Stephen Brooks was a great men's clothing salesperson. In
fact, he was so good, he was soon managing several upscale clothing
stores in and around San Francisco a few short years after getting
into that line of work. But clothes were never Brooks' passion;
novelty antiques like vintage Coca-Cola machines and Wurlitzer
Jukeboxes were. Brooks had amassed quite a collection of these cool
items and dreamed of one day turning them into a full-time business
(he had sold items on the side since 1973). Finally, fed up with
the corporate life, he decided to start a business in a spare
bedroom, selling his unique items via mail order.
He soon found that there was indeed a market for his antiques.
But he also learned that he didn't make enough money solely
selling them by mail order. So he was forced to start a second
profit center--a shop, which was also an almost immediate
success.
Soon Brooks discovered that a third profit center for his wares
was also possible. After selling some items at an antique show, he
began to devote more time to that division of his business. Today
he sells at more than 40 shows per year. Still in business after 15
years, and still being operated mainly from his home, now in
Sacramento, California, Brooks Novelty Antiques & Records and
its three profit centers gross between $25,000 and $35,000 per
month.
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Most businesses do the same thing. Billionaire Richard Branson,
owner of the Virgin Group, says that he had the multiple business
model in mind from the day he began building what would become an
empire. That's why he eventually named his business the Virgin
Group. Virgin Music was soon joined by Virgin-Atlantic Airlines and
Virgin Cola, among others. Don't think that Branson is so
unlike you; he began the Virgin Group with a single record store
above a shoe shop in London, and he bartered his rent. Amazon.com
began in Jeff Bezos' garage. Now, besides books, Amazon has its
hands in an online pharmacy, a pet store and innumerable other
profit centers.
I'm not saying that starting a second business will be easy.
What it is, however, is important. The risk of putting all your
eggs in one basket is simply too great to ignore.
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