OK! You decided to start your own business. Things are going fine but it’s early days. As you take stock and review your business after a summer break why not take a health check on yourself as well?
“Start your own business” coaches will tell you only too quickly the main financial and marketing reasons why a business fails, but another common reason is that the person just isn’t suited to it. Recently, I attended a seminar full of useful start up tips but what they didn’t say, just assumed, was that somehow you had gained and learnt all the necessary know how about yourself to decide whether you were actually cut out for starting a new business in the first place.
We know small businesses are about three things – Marketing, Managing and Delivering. When we are marketing we are not bringing in any revenue. When we are delivering we are not growing anything. In between we need to manage the business. At Gateway we recommend these 10 questions to ask yourself both during the start up phase and as part of a regular health check.
1. Do I enjoy / prefer working by myself or with others? Day-to-day many small businesses operate as sole traders – that can be lonely. Yes, 4N provides an excellent means to surround ourselves with professionals – the web site designer, SEO expert, marketing guru are a few – but consider whether you would have gone down this route if you’d realised what working alone meant.
2. Which of the three main areas – Marketing, Delivering and Managing – am I best at? What are you doing or what will you do about the others?
3. What are my key personal skills? Do I know? How can I find out? How strong would I rate each if asked to do so? We all have a view but has it been verified recently? Perhaps we are all too busy to get a second opinion or complete that online psychometric profile that will reveal all.
4. Am I using all of my skills effectively in the business? What tasks do I enjoy doing and what would I prefer to pass to others? It’s crucial to understand this if we are to use our time well and maximise the benefit 4N membership can bring.
5. Which of my personal or business skills could either be developed or are lying dormant? Many people find this hard to assess because “you don’t know what you don’t know.” And yet, for example, what if you realised that actually you’re better at pitching for new business than you thought?
6. What are my core career values and career wants? At Gateway, we have a list of over 75 and we ask people to choose those that are not just desirable but pivotal to their work. What would your top 10 look like? Had you known what these were before you started out would you have gone ahead?
7. Are my career wants and needs being met in my new business? If the answer is yes, fine. If you’re unsure why not get an outside opinion. In many cases only time will tell.
8. What drives me? What are my major job motivators? Many people are not driven by money. They see financial reward as bringing them greater choice. How would a better appreciation of your personal motivators benefit you and your business?
9. How risk averse am I? Its’ hard to get established and build the basic infrastructure and that can mean taking a risk or two.
10. Business is going well and I want to take on a business partner or first employee. What should I look for? No easy answer if you don’t know yourself. Better to find out than enter into a contractual agreement which ties you into working with the wrong person.
Why not complete a business owner, personal health check by asking and answering these questions soon. You may find a more fulfilling and rewarding future – even if that means you now have certainty that you’re on the right path.
Peter Wilford
Gateway Career Management
0845 459 0035