Diversify Your Business: Grow What You Already Know

In my video “Diversify Your Business: Grow What You Already Know,” I walk through a simple but powerful idea: the fastest, least risky way to increase income or scale a small business is by building off the knowledge and skills you already have. I’m Ravi Patel, and in this post I’ll expand on that message, give practical steps you can use today, share examples, and answer the common questions I get from clients who are stuck between staying at a job and taking a leap into entrepreneurship.

Table of Contents

• ⚡ Attention: Why Most People Get Stuck
• 🔍 Interest: The Problem With Looking Outside Your Strengths
• 🌱 Desire: Grow What You Already Know
• 🛠 Action: A Practical, Step-by-Step Plan to Diversify Safely
• 📈 How to Know When to Pivot or Double Down
• 🚫 Common Mistakes to Avoid
• 🔁 Examples of Low-Risk Diversification
• 🧭 How to Price Your New Offers
• 🧾 Realistic Timeline: What to Expect in the First 90 Days
• ❓ Frequently Asked Questions
• ✅ Final Thoughts and Call to Action

⚡ Attention: Why Most People Get Stuck

I’ve worked with a lot of people who ask two variations of the same question: How do I increase my income from what I already do? And how do I start a business without losing everything? Those concerns are valid, and I hear them over and over. What I also notice is a pattern: people often look outside of their existing skills when they think about a side hustle or a new business.

That pattern shows up in familiar ways. A software engineer thinks, “Maybe I should open a gas station.” A corporate sales rep wonders if buying into a grocery store franchise is the right move. An excellent product salesperson hears about a friend’s restaurant doing well and says, “I should try that.” The impulse to chase something that looks profitable is natural—but it’s also where most people make costly mistakes.

“The simplest business pivots are often the ones already waiting inside your current job or trade.” — Mike Gumnani

🔍 Interest: The Problem With Looking Outside Your Strengths

When you leave your field, you add multiple layers of risk: a new industry to learn, a new customer base, operational hazards you haven’t managed before, and often a partner or investment that introduces interpersonal risk. I’ve had clients who invested in businesses that failed, resulting in paperwork, losses, stress, and retreat to their previous job—worse than where they started because they now question their ability to ever launch again.

That fear is a real barrier. It’s not just about money; it’s about time, reputation, and confidence. The complexity multiplies when partners disagree, cash flow dries up, and the “business” becomes something you didn’t sign up for.

🌱 Desire: Grow What You Already Know

The core idea I recommend is simple: diversify within the ecosystem of what you already know. Think of your main work as a plant you’ve already planted. Instead of uprooting that plant to try and grow a mango tree on the roof, graft new branches onto the same stem. Those branches—services, products, offers—should naturally complement your core skill set.

Why this works:

• You already know the language, the customers, and the pain points.
• You’re more credible and can charge premium rates earlier.
• Testing new offers costs less because you can use existing networks and systems.
• When something fails, you lose less because your core income or business keeps running.

Real examples to illustrate the point

If you’re in tech and employed at a company, you don’t have to buy a gas station. Consider consulting on the side, building SaaS features, creating packaged services (like deployment audits or security reviews), or productizing internal tools you already developed.

If you’re a salesperson selling a single product, the natural expansion is related products or services that solve adjacent problems for your buyers. Offer installation, warranties, maintenance packages, training, or subscription-based replacements—things that fit the buyer’s lifecycle.

🛠 Action: A Practical, Step-by-Step Plan to Diversify Safely

Here’s the step-by-step framework I give clients who want to diversify without overreaching. Follow it exactly as written and customize the details to your situation.

1. Audit your skills and assets. List everything you do well, tools you use, relationships you have, and content you’ve produced. Include client lists, GitHub repos, templates, and processes.
2. Map customer pain points. Spend a week listening. Call past customers, check comments in your industry groups, and list the top 3-5 recurring problems you or your colleagues solve.
3. Match skills to problems. Which of your skills directly solve those recurring problems? Pick the easiest 1–2 services or product ideas that require the least new learning and can be spun up fast.
4. Design a minimum viable offer. Package the chosen idea into a simple, clear offer with a price. Example: a 90-minute audit for $500; a monthly $99 maintenance package; a one-day workshop for $1,200.
5. Test with existing networks. Offer to 5–10 people at a discount or in exchange for a testimonial. Sell the value, not the feature.
6. Measure results and iterate. Track key metrics: leads, conversion rate, time spent per sale, and profit margin. If conversion is low, tweak messaging. If margin is thin, raise price or reduce costs.
7. Systematize and scale. Once the offer converts and makes money, document the process, create templates, and automate or hire for repetitive tasks.

It sounds straightforward because it is. The reason most people fail to follow through is trying to do too many things at once or picking ideas with steep learning curves. Your goal for the first 90 days is validation, not scale.

📈 How to Know When to Pivot or Double Down

There are times when even the “grow what you know” strategy calls for a pivot—just make sure the pivot is adjacent and aligned with your strengths. Use these signals:

• Pivot if: customer feedback shows a clearly better direction, or if recurring revenue looks more likely in an adjacent market.
• Double down if: you get strong conversion rates, positive testimonials, and a profit margin that’s sustainable.

A pivot is not a wild leap; it’s a small shift in the market to align with where demand is stronger. A pivot from consulting to training, or from product customization to a subscription model, keeps you in familiar territory while chasing higher returns.

