Most businesses have a core.
Most businesses are based around a single product line or a single type of product, and this is what generates most of the revenue that comes out of the business.
If you think of anything that you like or that you buy or where you go, you'll probably appreciate that, that is the case.
Businesses that get bigger or maturer last for longer often diversify. Some people diversify by growing the number of sites that they provide the business at (think Domino's Pizza), or some people will diversify products, think Apple starting with Macs and then into iPods, then into phones, and into Apple Pay, etc., etc., etc.
Some people diversify within their own industry, and some people take the opportunity to diversify outside. When diversification happens because people want, strive, and would like to get bigger, one of the risks, and a significant risk, is to ignore the core.
The core of your business is your engine room; it's the bit that provides the power for everything else to happen.
If you get busy painting the outside of your car or adding accessories here or there, or being obsessed with the sound system, or the stitching on the seats and paying no attention to the engine room, you'll have something which is very fancy that doesn't go anywhere.
That metaphor is absolutely real, but founders of businesses, whatever size, often get caught up with chasing the bright, shiny object over there without the ability to look at the engine room over here.
There are only really two solutions to this problem.
The first is never to diversify and grow, just to stick to what you have and try to make that better and make a living doing that.
The second is to put foundations in place for people to take care of the engine room (the engineers), so that you can run off into the sunshine looking for new opportunities and projects, and the objects that shine very bright.
Only two options, stick or twist, but if you're twisting, you'd better have someone really good looking after the engine room.
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