How many different directions can you grow your business?

I see this thread similar to a domestic tour agency that I know. We are actually in search of a local tour for the mountain area up north of Metro Manila. The tour agency started from van rental on a daily basis. When he noticed that his clients usually ask him about tourist spots in the country, he broadened his business to include a tour package after connecting with some inn and cheap hotels in the provinces. Now his business is a full tour package that they call "all in" to include transportation, accommodation, food, and an experienced tour guide to boot.

He is on the drawing board for the inclusion of camping equipment and materials also to be rented to his clients.

 

I think the adaptability of one's own business is a surprising thing. It depends on your creativity. You can keep your focus rather straight and plain--true to your original intent. Kind of like a car manufacturer, whose platform for the kind of vehicle they wish to fabricate remains unwavering. They will do what needs to be done in order to see the fruition of their objective but will rarely stray from vehicles. On the other hand, a craft business might start with selling goods for painters then realize there's a market for other supplies. Soon they're dabbling in stationary, wood working, framing, arts and crafts classes, and eventually even hosting craft fairs. Though the main focus is crafts, they've expanded into different realms and different promotional methods.
For me, the ways I can grow my freelancing and dance business is by following my passions and utilizing what makes me unique, much like a craft store.

 

It all depends of your resources, honestly and how much time are you willing to invest in your company. If you are a single man army, I'd suggest focusing on one direction at a time rather than chasing 5 rabits and not chasing any one. Why? Because while you are running in 5 directions, other people are focusing on one of those directions and are giving their best.

 

At the moment I just run one business - design. Current direction is to provide logo/branding, collateral, app, and web design. I've recently expanded into offering coding services. Not very comprehensive, just one language, and only for the web (no mobile apps or anything). Using both skills, I've expanded into offering the full package - full-stack web service. To prove I can do it, I made a site that sells ready-made logos and icons. So that's two ways so far.

To expand further, I could learn the basics of Wordpress & design web templates for that platform. Or I could learn PHP & offer full Wordpress services. If I go that route, I could maybe make a purchasable Wordpress template, and sell it on the Envato platform. Another possible way to expand, would be to learn Objective C, and start offering app-construction services. One other way is to brush up on my 3D skills, and combine my coding ability & graphic design, to create fresh new games.

Now, unfortunately, due to the extremely low barrier of entry of the design industry, every Tom, Dick, and Harry thinks they can make do with downloadable templates (of questionable copyright & ownerships) and self-made stuff. Clients too are spoiled for choice, with many in third-world countries offering cheap to free services. These and other factors unfortunately reduced the respect and overall incomes of designers. The Wordpress area is completely saturated, so that's probably not a useful avenue to take. Apps (both development and design) still has a market, even if there are countless apps out there that make no money. If you know both design and app development, you could earn somewhat decently. Unfortunately, this probably isn't going to last very long. Newer and more exciting gadgets have appeared in the horizon (VR, AR, etc..), and it's only a matter of time before handhelds are gone. I give it a couple more years. As for 3D games, it's rather risky and extremely time-consuming to create even the simplest of 3D games. While open-source engines exists, they still take time and money to build something that folks actually want to play.

Future's not looking too bright in this field at the moment. So I'm taking my design skill towards the only direction that makes the most sense - using design as one of my powerful toolsets. Development is another. Rather than depend on clients, I'd much prefer building things myself. That's probably the best way to grow... as a brand new business.

 

It appears your friends have figured there is no end to the possibilities. It's kind of like the game of "Six Degrees From Kevin Bacon". You can connect anything and everything, so the possibilities for expansion are endless.