My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Focus is overrated for wealth building - diversifying across multiple businesses can be more profitable and enjoyable than focusing on one
The Reasoning
Compounding doesn't care about focus; it works across multiple ventures. Diversification provides learning arbitrage where insights from one business improve others, plus reduces single-point-of-failure risk.
What Needs to Be True
- Ability to identify common patterns across different businesses
- Skill in quick validation and iteration cycles
- Strong systems thinking to manage multiple ventures
- High tolerance for complexity and context switching
Counterargument
Focus enables deeper expertise, stronger competitive moats, and compound learning within a single domain, leading to market-leading positions
What Would Change This View
Evidence that focused entrepreneurs consistently outperform diversified ones at similar income levels, or data showing diversification leads to mediocrity rather than optimization
Implications for Builders
Don't abandon profitable side projects when starting new ventures
Look for synergies and shared learning across business lines
Build systems that can handle multiple revenue streams
Focus energy on quick validation rather than deep planning
Example Application
“Entrepreneur running profitable Amazon FBA business discovers Facebook Marketplace opportunity. Instead of abandoning FBA to focus, runs both, applies customer research skills from FBA to Marketplace business, and doubles total revenue within 6 months.”