20 questions to ask before starting a business

You may have lots of business ideas coming to your mind but you may find them challenging to implement. Starting a business needs lots of planning and hard work. You need to arrange money and put lots of energy to let your dream come true. There is no specific formula to gain success in business. However experts always suggest that you need to get the right answers of some questions to ask before starting a business. 

Q1- Why Am I going to start the business?

This question should arise in your mind before you start a business. One should not start a business with a wrong intension or without any proper reason. If you think that you can devote your quality time and resources to your new business start up, then only you can start planning for it. 

Q2- Am I passionate about doing the business?

Passion is the most essential thing that every person should follow to grow in life. Suppose you have invested enough capital to start a business, but you are not passionate about it; the business will never grow. So, you must find whether you are passionate of doing the business or not. 

Q3- How much capital do I need to invest?

While you are planning for home based business ideas, you need to calculate approximate amount of capital required to start the business. Here you need to arrange the required capital before you start the business. 

Q4- Do I need an employee?

Starting a business requires lots of hardwork and if you try to do all things yourself, it will not be an easy task. So, you can appoint staffs, with whom you can share the tasks. 

Q5- What is my goal?

This may sound very simple but you should understand your business goal before you implement your business ideas. Unless your business can not get the success you desire. Understanding and fixing the business goals are necessary for smooth operation of the business. 

Q6- Who are my ideal end-users?

Whether you are developing any product brand or offering any services, you need to understand about your customers. Once you come to know about your potential customers, you can run your business smoothly. 

Q7- What is the present market?

Understanding the market of the product or services that you provide is essential while you are starting a business. If you don’t understand the market, your business cannot get enough success. 

Q8- Who are my competitors?

Every business has competitors or, and hence you need to get clear idea about the competitors of your business. So, you need to draft a plan to make your company different from your competitors. 

Q9- How do I market the products or services?

Marketing of products and services is the most important part while you are thinking of how to start own business. Brand promotion, social media marketing and many more options are available for product marketing. 

Q10- How Will I arrange capital for my start-up?

Once you determine the exact capital amount for your business, you need to arrange the fund from reliable sources. Experts suggest contacting with angel investors, banks, private financial institutions, etc to for arranging funds. 

Q11- When can my business start earning profit?

Your business can earn profit only when the income gets over the expenses. Usually a new business start up cannot make profit in its first year. A business can reach to its profitability nearly after 18 to 24 months. 

Q12- What challenges do I need to face? 

Every business comes with lots of challenges. You can never become a Successful entrepreneur, unless and until you resolve all the challenges. You can face problems in finding the right customer, enhanced competition, not enough funding, competition in the market, etc. 

Q13- Am I ready for failure, if any?

Your profitable business ideas can turn into failure due to several reasons and here you need to get ready for failure. Learning from the mistakes will make you strong to handle failures. 

Q14- Do I have the essential abilities?

The success of a business entirely depends on your abilities. You must have essential leadership quality and problem-solving approach to make your business profitable. 

Q15- Does my business need a physical office?

A business can have either a physical address or virtual address. It entirely depends on the requirement of the business & its purpose. 

Q16- What type of taxes do I need to pay?

You need to understand the tax structure as per the regulations in your city. You will need to pay State Employment Taxes and other taxes. 

Q17- What are my business costs?

You need to calculate revenue cost and capital cost to understand the profitability of your business while you start your business ideas.

Q18- How will I price my products or services? 

You need to consider the factors like Supply & demand, Fixed & variable cost, etc. Selling price should be calculated by adding direct cost, indirect cost and profit margin. 

Q19- Do I need to pay Insurance?

As per the Federal Government structure, you need to buy insurance like Worker’s compensation, etc. 

Q20- What legal procedure do I need to maintain?

While you are establishing your unique entrepreneur ideas, you need to follow the legal procedure like licensing, opening bank account, etc.