4 Questions to Ask Before Starting a New Business

The reasons why people choose to go into business for themselves are as vast as the range of business-related expenses you’ll soon incur to help out when tax season rolls around.

1. You’re following your dreams
2. You’ve got a unique product or service to sell
3. You inherited the family business
4. It’s your only option

Starting a business is a magical, life-changing event. We work with plenty of self-employed contractors, restaurant owners and entrepreneurs looking for funds to kickstart their business. We love to help during this important stage of starting a business.

Part of getting your company off the ground is asking the right questions before you quit your job in a blaze of glory.

Questions such as:

1. What Are the Pros & Cons?

Running your own company because you want to set your own hours could come back to bite you. Sure, it’s great to be your own boss, but you might be surprised to learn that your new boss is more demanding than any boss you’ve ever had. Operating a company is gruelling in its first stage, so it’s important to understand exactly why you’re choosing the self employed world. Make a list of pros and cons and talk about them with your circle of trust.

2. How Busy Will I Be?

It’s important to pin down just how busy you’ll be with your new business. This is a good way to remove as many unforeseen circumstances as possible. Keep in mind it’s not how busy you want to be – a business owner wants to be busy, right? It’s about the reality of how busy you will be.

1. Is your product or service valuable?
2. Will you be able to solve enough customers’ problems to stay in business?
3. Are you prepared to work longer and harder in order to get your business to where you want it to go?

3. Who Will Buy What You’re Selling?

Take the last question a bit further. If you believe you’ll be able to earn a living with your business, it’s important to look on the other side of the fence. Define your audience as much as possible.

I once knew a business owner who built custom cabinets. They were gorgeous, but the common refrain from the business owner was to sell to everybody.

Owning a business doesn’t work like that. Sure, you might want everybody to hop on the hype train with your company, but it’s not going to happen. Eventually this business owner was forced to move to a new city with a larger, more motivated market where his  focus has narrowed to a small section of that market.

And the company is thriving!

4. What Will Success Look Like?

Finally, let’s take a step back and look at the big picture. The longterm prognosis. When you can finally sit back and claim your business is successful, what does that look like? A fleet of company vehicles? A modest storefront operation? A budding online presence?

Starting a business hinges on your ability to ask tough, important questions. Questions that will shape your culture from day 1. It’s alright to look into the future, but only if you understand the sacrifices of time, energy, and money you’ll need to make to get to that point.

Still on board?

Great! By the way, we can help get you started, give us a shout!