Can you see the wood for the trees? 5 Critical Questions to check your business ideas

Can you see the wood for the trees in your business? Business visionI met with a set of business owners to help them with their business planning and when asked what is your unique selling proposition had difficulty answering the question. What came out was vague, confusing and verbose. Sound familiar?


On exploring it further with key questions an interesting observation emerged - they were so close to their own business they could not see the wood for the trees! On probing deeper asking key questions an AHA moment emerged. They were a firm that discovered the creative component of their work was what made them different - the ability to take the really tricky jobs and come up with a solution that was "out of the box". What an insight!


So 5 critical questions to ask yourself about your entrepreneurial idea:


  • What are your own individual strengths/weaknesses?

  • What factors (people, support, environment, etc) were present in the last situation that you were both successful and motivated?

  • What do 3 meaningful people other than you think about your business idea?

  • Who is your ideal target market(s) for your products/services?

  • What do 5 people in your target market think and why would they buy off you?

    • Analysing the responses to these questions will highlight the unique "personality" of you and your business that you need to focus on. If you were a top surgeon would you operate on yourself? Of course not. Why is it that so many entrepreneurs believe that they can objectively look at their own "brilliant" ideas ? I have seen great people flush hundreds of thousands of dollars down the toilet chasing the next big thing when an "independent sounding board" could have saved them a whole lot of headache and money.


    I would love to hear your feedback about any of these observations. If you would like to enquire about getting an objective view point for you and your business contact me at grant@leapforward.co.nz. Would love to hear more about your thoughts and whether we can help you transform your dreams into reality.

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