By Jeff Gilder, WingDing MEDIA™ Founder
I’ve spent a lifetime chasing opportunity.
And if I’m honest with myself—and with you—it took me far too long to realize the true cost of that chase.
Like many entrepreneurs, I bought into the idea that success meant building multiple income streams. It sounded smart. It sounded secure. And everywhere I looked, people were preaching the same gospel: “Don’t rely on just one thing. Diversify. Stack your streams.”
Here’s the problem: It’s terrible advice for anyone still building.
The Trap of Simultaneous Construction
Imagine trying to build five houses at once—with one crew, one toolbox, and not enough materials for any single job. That’s what it’s like trying to build multiple income streams before you’ve completed even one. Nothing gets finished. Nothing is structurally sound. And you exhaust your resources before anything becomes livable, let alone scalable.
In my case, it took decades of diluted effort before I finally created real value through companies like Ultimate Long Drive, WingDing MEDIA™, and Zeus Digital. Looking back, it’s clear: If I had focused earlier—really zeroed in on a single venture—I believe success would have come sooner. Maybe even significantly sooner.
Building Before Scaling
Here’s what I’ve learned: You must build before you scale.
Multiple income streams are not bad. In fact, they’re essential in the later stages of entrepreneurship. But they should come from a linear progression—not a chaotic explosion of half-finished ideas.
Elon Musk is a perfect example. Today, he runs multiple billion-dollar companies. But he didn’t build Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and X all at once. He built Zip2. Then PayPal. Each success gave him the financial and operational leverage to start the next. It was sequential. Linear. Strategic.
You don’t build multiple engines when you still need one that runs.
A Word on Hustle Culture
I don’t want to completely discredit hustle mentality. I admire it. It’s part of the entrepreneurial DNA. I’ve lived it. But hustle without direction becomes noise. Focused hustle—that’s where the real power lies.
There’s a romanticism in being “always grinding,” but at some point, you have to ask: Is this movement or progress?
A Personal Frustration
I have a partner right now who reminds me of my younger self—brilliant, driven, and unfortunately, stretched too thin. He believes he has to build multiple things at once to “make it.” But I see the same pattern I followed for years: diluted effort, scattered attention, and stalled progress.
If he’s reading this—I hope he understands: You can have it all, just not all at once.
The Takeaway
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If you’re still building, pick one thing. Master it.
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Build it strong. Scale it smart.
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Use that foundation to create leverage—and then stack your streams.
Success isn’t a shotgun blast. It’s a laser beam—at least in the beginning.
I wish I’d learned that sooner. Maybe you can.