Hello folks, My personal coach recently advised me that an entrepreneur is only prone to succeed when focused on one area of interest at a time. This is the exact opposite of what is happening in my case: I'm working on one consultancy project, as well as co-launching a marketing consultancy, an Internet project, and a construction one. :) Those who have experience in similar situations - what do you think? Do you have/know of cases when people succeeded in one or many projects whilst working on them part-time? thanks! :)

Well i can tell your from my own experience that I am going through the same thing... I'm in the middle of trying to open another business (child care center) while trying to get my feet wet (figure of speech) in the Wedding/Bridal industry. There are so many different things that I want to do. My mom is always telling me that I have too many things going on and that I need to focus on one thing at a time. It's hard to do because I'm the type that like to get things going But your personal coach is correct you need to focus on one thing at a time....

It depends on how you are going through starting these many projects at once, your work ethic, productivity, and capacity to multi-task. And of course, resources. There are people who can do it -- and succeed, but many fail. The question is: can you do it? If you have someone else doing the actual implementation of starting these businesses while you are only focusing on the strategies, then you can succeed. The consultancy projects are related, though the focus is different, but a construction project is way off. You need to ask yourself: - do you have money to hire someone and delegate some of the tasks that needs to be done to work on these projects? - do you have responsibilities outside of these four projects? - do you have a family who may want a portion of your time, as working on 4 different projects at once may mean you need 25 hour workdays? - how focused are you? - how well do you manage your time? - how much are you willing to sacrifice to get these projects off the ground? It all depends on your willingness to commit and work hard at it. But working on all is EXTREMELY HARD. If you don't have laser like focus and operates on clockwork, or have a family, then you can do these projects at once. But it is better to stagger them so you can focus on one, make sure it launches off the ground well, and see it running BEFORE moving to another project. Personally, I can't do it by myself. So look at yourself and see if this is something you can do. If your personal coach has already adviced you to do only one project at a time -- and this is a person who presumably knows you -- then you're better off following your coach's advice

There is an old saying that goes along well with this subject. "If you try and chase two rabbits you end up losing them both." -- Grissom, Too Tough to Die I think that imisidro has given some great examples that are exceptions to the rule.