So You Want to Start a Business?
Ask Yourself These 4 Questions First
A lot of startup advice focuses on the nuts and bolts of starting a business: setting up a website, opening a bank account, registering with the state,etc. Are these things important? Yes. But they alone won't help you build the business of your dreams.
Over the past 15 years I have worked with hundreds of small business owners and operators at all stages (inception to exit) and all outcomes (complete burnout to intentionally exiting). These entrepreneurs came from all walks of life, but one thing I noticed was that the successful ones shared a few common traits.
If you have been dreaming of starting a business, and you want to follow in the footsteps of entrepreneurs who have built businesses on their own terms, ask yourself these four questions before you take the first step.
1) What does success mean to you?
A lot of the time we think success is only defined by a financial outcome. However, there are as many ways to define success as there are entrepreneurs. Yes, a business needs to make money in order to survive, but it can also be a vehicle for driving change, improving people's lives, or uplifting the community in which it operates.
Success is defined on what matters to you, the business creator and owner. When defining success on your terms, the important thing to remember is that it should reflect what is important to YOU - not what you think you should do based on mainstream advice or other people's experiences.
2) Do people want what you are offering?
I spent almost five years of my career working on emerging ventures for Amazon. It was nice to be able to launch new businesses with the financial backing of a huge corporation. However, one takeaway that I’ve carried with me is the importance of starting small and validating your idea in the market before investing too many resources into it.
When starting a new business, it is important to establish a long-term vision, but in those early stages the most important goal is to figure out whether people even want what you are offering. This is commonly called product-market fit. Before spending large sums of money on building what you think is your dream product, conduct customer discovery interviews (if you need help with this, I highly recommend the book The Mom Test) and focus on testing the minimum viable product (MVP) needed to test your idea.
3) What is your plan ?
You've probably heard the saying, "An idea without a plan is just a dream" and well, it is true. The early years of launching and building a business require a high level of flexibility as you adapt to your customers’ needs. You will be busy, but your efforts need direction.
Personally, I don't think you need a 10-year business plan in the earliest days of starting a business, but you do need priorities and a plan for fulfilling the next most important phases of your business. A solid 6-month to 1 year plan that you can work backwards from is a great starting point for any new entrepreneur.
4)What do you need to follow through on this plan?
As the owner, you are the cornerstone of your business. Your vision and values shape the culture for your team and customers alike. The better you are – mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually – the better everyone around you will be.
Hustle culture is still having its moment, but grinding day in and day out is not sustainable. Nor does it always yield the results you want. Surely, getting a company off the ground requires hard work and long hours, but reaching your long-term goals also requires you to set up systems and practices that protect your health and your bottom line. Even if your company is small now, you can still take small steps to establish good practices. For me, it has meant going to a co-working space during regular hours to create structure around my work day and setting up systems for my repetitive workflows. I also have standing one-on-one calls with friends and other women entrepreneurs so I feel supported and am able to learn from others.
If you are just starting your business, your head is probably spinning thinking of all the things you need to do to launch it. Before you get bogged down in the day-to-day operation of your new venture, I encourage you to take some time to think through what you want for your business and how you plan to get there. These four questions will help you establish a healthy foundation that will help keep you grounded as your business soars.
