Is it OK to be multi passionate in your business?

Well, you probably know my story. I started with a multi-niche blog.

And I could not make it successful in terms of conversion. Even though I got a lot of traffic, I was unable to serve and convert to that multi-niche audience.

I was having audience interested in relationships, blogging, technology and health since I was writing about all these on one website.

I seriously couldn’t imagine doing that now! I am not sure how I did it back then.

Anyway, since I was unable to cope I dissolved that website.

Unable to cope?

Yes. On a single website when I wrote about all things under the sun. So I was attracting audience that were interested in different topics.

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I was collecting emails. But when I had to send a relationship related email, people interested in technology and blogging were also receiving that email.

Of course I could segment the list. But I also had to segment people while I collected the list.

I had to use separate campaigns. That was somewhat manageable.

But on my website, when someone came looking for a health related article, they were presented with all the other things as well.

I was confusing my readers as well as myself.

That’s what I meant by “unable to cope”.

So does this mean you cannot have multiple passions?

Well, I was always told that I should be super focused on one topic/niche and go deeper in that one topic.

I was always told that being a jack of all things is a failure formula.

And so, I was too afraid to be multi passionate, even though that was my nature.

I dissolved my original multi-niche blog and decided to focus only on blogging/entrepreneurship/business niche.

But something was really not right.

While I was really interested in writing about business and blogging, I also wanted to do something about my passions for health, beauty, fitness tips, technology and website design.

So I decided to start multiple websites.

If I write about all things in one website, I confuse myself and I confuse my readers.

My promotional strategies are seriously hit as well.

But if I start a dedicated website for each of my passions, things will be much more clear, right?

I thought so.

The pros and cons of running multiple websites/businesses

When I said I started a website for each of my passion, I did not start them to mere write about my passions.

I only started websites where I had a chance to start a business. I already decided what my business was – with each of those new ventures – and then started those websites.

If it were to just write about my passions, people would not care. And over the time, my passions would have faded too.

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Multiple sources of income

Having multiple businesses will act as multiple sources of income. Here I am assuming that you are actually starting a website that represents a business and not just a hobby blog.

And with multiple passions, the business will be varied, so is the income nature.

For instance, my web design and hosting business is represented by Best Hosting and Design and the income from that source is partly active and partly passive.

With design projects we will have to work individually with clients and get paid for the work we did.

With other services like website maintenance, website transfer and the like, it is the same case. The income is active. We do the work and get paid.

On the other hand, with our web hosting projects, we sell the server space once and get paid for it on a recurring basis – of course, we handle occasional technical issues, downtimes, and maintenance – but for the major part, the income is passive.

Here at janesheeba.com, my income is mostly passive. I create and sell online courses for which I do the creation work once and then I make money every time a sale is made.

On the other hand, with my health and wellness website – slickwellness.com and on my technology website – techbuzzonline.com most of the income – or I should say – all of the income is passive.

Mostly advertising and affiliate income.

In any business I strongly recommend my clients to have multiple income streams.

If you rely too much on one income stream and if anything goes wrong with that income stream, you will get a big hit.

In order to avoid such a situation and to maintain a financial stability in your business, you should have multiple and diverse income streams.

So if you are multi-passionate and can build a business out of each of your passions, you should take that route since it can turn out to be profitable.

Keeping it fresh

This is purely my personal opinion. And I am sure you would have experienced the same at least at some point in your blogging career.

Boredom.

It hits you at strange times. Even when you are thinking that you are ultra passionate about whatever you are blogging on, you could still be hit by boredom at times.

At those times, if you could work on different topics, it keeps you fresh.

I personally find that I don’t suffer from boredom when I constantly switch between creating and promoting different types of content on different topics.

It helps keep my thoughts fresh as I constantly create content on different topics.

Overwhelmed, burned out, couldn’t find the time

This is a very reasonable struggle that you’ll come across if you are going to manage multiple businesses.

Even though in cases where I said, all the income is passive, you still have to do some basic things to keep those websites afloat.

Content creation and promotion being the most important aspects here.

And creating content for a bunch of websites, all by yourself, isn’t fun. It takes a lot of work. And then comes promotion.

So if you are having a full time job and if you are running your business part time, I wouldn’t advise you to start multiple businesses at once.

You should wait until you get to business full time and to a point where you have enough income to outsource many tasks with your business.

Outsourcing is a highly crucial aspect in any business. Initial when you start out you might be doing everything yourself.

Outsourcing costs money but frees up your time.

So when your business starts to grow, you should set aside some budget for outsourcing tedious tasks in your business.

Remember growing your business is not just about increasing your income. It is also about expanding.

So when you expand your business you cannot do it all by yourself, you certainly need additional hands.

Apart from outsourcing, you need self discipline and time management skills to manage your time effectively.

Additional financial stress

While starting multiple businesses will help you with increasing your income, you also have to spend money to keep those businesses running.

So I wouldn’t advice you to start additional businesses before your initial/first business start making a steady stream of income.

Additionally, if you already have a 9-5 job, you could save some money from that source for starting additional businesses when you quit.

So please be aware that multiple businesses not only mean more income, it also means more investment and running expenses.

Just prepare yourself.

Are you multi-passionate? What do you think you are going to do about it?

I would like to know from you. In my case, I am multi-passionate.

I also find it personally profitable – both in terms of money and in a personal sense.

I rarely get bored with my business. And I rarely get hit by the so-called writers block.

This is because I blog on different niches.

But remember it took me lots of trial and errors and lots of time to understand how this thing actually works.

I even thought at one point that I should not have started more than one businesses because it was so hard to cope – just because I was doing it the wrong way!

But once you have clarity, yes you can be multi-passionate.

My verdict: Yes you can be multi-passionate. But don’t start everything all at once. You need to start with one passion, dominate your niche, build a successful business and then slowly you should expand!

What are your thoughts? Please share in the comments below!