LooseSuits

When starting a business there are questions I recommend asking yourself. The ability to be honest and objective when evaluating the responses to these questions directly impacts your ability to run your business. Let's take a look at some of the questions you should ask before starting a business.

Does your offering address the viable market?

If you want to make a cool car with new features but to add those features, and keep the car competitive in price, standard features would have to be removed - like air conditioning or power locks and windows - things the user has become accustomed to. Do you think your product is a valid offering? It is addressing the needs of the market?

Can you afford to maintain financially during the beginning years?

If you can't, close the door on the idea of going into business otherwise you'll make business decisions based on your personal finances. Instead look at finances objectively. Will you have to finance the business? Will you be able to afford not receive a check or invest back into the business? Are you able to invest into the business?

Does your business scale?

How does your business venture compare to the competition? This is an area where many young entrepreneurs fail - the ability to realize that all "cool" ideas aren't good ideas. Or worse, in their inability to scale may directly be because the business owner does not have the skills to do it.

How committed are you to making this project a success?

Start-ups are like children - they take a lot of time, a lot of sacrifice, a lot of patience and most important a lot of work. Responsible people do not have children unless they are able to provide the foundation a child needs. The same goes for business. An irresponsible person will throw themselves into a business without the proper foundation, skill, time-commitment or finances.

What is your end game?

All good things come to end - what is it that you have in mind for the "end" of your business? Do you want to build something that can be monetized so you do not have to work again? Do you want to build something and sell it? Are you building something that can be broken into sub-divisions with the mixture of selling parts and keeping parts? Is producing a quality offering important even if you no longer own the company? You want to create innovation in the niche? Essentially answering this question reveals why you're entering into this venture in the first place. If money was the first response the writing is on the wall - you're in it for the money.

There are many other questions one should ask before starting a business, for example what are your strengths and weaknesses? Unless you have viable answers on turning your weaknesses into strengths your business will most likely sink like the Titanic.