Begin by taking stock of yourself and your situation:
- What is the purpose of the business?
- Who are my customers?
- What problem does my product/service solve?
- Who is my competition and why is my product/service's advantage?
- How will I price, position, market and support my product?
- What are my financial projections for the business for the next 3-5 years?
Why do you want to start a business?
Is it money, freedom, and flexibility, to solve a problem, or some other reason?
What are your skills?
What industries do you know about?
Do you want to provide a service or a product?
What do you like to do?
How much capital do you have to risk?
Will it be a full-time or a part-time venture?
What are your skills?
What industries do you know about?
Do you want to provide a service or a product?
What do you like to do?
How much capital do you have to risk?
Will it be a full-time or a part-time venture?
You need to plan, set goals, and above all, know yourself.
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
How will these affect day-to-day operations?
What would you do if money wasn’t an issue?
Is money really important?
Is money really important?
Or rather, is making a lot of it really important?
What really matters to you?
Do you have the support of your family, especially your immediate family?
Do you have the support of your family, especially your immediate family?
Who do you admire in business?
Maybe there’s even someone in the industry you’d like to go into. Why do you admire them?
What are their likable traits? What can you learn from them?
How easy is it (and how much will it cost you) to acquire a customer?
If you’re selling enterprise software, this may require a significantly larger investment than a coffee shop.
How much money and effort will it cost to deliver the value you would like to be offering?
How long will it take to get to market? A month? A year? Three years?
How much up-front investment will you need before you can begin?
Will your business continue to be relevant as time passes?
How much money and effort will it cost to deliver the value you would like to be offering?
How long will it take to get to market? A month? A year? Three years?
How much up-front investment will you need before you can begin?
Will your business continue to be relevant as time passes?
A business that repairs iPhone X screens will only remain relevant so long as the iPhone X sticks around. If your business is only relevant for a specific period of time, you will also want to consider your future plans.
You could conduct a SWOT analysis on yourself to figure this out.
Your answers to these types of questions will help you narrow your focus.Answering these questions (and many more) about yourself and your abilities isn’t necessarily going to ensure you’re successful, but it will get you thinking about your goals and about what motivates and inspires you. Use this time to make sure that you are matching the business you want to start to your personal aspirations.
This step is not supposed to dissuade you from starting your own business. Rather, it’s here to get you thinking and planning. In order to start a successful business, passion alone isn’t enough.
As you get started, your business will likely dominate your life so make sure that what you’re doing is stimulating and challenging, but not completely outside of your expertise. You’re going to be in it for the long haul. Use what you learn from the SWOT analysis to think through what you want your life to be like, not just what you want from your business.
