ask yourself the key questions

I remember years ago when Nike came out with their "Just Do It!" slogan. It seemed to encapsulate our world view at the time - if you want to do it - just do it! If it feels good - just do it! If you can do it - just do it! I love the motivational quality of this saying but over the years I have learned that sometimes you can't "just do it". Sometimes you need to stop, think, prepare and then JUST DO IT!! Now just to be clear - I do not mean that you should never take chances and jump into things. I mean that you should set yourself up to succeed by laying a base before you jump. The best way to do this is to ask yourself a few key questions. So consider pulling out a piece of paper and a pen and answering the following questions before jumping into things.

What do you want from this?
It seems like such a simple question but so few people ask themselves this question - they jump from one thing to the next and define failure and success by other people's criteria. My own *ah-ha* moment was when I realized that I was working long, long hours to make money for other people - sure I was making money for myself too - but I was miserable. I never saw my friends, hardly saw my family, worked all the time and survived on fast food and little sleep. This was not what I had dreamed my life would be!! The money - the title - all these things that I worked for were really not what I wanted in life. When I sat down and thought about it - what I really wanted was the opposite of what I was working (very hard!!) for. So take a look at the list below and prioritize them based on what is important to you.

Once you have figured out what your top five things are then you will be in a position to set-up your business to prioritize these things. My top five are (in no particular order): time with family, inline with my beliefs, challenge, location of work, helping others. Therefore I organized my business to ensure that I focused on these things - I took work closer to home, with less hours so that I had a good location and more time with my family. I have dropped clients once I determined that they were not inline with my beliefs. I started this site to help others. The challenge part of things comes from every area of having a small business, two websites and a bunch of great consulting jobs.

Just to be clear - this does not mean that money isn't important to me - obviously money is important - it pays for my house. What this prioritization means for me is that money becomes more of a break even calculation for maintaining my desired lifestyle. My goal is to balance my top five priorities and my desired income level - whenever there is a choice - I will always choose time over money. This is an easy choice for me because I have seen what my life becomes when I work all the time.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there will be some things on the list that are important to you but that you do not need to get from your job. I love animals - that doesn't mean I will ignore my accounting training and become a vet - it just means that during the time I have off I should spend some time with my cat - or make use of our family zoo passes. The point is to try and have (AND KEEP) a clear picture in your mind of what you want from your business.

Are you ready to have your own business?
I firmly believe that EVERYONE has special skills and knowledge which would allow them to start a great home business. To be fair - some businesses will always be more profitable then others but that's when it is important to open your mind to additional revenue streams. So why else would businesses fail if the people has a strong marketable skill or product? There are many reasons that businesses fail (see common errors ) but one of the most common causes of failure with small business is due to an ill-suited owner. Many business skills and best practices can be learned and adapted to but some need to be inherent in a business owner. Before making the leap take some time to figure out if you are suited for owning your own business. The questions below are designed to give you an idea of the skills that are important to business owners. No one has all of these skills but the most successful businesspeople plan and surround themselves with people or tools that can mitigate their weaknesses or work to improve their own skills. In no particular order - here are some questions to ask yourself - about yourself:

1. What certification and special licensing would you need?

2. Are you qualified to own your own business?

3. Are you organized enough?

4. Do you like to network?

5. Does this suit your short and long-term goals?

6. Do you need frequent contact with colleagues and customers?

7. Do you feel isolated if you are not working in a busy office environment, surrounded by people?

8. Do you have the self discipline and ability to plan and manage your time?

9. Are you independent enough to stay focused and on task without supervision?

10. Are you entrepreneurial? Do you have skills such as: perseverance/determination/tenacity, desire and willingness to take the initiative, competitiveness, self-reliance, a strong need to achieve, enthusiasm, drive, discipline, adaptability, networking skills, honesty and integrity, ambition, leadership, innovative, assertiveness, clear and meaningful communication, technical expertise, patience, flexibility and self confidence?

11. Are you able to do detailed work and still see the "big picture"?

12. Do you crave guidance and leadership? or do you like to make your own decisions?

13. Are you able to learn from past mistakes and take failures as learning opportunities instead of career enders?

14. Are you a problem solver?

15. Are you able to "think outside the box"?

16. Do you have business and industry knowledge and experience?

17. Are you comfortable selling your services or products? Do you have marketing/sales experience?

18. Can you honestly and objectively evaluate yourself?

19. Do you want to control how much money you make? (work harder to make more and work less to make less)

20. Are you comfortable with flexible work hours?

21. Are able to find or create new opportunities?

22. Do you seek to continuously improve yourself and your business?

23. Are you self-reliant?

24. Are you willing to work hard and make sacrifices in order to start a small business?

25. Do you have the self-confidence to sell yourself and your products?

26. Do you enjoy challenges?

27. Are you energetic and self motivated?

28. Do you have the contacts to help build your business?

29. Do you have strong organizational and motivational skills?

30. Do you have the vision to guide your business to success?

31. Do you have good people skills? Are you comfortable handling customers, vendors and employees?

32. Are you money motivated?

33. Do you fit into the corporate environment?

34. Are you a risk taker?

35. Are you comfortable being fully responsible for all successes and failures?

36. Are you a positive person?

37. Can you multi-task?

38. Are you willing to accept help?

39. Are you a self-starter?

40. Do you have the physical and emotional stamina to run your own business?

Some other key questions to ask yourself:

A. What legalities (registration of business, income/sales/VAT/business tax filing, employee and other government remittances, business licensing, home zoning) do you need to consider? Do you have a good lawyer?

B. Is your house and neighborhood suitable for your home-based business? ie. good location, enough space, aesthetically suited.

C. Is your family life suited to having a home based business? Are you able to separate your personal life and work life while they are in the same place? Will your family help with your business or hinder it? How will your family adjust to your working from home?

D. Do you have a hobby that could naturally be turned into a business?

E. Do you have the time, money and resources to start your own business without outside investment or help?

F. Do you have sufficient financial skills to run your own business? Do you have an accountant?

After going through these questions if you can answer positively or determine a way to develop these skills or mitigate your weaknesses then you are ready to go into business for yourself!!!