3 Essential Questions To Know Before Starting Your Own Business

Entrepreneurship is the process of designing, launching and running a new business. The people who create these businesses are called entrepreneurs. Therefore, an Entrepreneur is a person who sets up a business or businesses, and who takes on financial risks in the hope of profit. People choose to become entrepreneurs for various reasons.

What is your own reason? What is your business idea? Is it compelling enough to keep your up at night when others slept, or enough to make you rise up again and again when you fall in business? Here is a list of reasons why people embrace entrepreneurship – some start businesses because they want to change the world; some want flexible work hours, some don’t want bosses; some can’t find a job; some are curious; some are ambitious. Here are few inspiration from successful entrepreneurs: "From my very first day as an entrepreneur, I've felt the only mission worth pursuing in business is to make people's lives better" Richard Branson (Virgin Group); "A person who sees a problem is a human being; a person who finds a solution is visionary, and the person who goes out to do something about it is an Entrepreneur". Naveen Jain; "An Entrepreneur is someone who jumps off a cliff and builds a plane on the way down". Reid Hoffman.

But whatever your reasons are, you will succeed only if you are passionate, committed and love what you do. Added to that, there must be enough demand for your product or service, and the business had to be built on sound principles of customer service.

Entrepreneurs are people who take their careers and dreams into their own hands and lead it in the direction of their own choice, and in the process, building their lives on their own terms. No bosses. No restricting schedules. And no one to hold you back. Entrepreneurs are able to take the first step into making the world a better place for themselves, and for everyone else in it. To do this requires courage, grit, passion, and love for what you want to create. But can you succeed doing the job of an entrepreneur? Oh Yes, You can. Others did it too. Remember Dangote, Elon Musk and Mike Adenuga.

The first step to creating your own business and becoming an entrepreneur is the choice of your ideal business. Is it feasible? Is there a distinct customer need that your intended product or service fills? Is the identified market large enough to enable you run profitably? For example, when the GSM companies came to Nigeria with mobile phone technology in 2002, there was already a huge market gap for telecommunication services based on unmet customer need. Is there such a market segment waiting for your product or service? Does the market exist or you would have to create one?

Is It Feasible to create a business on your Product or Service Idea?

Feasibility of a business describes how simple it is to accomplish the goals of the business. What are your business goals? Are they big enough to warrant venturing into entrepreneurship? Is the achievement of the goals enough to keep you up even when failure confronts you? If you must venture into entrepreneurship, at least your goals be grand, noble and impactful to the world around you. To determine if your idea for that new business is feasible, ask yourself the following questions, and answer them honestly as a guide on your entrepreneurship journey.

· What customer need or market gap is your product or service filling?


· Would you have a sufficient customer base for long-term success?


· Is there a sufficient market for your product?


· What is the future outlook for the market?


· Can you price competitively?


· Do you have the necessary funding?

Is the Venture Lucrative enough?

Before you begin any new venture, you must also discover if it is lucrative. Will the venture be able to pay for its expenses, your own, and your workers, and meet its obligations as it falls due? This requires you to understand the niche market that you wish to serve. Any successful venture requires an understanding of the market and the competition. You need to discover if the market is profitable and how you can compete in it. Once you understand the market dynamics, and how it affects your place in that market, you will be better equipped to face the challenges that will come your way and increase your likelihood of success.

Your niche market. What is it? That is your own little corner of the market. An area you have mapped for yourself to compete. The more you are a specialist in this corner, the more successful your business will be.

Is There Competition?

Of course, there will be. Once you know your market, your first job should be to identify the competition. Your main competition will be the product/service closest to your own offerings. You need to unravel their strengths and weaknesses in order to give yourself competitive advantage, and more leverage to succeed.

Pay close attention to the objectives of your competing businesses, and see how you compare. Some businesses focus on customer experience, while others are focused on low prices. If you pay enough attention to their objectives, you will discover weaknesses in them that you can exploit. Competition in any business is a healthy experience, and it at least shows that you are on the right tract having to compete for customer’s attention and cash.

So, you want to start your own business? Applying the test of the 3 questions above, and providing honest answers to them will prove invaluable to you on your entrepreneurship journey.