Trying to figure out a general business modus operandi. What's yours?

In terms of personal business practice, how do you generally handle things?

To be more specific, do you do the all-eggs-in-one-basket approach? Or, do you diversify with many projects simultaneously?

I know it comes down to preference but are there any universal key pointers?

Personally, I have few projects on my plate but I'm seeking precious wisdom on how to attack it all. I'm open to all viewpoints, opinions, and perspectives.

• Currently three opeations, one earns money (consulting), one pays rent (data maintenance), one hopefully replaces the other two, but needs more infrastructure and testing (working on software infrastructure and testing out market approachs).
• Know your market and make sure you have a sound financial setup. I could stop the consulting, but it would make me feel a lot less comfortable at the moment.
• Key trick is: make sure you do not earn money for work long term. If you get paid X money for Y expenses then your available amount of Y will limit your income X. For example consulting - you need more consultants to make more profit. Develop software or run a shop, and you can pretty easily scale that up, because you do not get paid for time.

I am the kind of person who always has three or four things in various stages of development. What I have found however is that this splits my focus and makes me less effective. Or I go nowhere and move from idea to idea. Currently I have decided to focus on only one project at a time and focus my effort to make that a success.

I like this quote attributed to Andrew Carnegie:

"While it is true that most people don't succeed because they don't have clearly defined goals, some people fail to make progress because they have too many."