10 Important Questions to Answer Before Starting a Business

These important questions to answer before starting a business emphasizes on ways startups can discover their entrepreneurial potentials and reasons why they should be in business.

So you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Now it’s time to focus the beam on you as intending entrepreneur or one already in business.

If you are just starting up, you will need a plan of what resources are required to achieve your main objectives;

And by analyzing these strategic factors such as: your Strengths, your Weakness Attributes; and those factors beyond your immediate control like Opportunities and Threats.

The process of analysing these four elements and deriving strategies from it is a powerful tool when creating a business plan.

This process will help the decisions the company’s management or owner is likely to take concerning strategies that enhance the competitive advantage and its performance.

This is called the SWOT Analysis.

As the field of strategic management is way too broad to be captured in this factsheet, a selection of strategic management concepts will be outlined in the following paragraphs.

The SWOT Analysis process provides the important evaluation techniques to help you on a specific business you have in mind. Most of the information needed to determine the S, W, O, and T should already be available from other sections in the business plan.

We provided below, some principal questions you would have to answer by providing the holistic responses as required on your part.

This session will enable you know your key success areas and those parts you need to work on before achieving a continued business goals.

This important approach will definitely show if you are ready to be a business person or not and help you decide on your business ideas.

Below are some important questions you must answer before starting a business to enable you discover your entrepreneurial potentials, resource availability and capabilities.

Please write your answers to these questions on your planning paper as you may need the information later on.

10 Important Questions to Answer Before Starting a Business

#1. Why am I Starting a Business?

It is often very easy to perceive a new business opportunity, and to gain command over the resources (human, capital, materials, and machines) to establish a business.

However, there are several factors that explain why an individual goes into a business.

Like make extra income?

Hmmm!

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then you are a leader” and a potential entrepreneur“

— John Quincy Adams

What is Entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship is the capacity and willingness to develop, organize and manage a business venture along with any of its risks in order to make a profit.

Theorists Frank Knight and Peter Drucker defined entrepreneurship in terms of risk-taking.

The entrepreneur is willing to put his or her career and financial security on the line and take risks in the name of an idea, spending time as well as capital on an uncertain venture.

The most obvious example of entrepreneurship is the starting of new businesses.

Entrepreneurship is a term used broadly in connection with the innovative modern industrial business leader.

#2. Where Does My Innovation Start?

Innovation begins with an idea, your idea!

“If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need, and there isn’t any limit to what you can do with your business and your life. Ideas are any man’s greatest asset”

… Harvey S. Firestone

When good designers talk about innovation, they mean the successful exploitation of new ideas.

They don’t stop with the invention; they turn their inspirations into reality.

Innovation is often also viewed as the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, un-articulated needs, or existing market needs.

This is accomplished through more-effective products, processes, services, technologies, or business models that are readily available to markets, governments and society.

Innovation is what differentiates your business idea and your products or services from that of others in the market.

#3. Do I Have the Guts?

Having the guts to be an entrepreneur is something that can be nurtured and developed. It is one of the traits that every successful entrepreneur owns.

Discovering your potentials to be in business means you must have an entrepreneurial instinct – which is an overwhelming desire to start your own business.

Qualities of an Entrepreneur:

• An entrepreneur has a high degree of personal need for achievements and success;
• a strong desire and responsibility to changing conditions,
• and the ability to take risks in exchange for profits.

If you are not prepared to spend your limited time and money to get your business up and running, then you are not ready to become an entrepreneur.

Guts-driven entrepreneurs aren’t fearless; they just know how to cope.

10 Important Questions to Answer Before Starting a Business

#4. Do I have Passion for the Business?

It’s discouraging to start a business only to discover that it doesn’t give you satisfaction and joy.

You can only have the dedication, and devote to your business goals if you have passion or love for your intended or current business.

This is because through good times and bad times, you will only stick around with something you love.

As Harvey McKay has said,

“Find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”

— Harvey McKay

This axiom suggests that you can simply take what you already love, and turn it into something for which you get paid.

We meet small-business owners every day, and while they all come from different industries places and backgrounds, it is passion, freedom and impact that have been the main deep.

Passion is important in business. All small business owners need passion for their work if the business is going to succeed.

#5. Have I Learned from the Experience?

