do we learn enough to succeed down the road.”

– Naveen Jain, founder of Moon Express, Intelius, and Infospace, on seeing failure as a stepping stone to success

“When running more than one business, it’s important to try to simplify the day-to-day administrative tasks of running multiple businesses. By creating systems and processes, as well as outsourcing as many tasks as possible, it will allow a business owner to focus more time on creating new products, services, customers, and revenue for each business.”

– Dreama Lee, President of Efficient Enterprises, Inc. and Intern Profits, on creating systems of simplification

“The best advice I can give to any serial entrepreneur is to always stay positive and keep your end goal in mind. Every single day will bring roadblocks and challenges, but if you always maintain a positive mindset and remember the reasons you are involved and passionate about a project, those challenges will be only small stepping stones for you to learn from and use for your next ventures.”

– Alexa Rose Carlin, Founder of Women Empower Expo and Hello Perfect, on developing a positive frame of mind

“When you move from one business to the next, it’s critical that time is maximized. Staying focused helps serial entrepreneurs get the absolute best return on investment of time. One way that I stay focused is physically scheduling a time via Google Calendar with each of my various startups. Making this commitment sets expectations and allows me to have hard start and stop times for my various business interests.”

– Kristopher Jones, Founder of Special Guest, Iseocom, French Girls, and ReferLocal, on managing time with utmost care

“When a business experiences explosive growth, key procedural items have to be in place, and that takes time and attention. I am fairly risk-averse by nature, so I like to concentrate on one core item at a time, even if that concentration is a short period of time.”

– Lisa Song, Founder of Sin City Cupcakes and Partner in Elite Homes US, on being hyper-attentive to details

“Switching your brain from one project to the next is a difficult task for most. Think of it as a whiteboard that’s wiped clean but sometimes leaves a shadow on the board. The main trait a serial entrepreneur must possess is the ability to go from one failure to another with no lack of enthusiasm. You should enter every new venture with excitement and an enthusiastic state of mind.”

– Fam Mirza, Founder and CEO of 1Face and MirzaMinds, on being enthusiastic despite the odds

“As a serial entrepreneur, you have massive time constraints and you need to filter which ideas you can work on right now and which you should let go. I dedicate a whole book to my ideas. I write down every idea I have. Some ideas are meant for right now. Other ideas have to wait. But they shouldn’t be cluttering your mind. Write them down to ensure that you won’t forget the idea but decide that this is not the right moment to act upon it.”

– Gwenda Schobert, Founder of Silver Hearts India and Gwenda Glocalista, on making the right choice

“Your original idea was outside the box, innovative, and groundbreaking. Fantastic. Your next job is to figure out how to streamline your business process for that idea into a workable, easy-to-duplicate model so that the next big idea can be carried out with minimal added time and effort.”

– Consuelo Bova, CEO at For The Fit and Smart Mouth Learning, on being smart about business

As a serial entrepreneur, managing all your various ventures can sometimes become a little overwhelming. If you ever find yourself stuck or at a crossroads, and at a loss for what to do next, remember these words from other serial entrepreneurs who have been where you are and can provide the insight you need to keep moving forward.