The Questions Every Entrepreneur Must Answer

 

Starting a business can be an exciting and rewarding experience, but it also requires a lot of hard work and careful planning. As an entrepreneur, you are not only responsible for more than just the success of your business but also for deciding the kind of business you want to create and the way you want to run it. There are a few key questions that every entrepreneur must be able to answer about the business in order to succeed.

1. What is your business idea? What problem are you solving?

Before starting a business, you need to have a clear idea of what your business is going to be. You must know what problem you intend to solve with your business idea. It may be about developing a product or service or identifying a target market, or giving solution to a particular problem faced by individuals. This will help you differentiate yourself from your competitors and give you a unique selling proposition. Take some time to think about your business idea and make sure it is well-defined and feasible.

2. Who is your target market?

Once you have a business idea or you know what problem you are solving, you need to identify your target market. It is important to understand the needs and desires of your ideal customer so that you can create a product or service that will meet their needs. Identifying target market includes demographic information, such as age, gender, income level, and location. It also means knowing about their needs, wants, and preferences. Understanding your target market will help you tailor your products or services to meet their needs and make it easier to reach and sell to them.

3. How will you finance your business?

Capital is one of the key inputs in business that determine your business’s growth. There are several ways to finance your business. These might include personal savings, bank loans, grants, or probably investors. Think about the various financing options available to you and choose the one that makes the most sense for your business.

4. What is your unique value proposition? What makes you stand out from your competitors?

Your unique value proposition (UVP) is what makes you stand out from your competition. Your unique value proposition is the reason why customers will choose your business over others. Your UVP might include factors like quality, convenience, price, or customer service. Identifying and communicating your UVP is an important way to differentiate your business and attract customers.

5. How will you reach your target market?

Once you know who your target market is, it is important to identify the ways to reach them. You must figure out how to reach them. It may be either traditional marketing tactics such as advertising or more modern tactics such as content marketing and social media marketing.

6. How will you generate revenue?

Business without revenue is a flop show that will close down soon. Every business needs to have a plan for generating revenue. This might involve selling products or services directly to customers, or it might involve finding other ways to monetize your business, such as through advertising or partnerships. Think about the various ways you can generate revenue and how you will implement them.

7. What are your short and long term goals?

It's important to have clear goals for your business. These might include long-term goals, like expanding into new markets or becoming a leader in your industry or short-term goals, like increasing sales by a certain amount over the next year. Having SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goals will help you stay focused and motivated as you plan to expand your business.

8. What are the potential risks and challenges?

Business is always a risky bet and where there is risk, there is more chance of profit. It's important to be aware of the potential challenges and risks you might face. These might include competition, economic downturns, regulatory changes, or technological disruptions. Identifying the risks and preparing yourself and your business for potential risks and challenges will help you be better equipped to handle them if they arise.

Answering these questions will help you develop a solid foundation for your business and give you a better chance of success. Remember to be flexible and open to change, as your business will likely evolve over time. Good luck with your entrepreneurial journey!

5 Questions for Business Leaders to Ask during Uncertain Times

Business leaders have been pushing themselves hard to rebuild their businesses post the COVID pandemic. Just when everything seems back on track, the pandemic seems to threaten the world again with its recent surge. Not only COVID, we seem to be in times where there is inflation, geopolitical unrest, rising interests, cyber security issues, rising employee expectations, labor shortage, etc. Remember the Billy Joel song, “We didn’t start the fire”. This seems to be the business world’s situation today.

Businesses are hoping for a stable environment. During these times of uncertainty, they are caught between the need to act and the requirement for caution. There are numerous decisions that a leader has to make every day like deciding about increasing and decreasing the units of production, hiring and firing, installing new machinery, discarding the old ones, diversifying or divesting the business, etc. All such tasks require good decision making which, in turn, determines the outcome. A leader’s ability to make decisions may be hampered by a number of factors. It is important to have handy answers to some important questions. This will help make important decisions in order to see that one doesn’t face any obstacles.

First and foremost is to know how reliable the procedure you have in place for decision-making. Leaders should experiment with strategies instead of relying on the manual procedure. Sometimes the best answers to an underlying question is not in the handbooks or manual guidelines. But it's available from your experiences as a leader. Organise your thoughts and re-assure that your experiences are worth making wise judgements. It’s always helpful if you can include people with different backgrounds and expertise and varied perspective to have a well-rounded input in your decision-making.

Make yourself not to rush into the unknown without thorough research. Great choices are possible when we take a step back, look 360 degrees and then decide to go ahead. No matter how important the situation is, however hard you run short of time, pause for a while instead of deciding hastily and regret later.

Ask yourself, ‘how efficient is your current growth?’. In times of uncertainties, on one hand, there is always the risk of losing money, on the other, there is an opportunity to deploy more capital in a venture when others fear. If you know your markets well, this is the best time to expand. The risks may be more but the returns are rewarding. Check your growth matrix to find how further you can go.

