Chances are pretty good you`ve seen Joel Steven Fogel's face in a recent blockbuster film, used one of his company's refrigeration products or contributed to one of the charities he so ardently supports            Aldonna R. Ambler, like Fogel, does business across continents and operates multiple companies. She finds it easy to be on the board of Hong Kong firm because the meetings take place at 3 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, thereby avoiding any scheduling conflicts in the Delaware Valley.            And you can meet Wilbur Wendell Pierce practically any day at the eclectic retail store he owns and operates in Center City . Or he may be busy on-the second floor, where his Museum of Cultural and Professional Affinity is located. On the third floor, Pierce runs a completely different operation, reproducing and restoring photographs and other art on canvas, a project that has captured the attention of media giant QYC.             Most business owners have a difficult time running a single operation. Fogel, Ambler and Pierce have trouble keeping their businesses in single digits.             Just what makes these people tick? And how in the world do they do so many things at once? Maybe you're not cut out far it             Many business owners, having built thriving enterprises, seek to capitalize on that success by starting other companies. More often than not, they fail.             It may not be their fault, says Fogel. They just may not be cut out for it.             Fogel, a card-carrying member of the Screen Actors Guild, has a film-credit list that sparks envy. He's been in a few Woody Allen films, played the doctor in Wesley Snipes' Passenger 57, and had countless spots in television commercials for IBM, United Way and others, keeping his two managers and 36 agents quite busy.             In addition, he serves as president of Fogel International, a division of Fogel/Jordon Commercial Refrigerator Co., a $100 million operation and one of Philadelphia 's oldest family owned firms. Being executive director of Waterwatch International, a nonprofit organization that conducts water research and monitors water activities worldwide, also keeps him busy, as does heading his own film production company, Filmed Exploration.            Fogel is also a member of the Explorers Club, and is a soughtafter motivational speaker for the American Program Bureau.            He freely admits that he sometimes wishes for a simpler existence-running one company, for example, or just doing one thing at a time.             But he won't.            "I think it's a matter or personality," he says. "People who tend to do more than one thing at a time tend to be more creative.            Ambler, CEO of Ambler Growth Strategy Consultants in Cherry Hill , N.J. , operates six offices around the nation in addition to a thriving overseas practice. Unlike Fogel, who operates on his own, Ambler oversees 98 employees, including those who work in her venture-capital firm. She routinely develops strategic and marketing plans for some of America 's largest corporations.            People who can do such things are in great demand Like Fogel, Ambler is a mainstay on the lecture circuit, and is, in fact, one of only 10 people in the world to hold both Certified Management Consultant and Certified Speaking Professional designations.            Operating multiple businesses takes entrepreneurial spirit to the edge, and often over it.            "I recommend it because it gives you the nerve to try crazy ideas," Ambler laughs. "But just because you own a company and make a lot of money doesn't mean you're not going to get scared." Running multiple companies, she notes, you have more to lose, and you have to be able to keep your emotions in check. A noted columnist, Ambler points out that her most requested topic is entrepreneurial depression. lf you have emotional difficulties running one company, chances are that adding more to your plate could become a personal nightmare. Be prepared for disappointment and failure            Pierce, owner of Presents of Mind: Einstein, a Center City Philadelphia retail operation specializing in "as many products that don't have UPC codes as possible" knows all about failure. Before starting his current venture, one of 10 or so commercial projects he's involved in throughout the world, he freely admits to losing $25 million on a financial transaction product.            He vowed never to put all his business eggs in one basket again, but it was a hard road.             With his wife, Sara, he started Presents of Mind: Einstein from a pushcart in Center City in 1986. The couple moved the business nine times, being kicked out of the gleaming Liberty Place along the way, before arriving at the current site on Walnut Street . The company will net close to $2 million this year through joint operations.            Pierce also suggests that multiple business owners prepare to be emulated. Although he is not bitter-he doesn't have time for that-Pierce claims to have come up with the idea for The Store of Knowledge with TV-12 WHYY. His involvement ended in a contract dispute. He mar also have had a hand in creating Zany Brainy, a national toy-store chain whose founder, the former owner of Encore Books, frequented his aisles.            You can't be successful at everything, says Pierce. And thinking out of the box, as he did when he owned a manufacturing plant and had company executives come to work in overalls, may only exacerbate the situation. "You can have 100 ideas a day, and one might make it to the next day," explains Pierce. "Out of a full year, I may have only one idea that's worth a try."            The difference is, of course, that Pierce tries. And tries again.             Owning multiple businesses with continual risks has an upside, says Ambler. It allows you more chances to expand, she notes. If one business fails and you still have the core business, well, you're still in business.             