Diversifying Your Business

Muscles. Endurance. Speed. Any fitness expert will tell you the way to make your physique bigger, stronger and faster is to cross-train. "Absolutely," says Jim Ferreri, a personal trainer at the Cincinnati Athletic Club, the nation's oldest athletic organization. "We have some runners here. Most people would say they must be in great shape; they can run forever. But," and now Ferreri sounds smug, "have them pick something up. They're not going to be able to pick up much weight." The treadmill alone can't do it. And you can't bench-press your way to total fitness. If you're going to be healthy and fit, you have to mix it up.

That philosophy makes sense for athletes, and cents for entrepreneurs-millions and billions of them. Which is why you should ask yourself an important question: Am I an entrepreneur who cross-trains, or am I stuck on a treadmill?