Probe further if you are differentiated enough. Successful businesses work on changing their value propositions, strategize providing high-quality services, cross-sell, work on customer experience and reduce response times. These are the levers to differentiate yourself and become efficient. Remember sales are not easy to make. Why would customers choose your service or product unless there is something different you offer than your competitor? So maintain focus and work on your goal.

Another important question to ask yourself is how will you manage your business if the leading indicators start showing red signals. In this case, it is always advisable to do scenario planning in advance and keep a specific action plan to shift your course. This will help to reduce all the unnecessary cash burn. In times like these, it is not strange to have a sudden drop in demand for some goods and a spike in others. Markets will not reward you if you continue investing in the less-in-demand. Shift your course to what is required at the moment and save resources to have control of your market in the future.

How do you turn the current market dynamic to your advantage? Perhaps this is the most crucial of all. Sometimes you need not require more investments or more production to have more sales. The mere fact that your product or service can help your customers navigate the existing circumstances is strong enough to help you through uncertain times. Your marketing and sales messaging can play the trick to give you the edge. Make sure to let your customers know how your product or service can help them in the current market situation. If they see the benefit, you get the reward.

Reviewing this checklist of questions and answers can help your business sail through uncertain times. The present economic climate is something that business leaders did not have necessarily created, but it is up to them to find out how to get going.

Why Some Start-Ups Fail to Scale

The word "start-up" conjures up visions of people always ready to leap into the unknown, with no plans for failure. But what many don't realize is that founder burnout and failure are all too common during the start phase of a startup's life cycle. When you have the thought, “I'll create the next eBay,” it's easy to get too excited and throw caution to the wind. But with all of this excitement, start-ups often forget some of the most important aspects of growing a business.

Just because you have something new to offer, doesn't mean that you'll succeed. Many things have to go right for a start-up to survive and continue to scale. The scale-up phase of entrepreneurial ventures is a huge challenge. There are a large number of reasons why this is so, but here are just some of the important ones.

Some founders lack the ability to select the right investors. Most entrepreneurs have no idea who they should talk to or what they should say in order to get a deal going. The most important thing is that you need a team that will support you and work towards your vision. You don't want to be alone with this task, so find people who are willing to do it for you. You can also try looking for investors in your network, but it may take longer and require more effort than just approaching someone who lives in another city. Start-ups are hard and money is tight, so if an investor is willing to step in, it's better than nothing at all!

One of the most common reasons for startups to fail is their complicated business models. A simple business model is one that doesn't require you to do much more than provide a product or service and then charge for it. You don't need to build a website, hire employees, etc. In fact, those are luxuries that many startups can't afford because they're still building their companies. But eventually, if you stick with it long enough, you'll get there! The most successful companies have simple business models that are easy to understand, and they have a clear purpose. If a startup's business model is too complex, it can be confusing for investors and customers alike.

In most startups, there's one thing that's more important than anything else and that is keeping employees. And if you're not able to do that, your startup is probably going to fail. It's true that some startups are able to keep their employees around long enough for them to build something amazing, but they're the exception—they happen so rarely! The majority of startups fail because they can't retain key employees. So the key to success is to have loyal, efficient and happy employees.

You know what else is common? Firing people! It's not just about not being able to retain them; sometimes it's just a matter of having to let go of someone who wasn't working out anymore. But if you don't have any other option than firing people, then firing them is going to be inevitable.

Other reasons for failure is when founders don't have a clear vision for their business. They may be too busy worrying about getting their product out there and making it work, or they may not have the skills to get it done. Either way, it's important for founders to spend time defining what they want their company to be before they start building it.

Founders may be unable to scale fast enough to meet customer demand or keep up with competitors. That's because entrepreneurs, especially those who have not scaled up a business before, don't know what they don't know. Scaling up a business is hard to do, and doing so requires changes that aren't easy for entrepreneurs to make.

Negative profitability is one reason that keeps coming up time and time again. While some people will be surprised by this statement, positive or negative profits only happen when your business makes sales. It happens when your production costs are more than your total revenue for a specific period. Startups should find ways to cut down the costs to see profit.

Takeaway: If you want your start-up to scale, you'll want to do things like keeping it simple and having a clear vision of where you want it to go!

How Leaders should respond to public criticism

Public criticism is never easy, but it can be especially difficult for leaders. The Twitter case is still a fresh example. Elon Musk’s recent faceoff with employees and Twitter customers is an extreme case. Leaders are fair game. When you are the leader of a company, you can expect that some people will not like your decisions. This is fine. It’s not up to you to please everyone. But there are ways to handle public criticism so that it doesn’t get in your way or create stress in you.

Understand that your job is not to be perfect always. It is simply to be better than those who criticize you — which means you need to accept their criticisms and learn from them, not use fairness as a gauge to respond. But there are some ways to steel yourself and respond well.

The first thing to keep in mind as a leader is that public criticism is just as much about what people say as it is about how they say it. If you take someone’s criticism too personally, it can make a negative situation even worse. It’s important to remember that people are expressing their opinions based on their observations and experiences — not facts.