You just can't let it get to you, says Fogel.            "I don't drive myself crazy if a project slows or falls through the net," he explains. "I feel immediate grief then fear that I can't do anything. Then, I feel a sense of courage, and I tell myself, 'onward.' " Find opportunities where they don't exist            On a recent trip to Peru , Fogel managed to sell 4,000 refrigeration units to Coca-Cola through a new distributor. Not bad, but he didn't stop there. Fogel Jordon has a dozen operations all over the world, so Fogel also scheduled a meeting with the Peruvian minister of health to discuss scientific equipment manufactured by Fogel Jordon's high-tech arm, Jordon Scientific. He even got around to discussing elevating the water quality and improving food sources through fish farming via Waterwatch International.            "You have to keep everything organized so that one idea leads to another," he explains. Ideas spin off and invigorate each other.            Fogel didn't get the government business in Peru , yet that wasn't the most important part of his trip, he says. "The activities in one field will actually provide an entry into another one." Focusing on where no opportunity seems to exist, he adds, often generates new business ventures.            That's what happened to Pierce when he carne up with the idea of taking photographs and other art, restoring them through digital electronics and putting them on canvas rather than the usual pasteboard.            The idea, cemented by exhaustive technical research, quickly caught on at Comcast's QYC television show, which beams into 61 million homes across the country.            "The product is what drives the business for us," says Tom Merrihew, a QVC vice president in Home Innovations and Entertainment products. It helps that Pierce is not so traditional. "What we like about Wilbur is his creativity," says Merrihew.             What Pierce, Fogel and Ambler all have in common is their ability to look ahead.             "He is in a department where we are always looking to expand," Merrihew says of Pierce, noting that QYC doesn't care where a product comes from; just that it's a good fit for the business. "What the product tells me," Merrihew adds, "is that there is opportunity." Owning vs. operating a company            Just because you're the owner of a company doesn't mean you have to run it, suggests Ambler. In fact, it's rather limiting.             When you are only trying to be the owner, people want you to be available more than you are able to," Ambler says. "You run the risk of making hasty decisions." Her answer? "Hire a CEO." And know the difference between an owner and an operator.             An owner can be as little as money, or one meeting a month. As an operator, you've got to take a quick check and ask yourself if you're worth the salary you command, says Ambler. Otherwise, you're shortchanging the company.             Organizational skills are a given when running multiple businesses, says Fogel, who links follow-up activities the same way he frontends deals, spinning off as many tentacles of support or exploration as possible until, if you will, the river runs dry.            Pierce cautions smaller companies against going to major corporations with grandiose ideas. It has to do with knowing your own limitations.             One thing is certain, says Ambler: Just as in any business endeavor, you won't be able to do everything yourself. That's where one of the most crucial elements necessary to pulling off multiple ventures comes into play-other people. They aren't personnel, they're people            Pierce recently called his staff of16 together for an impromptu meeting .after grueling back-to-back weeks of deals reverberated throughout all three floors of his business headquarters.             "I apologized to them," says Pierce. "I told them that when you leave here, you leave work. I never leave work, and a creative person never sleeps.            "Survival isn't good enough," declares Pierce. "Success is."            He admits to sprinkling his businesses with carrots, but insists that people are more important than the numbers. "Train them first," he advises, "and teach them my goals are their goals." This pays off handsomely because multiple-business types aren't usually interested in the administrative side of things.            Pierce, also an accomplished military historian, draws an analogy of a young lieutenant being readied for combat to illustrate his point. Being given a carbine doesn't mean it's the lieutenant's job to fire ir, he notes. "Your job is to lead, and a business person's job is to trunk."             Ambler uses technology to stay in touch with employees, particularly videoconferencing. "You can manage from multiple locations, and you can see each other," she points out.            Leveraged buyouts and equity in the company or project are also high on Ambler's list. An individual who owns no shares one day and one and a half percent the next will exhibit an increased desire to perform well, she notes. This link to performance also pays dividends on the savings side.             "If it's coming from their pocketbooks, they'll tell you faster," says Ambler, who also favors having flexible tides for employees. Pyramid-style management structures may inhibit, rather than aid far-flung employees. Better, she says, to give those around you-usually bright people who care about your business a flattened structure that allows movement to foster learning as much about the business as possible. Promoting someone who has not been prepared in this manner to run a company can backfire on you, she warns. Reward competence, not position.            "It's not just paying them," says Fogel. "You have to enroll them in your project and your vision. It's salesmanship, and persuasion, but its also a matter of having confidence in them as well as yourself."