If you are starting a business or even just thinking about it, there are considerations beyond costs and profits. Looking back on 40 years in a variety of businesses, there are several questions I could have asked that might have speeded my progress.
- Is your business idea based on something you love doing? Would you do this thing even if you didn’t get paid. Or is your new venture “a bright, shiny object” that looks like a great idea, but now that you think about it, you have had similar great ideas in the past. Good ideas can still make money. But passionate ideas are more sustainable in the long run.
- Be very careful about sharing your excitement for your new business. Unless you have friends and family who have actually been in the type of enterprise you want to start, don’t ask their opinion. How would they know? Besides, they see you through the filter of who they have always known you to be and that lens might not include room for change.
- Can you support yourself for the next 12 months independently of the new business? If you aren’t sure create a cash flow projection that totals all your expenses and all your income streams. I set mine up in a spreadsheet with cash in and cash out by the month. It quickly tells me where I can cut out costs that don’t really serve me.
- Are you determined to make the new business work at all costs or are you just giving it a specific period to test the waters? A fair test is at least 12 months.
- Do you work and play well with others? A business has a much better chance of success if you are a team player. You also need a mentor or group (mastermind) of entrepreneurial thinkers to bounce ideas off and to be accountable to for your goals.