The next thing to keep in mind is that public criticism does not always mean that someone is right or wrong about something — just because someone feels strongly enough about an issue that they want to share their opinion publicly doesn’t mean they are right or wrong.

Try not to let their criticism get under your skin or make you defensive. The best way to handle this is by acknowledging their concerns and then explaining why they are wrong (even if it takes a while).

Accept the criticism and try to understand why the criticism is made. Try to find some common ground. If there are things you can agree on, try to make that connection stronger. For example, if someone says something negative about your team (or even your product or service), it’s important to acknowledge that this person has a point — but then go on to explain why their opinion is wrong or incomplete. If possible, make sure that there are those who agree with them so that they feel listened to and heard by those in power (and answerable). If possible, offer some solutions so that they feel like they’ve been heard and understood by those in power (and answerable).

Accept and don’t use fairness as a gauge to respond, Set the record straight with facts, not emotion. When it comes to public criticism of your organization or yourself, do not respond by attacking the messenger (or by trying to turn the tables on them). Instead, focus on correcting any mischaracterizations or inaccuracies in their remarks so readers can see what actually happened.

The key here is balance — making sure that you address all sides of an issue equally. If you tell one side nothing (with no explanation), others will assume you agree with them (which may be true). But if you give equal weight to both sides of an argument and explain your reasoning behind any decisions made (even if they didn't work out), people will see.

Humility and transparency go a long way in building the armour needed for holding your position. Hiding and protecting oneself can make things worse while transparency favours the bold. When people you lead are angry or frustrated and hurt, show them empathy. Don’t gaslight your team members. If you want your team to thrive, you need to empower them, not hold them back or try to micromanage them. You need a team that can take ownership, and this means giving them permission to make mistakes and not punishing them for it when they do. It also means encouraging them to challenge themselves and their ideas, but always providing feedback in a way that fosters growth rather than criticism. Remember your humble posture does not convey guilt or remorse, as people often think it to be. It simply shows that you care.

In the face of scrutiny, step back and look for new lessons. Think of your next course of action to lead differently. Don’t base yourself on unfounded assumptions. Leaders who embrace their critics are not afraid to buck the traditions. But at the same time, they take action to fix things in a proper way. Good leaders know well that people don’t forget and they always look for what progress you have made. They know how to come out of criticism and make their company and brand shine even stronger.

25 signs you might be an entrepreneur

 

1. An entrepreneur never gives up. They don’t have no in the dictionary.
2. You are full of confidence and passion. You believe and make others believe in possibilities. Your optimism pulls everyone towards you.
3. You are always on the go for finding answers to questions surrounding you and see opportunities to make things better. Like a curious child, you try to find out why people do the things they do.
4. You may not be coming from a family of businessmen but you hate the idea of working for somebody else. You have the ability to connect with people of your caliber and make partnerships. You are a free soul. You hate being dictated about what to do.
5. You don’t fear taking risky bets. Don’t worry, it’s inbuilt in an entrepreneur’s DNA. You love spending time in your endeavor more than anything else. Some of you even might have dropped out early from college or university to start something of your own.
6. If you were at job, you probably have changed jobs several times as you did not like somebody being bossy around you.
7. For you, the definition of job security means being your own boss.
8. You have a competitive spirit and keep yourself updated on the new entrants in business ownership.
9. Holidaying with friends or family is a gone thing as you are constantly busy with tasks related to your dream, your idea.
10. You might have been earning well with a 9 to 5 job, yet you took the plunge to work for yourself 18 hours a day with less pay.
11. You see opportunities everywhere. The smallest of a problem catches your attention and you find business ideas through your innovative solutions.
12. You are logical and brave. You know how to make the wrong things right. You are a problem solver.
13. People love hearing you and you command authority.
14. You have been business-oriented even as a kid. You knew how to sell balloons even on your birthday.
15. You love reading quotes from successful entrepreneurs to keep yourself motivated.
16. You complete any project to the end with success. You measure completion based on return on investment.
17. Like Elon Musk, you have unrealistic dreams. You give yourself completely to realise your dreams. You are good at replicating but may even invent something really out-of-the-box.
18. You are a rule-breaker, not a law-breaker. You will bend rules to make everything run smoothly.
19. You know how to bring people along to work under you. You are great at designating roles for others.
20. You are super-quick at learning new things. You know the importance of staying ahead in a rapidly changing world where regular cars might soon get replaced with flying cars.
21. You are energetic and charismatic. People find you determined and a go-getter. You inspire people with your talks, and your work.
22. You have a paucity of time taking a full night’s sleep. 40 winks under the desk are something you do all the time.
23. You have done your market research well and know what your customers want. You know how to convert their wants into purchases.
24. You surround yourself with quality people, whether it's LinkedIn or the physical space.
25. For you, time is money and your time is worth more than platinum and gold.

If you don’t see all the 25 points in yourself, never mind. Entrepreneurs are always in the making just like their innovative ideas all the time. You will develop more of these traits over time and might add some new ones that others might want to imbibe. After all, entrepreneurs are born to add; add meaning to creative businesses.