Warning signs that you’re drifting away from your strengths

• You need to hire specialists because the work is beyond your skill set.
• You spend more time learning the business mechanics than delivering value.
• Your early customers are confused about what you offer because it doesn’t match your background.

🚫 Common Mistakes to Avoid

I’ve watched good people lose time and money because they made avoidable mistakes. Here are the most common pitfalls and how to avoid them:

• Chasing shiny objects: Avoid businesses that look sexy but require a new industry’s expertise. If you don’t already have a differentiator, competition will crush you.
• Partnering too quickly: Formalize roles and responsibilities before you sign anything. Spend a few months working informally together and document key decisions.
• Over-diversifying: Adding five new services at once spreads you thin. Start with one validated offer, then add adjacent ones.
• Skipping feedback loops: Always talk to customers before building a big solution. Feedback saves years of wasted development.
• Ignoring unit economics: Track how much time and money each sale requires. If your hourly rate falls below your minimum acceptable salary, rethink pricing or the process.

🔁 Examples of Low-Risk Diversification

Below are real, tangible examples you can copy depending on the field you’re in:

• Tech employees: Offer code audits, technical consultations, freelance implementation, or build a small plugin that solves a specific pain for your company’s tools.
• Product salespeople: Create a maintenance subscription, training academy, or a bundle of related consumables that deliver recurring revenue.
• Service professionals (design, marketing, HR): Productize your most repeated task as a fixed-price package and sell to small businesses that can’t afford full-time help.
• Teachers and coaches: Turn workshops into online courses or create membership communities where members pay monthly for access, Q&A, and templates.

Case study: From one-off services to subscription revenue

I worked with a client who was a freelance photographer. Her revenue stagnated because she was trading time for money on one-off gigs. We audited her skills and client base, and found a pattern: event clients often needed marketing-ready images, social content, and follow-up shots. We created a “Content for Events” subscription—monthly image packages after each event plus a small retainer for priority scheduling. Her revenue became predictable and increased by 40% in six months.

🧭 How to Price Your New Offers

Pricing is where most people get stuck. Price too low and you waste your time; price too high and no one buys. Use this practical approach:

1. Estimate your true hourly cost (include overhead, taxes, and desired profit).
2. Estimate the total hours needed to deliver your new offer.
3. Multiply to get a cost floor, then add a markup for risk, uniqueness, and value delivered.
4. Test with an introductory price—announce clearly that it’s a limited early-bird rate in exchange for feedback.

Remember: value-based pricing often beats cost-plus pricing. If your solution saves a client $10,000 or produces a measurable improvement, charge a fraction of that value rather than basing price purely on hours spent.

🧾 Realistic Timeline: What to Expect in the First 90 Days

When you start a diversification experiment, here’s a realistic timeline:

• Week 1–2: Audit, list offers, and pick one MVP to test.
• Week 3–4: Build the offer, create a pitch, and reach out to your network.
• Week 5–8: Deliver 3–5 early clients at a discounted or pilot price, gather feedback, and refine.
• Week 9–12: Measure economics, systematize the delivery, and decide whether to scale or pivot.

If after 90 days you have a validated offer with at least a few paying customers and positive testimonials, you have a solid foundation to scale. If not, iterate or pivot to a nearby idea that surfaced from customer feedback.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I don’t have extra time—how can I start a side offer?

A: Start small. Use your existing deliverables and ask current clients if they’d pay for an add-on. Time-box experiments to 5–10 hours a week. Use weekends or one evening to prototype your first MVP. The early goal is validation, not perfection.

Q: What if my employer forbids outside work?

A: Check your contract. If it’s restricted, focus on passive or non-competing ideas—like creating templates, writing about your field (content monetization), or building a product that doesn’t serve your employer’s clients. Alternatively, negotiate a side-project clause with your employer describing boundaries and how it won’t conflict with your role.

Q: How do I find my first customers?

A: Use the networks you already have: past clients, LinkedIn connections, coworkers, local professional groups, and online communities in your niche. Offer a discounted pilot and ask for testimonials and referrals in exchange.

Q: What if I’m not confident in sales or marketing?

A: Sell the result, not the process. Lead with outcomes and case examples. Use simple social proof from pilot clients. If you still struggle, consider a partnership where someone handles client acquisition while you deliver the service, but set clear expectations, revenue splits, and trial periods.

Q: When should I hire help?

A: Hire when the work is consistent (predictable workflows), revenue covers the hire’s cost, and your time is better spent on higher-value tasks. For many small diversifications, outsourcing specific tasks (bookkeeping, admin, basic marketing) is cheaper than hiring a full-time employee.

✅ Final Thoughts and Call to Action

Most people think growth requires leaving what they do and starting something completely new. That’s a dangerous assumption. The faster, safer, and often more profitable path is to diversify around your existing skills—the plant you’ve already planted. Test, validate, and grow in adjacent areas. Keep experiments short, measurable, and connected to what you already know.

If you’re trying to pivot and you feel stuck, here’s a simple challenge:

1. Spend 60 minutes listing your top 10 skills and assets.
2. Spend 60 minutes listing the top 10 problems your customers or colleagues complain about.
3. Find the three overlaps and design one 90-minute productized offer that solves one of those problems.
4. Reach out to five people in your network with that offer at an introductory price.

Let me know how it goes. Share your results or the obstacles you face. If you tried, failed, or became successful at certain points, tell me in the comments—I read them and respond to many. Take the small actions, and you’ll be surprised how quickly momentum builds.

I hope this helps. Take care, and I look forward to hearing about the branches you graft onto your plant.