We learn that we have to stand on our own and take care of ourselves, parents and children.

What have you learned in each of your previous ways?

We’re specifically asking in what ways you have developed professionally while working in your jobs.

Quality can only be experienced not described.

While having the educational credentials are important, entrepreneurial “brains” means more than scholastic achievements.

To become a successful entrepreneur, you must have a working knowledge about the business you plan to start.

This will help you get the appropriate experience and brainpower that is combined with your necessary academic qualifications to achieve your desires.

Some of life’s greatest lessons come packaged in a hard personal experience. You might have learned a few things in life, but truly, the greatest things!

#6. Do I have the Capital I Need to Get Started?

You’ve got to spend money to make money.

Right?

When you start a new business, you need money to get it off the ground.

Though many businesses can be started with little investment capital, but to start a business, you will need a seed capital – sufficient enough to maintain a positive cash flow for at least the first year.

Starting on a small scale is a good step. And as the business grows, the cash from the business can be used to expand your dreams.

In our future sessions, you will learn how to raise money for your business, and some businesses you can start with little or no capital.

Plus how to project how much money you’ll need to get started and to keep the business, including many others you might not have thought of.

Related: 25 Common Mistakes to Avoid Before Opening for Business

#7. How will I Manage the Business and Control the Risks?

Running a business can be a dangerous occupation with many different types of risk.

Business risk originates from many different areas—internal to the business and from external sources.

When starting a new business, it is always advised to make sure it aligns with both your core competencies, passions and financial capacity.

This is how you make sure you will be engaged and committed, even when the going gets rough.

You can control your business risk by placing a limit on how much you invest in your business, the way you manage the business day-to-day activities, and the kind of people you attract.

Prudence, follow through and attention to detail are also very important.

In a world that’s changing really quickly, the biggest risk is not taking any risk… the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.

#8. How Many Employees will I Need?

Should you consider a partner who has complementary skills or who could help finance the business?

If you can start by doing everything yourself, in some cases, you don’t need to use your startup capital to hire other people.

The “start and do it yourself” is a good way to learn everything about your business, gaining the experience will also make you better qualified to delegate duties to others later on.

You’ve got a great product idea that you are trying to get off the ground. But it may be too much work to take the journey alone, you need some help.

To plan how many employees you need, forecast future work and productivity, and the amount of work an average employee can produce.

Either way, if you hire too many employees too soon, or bring on too few, you will have resources constrained and unable to grow as fast as you supposed.

10 Important Questions to Answer Before Starting a Business

#9. WhatManagement Skills do I Need to Start My Business?

As a business owner you will require a range of skills in managing your resources in a way that ensures your goals are achieved on schedules.

The best way to improve your management skills is to attend all classes and seminars you can on the skills you need.

For example, you may need to get administrative, accounting, computing, sales or marketing skills.

Being able to effectively managing your finances is a critical part.

These Ten Skills are Essential for Business Managers:

• Multi-tasking
• Decision-making
• Leadership Skills
• Motivation Skills
• Business Development Skills
• Marketing, Sales and Customer Service Skills
• Effective Communication and Negotiation
• Financial Management Skills
• Project Management and Planning
• Delegation and Time Management.
• Problem Solving and Networking.

Read the entire “How To”, books, eBooks and newspapers you can.

#10. Do I Need to Work with a Mentor?

If you wanted to grow your career, you needed to find a good business mentor that knew how to get from point A to point B.

A business mentor is someone who is experienced, successful and willing to provide advice and guidance for free or for a token.

Before you start a business, it’s important you consider having a strong support network of people in place to help you.

You’ll be forced to make many important decisions, especially in the first months of opening your business.

When starting a business, advice from the right mentor can help you avoid common pitfalls in growing and managing your business.

You can seek help from the most successful people in your intended business; putting it all together with the advice of a Mentor, all the pieces will just fall in place.

Abbakin offers business mentoring program for startup entrepreneurs. Find out what you need to get stated.

It’s this article helpful? Comment and share it with friends. To keep the conversation going, follow us on Twitter, Facebook @abbakinglova.  And join our Forum.

Oh – Subscribe to our Newsletters now if you want to receive latest updates about innovation, business trends and statistics. You’ll get a free eBook!