Here is my list of top 10 Should Ask Questions
1. What does success look like?
Visualize what you believe you need to consider yourself successful. For you it may be extended vacations with your family or buying your dream home. For me its doing what I want when I want.
Ultimately, when you look at your income from your assets and it far outweighs your expenditures, without you even thinking about the businesses, attending meetings or working there yourself, then you are wealthy and will experience the freedom that comes with it. We are looking for 2 specific amounts here, income and expense. If you stop working today, can your income from assets cover your expenses indefinitely?
2. Do I want to succeed as bad as I want to breathe?
Is this a hobby for you? If it is then I submit to you that you may be wasting your time and you should come back when you are ready to burn your boats and commit. This type of thinking is usually caused by some catastrophe or realization and if we don’t experience this trigger we will half ass it and fail.
3. Am I creating a business system or just a job for myself?
The promise of being your own boss is a major catalyst for people to start their own business but unfortunately you may be a worse boss then the one you just left. Don’t make the mistake of thinking being your own boss means freedom, if anything it means the opposite! Yes, you’ll be the one making the decisions now but that doesn’t mean they are better decisions. When you work for someone else you can flip the switch when you clock out and experience some downtime, if anything happens at work when you’re not there, its not your problem. Well, when you become your own boss there is no “flipping the switch”. You are always on, always responsible.
Thats why your first priority should be to create a solid business system, put someone with experience in charge...then flip your switch.
4. What is the main source of revenue for my business and how can I strengthen it?
When you build your business you will generally have a main product or service that your business is based on. This is your main revenue stream.
Think of your business as a bunch of smaller businesses. You must increase the amount of revenue streams available to you. You are already paying for marketing, you are already paying rent and you are already paying for employees, added revenue streams will only increase your income and the health of your business.
5. Who is my perfect customer?
There is one customer that is perfect for your business. He is grateful for your product or service, price isn’t an issue, he tells everyone he knows about you and uses your products or services to success every time.
Now that we know who he or she is its time to clone him. This is the focus of your marketing dollars. This is the focus of your sales systems, your employee training and your business’s appearance.
6. What is my Unique Selling Proposition?
This is the source of your business’s power in the marketplace. It is literally what separates your business from any competition. It is what makes you first. It is what makes you the trusted authority.
What does your business do that no other business does or is perceived to do? This is what your business needs to capitalize on and not be another source or an alternative source for another business.
7. What is my business’s short term goal?
A great short term goal for any business should be to operate debt free. There are variables in your business that you can manipulate to get here as quick as possible. Another great goal is to grow financially. Getting to a certain amount of sales or selling to a set amount of people. These are not your personal goals these are directional signs for your business’s growth.
8. What is my business’s long term goal?
Picture your business servicing the critical mass of customers, as many as it can handle on a regular basis. Follow the path your short term goals have put your business on all the way to the end.
Some great long term goals are physical expansion, increasing staff, becoming a large asset to acquire more funding for greater piece of market or breakthrough into other markets.
9. Who is going to run my business?
Let me ask you a quick question: Are you the most qualified person to run your business? You might be but probably not. As soon as your business can afford it you must replace yourself with someone more qualified. Slowly but surely inch your way out of the daily operations.
As part of our vision of success, I imagine each business having its own manager then each manager answering to one director and that director answering to you. Maybe even a separate manager in charge of opening new businesses for you.
10. What do I do if I get stuck?
Have you ever baked a cake? If yes, did you follow a recipe or did you just start throwing things together all hodge podge?
Keep in mind you are not the first person to do this. A trail has been blazed, a recipe has been recorded. Every problem that you can conceive of has been conquered by someone else. In fact there are probably dozens if not hundreds of people going through your same problem at the same time.
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