Questions entrepreneurs need to ask themselves.

Because asking questions is the answer to solutions.

It is difficult for most people to ask questions, more so when you are an entrepreneur, who is starting out and also the person asking the right questions along with being the one answering them. It is like therapy, minus the therapist.

But if you are an entrepreneur, who is just starting out, with a gazillion questions in your head which seem like second guesses, don’t worry, you are better off than most visionless start-up founders.

Questions are a sign of an insightful idea that actually aims at filling a gap instead of filling personal pockets; which must be the secondary goal, not the vision of the brand.

What do questions do?

Apart from helping you with a direction towards answers, they have a purpose higher than that.

You could take the help of the Socratic reasoning model here. Philosophy provides you the ability to sit on the giant’s shoulders and gain a better perspective from previous thinkers. Socratic reasoning will help you explore complex ideas, to get to the truth, open up issues, solidify/reject assumptions, analyze concepts, distinguish knowledge from ignorance and follow logic by controlling discussions.

Questioning results in accountability for your own goals and prevents you from derailing from your vision through constant updates, realized through simple questions.

With the right questions and regular investment in them, you are proving that your vision is important to you even after you put the implementation of your idea in self-drive mode.

It helps you gain confidence in the fact that you are continuously invested in thinking about the betterment and reaching it until you achieve it and set the next set of goals for your brand.

A Marie Kondo for questions

All the questions at once might not only be overwhelming but also unproductive and humanly impossible to answer. What would happen to a computer when you run all apps at once? Exactly what happens with the CPU of your body, the brain.

Make a list, a checklist of sorts. You will have a difficult time getting over the feeling of checking things off a list; it is one oddly satisfying activity.

You are not only supposed to ask the right questions, but you also have to ask the right questions at the right time.

5 W’s and 1 H

The most common practice is to start with why.

Out of all questions that start with the five W’s and one H (What, Why, When, Who, Where, When and How,) the most important one has always been and always will be why. Remember why you started throughout and especially during the end. Followed by ‘how’ will you achieve the why and ‘what’ will you do to achieve the ‘how.’

· What does this have to do with the brand?

· How will I keep personal biases away from my brand?

· How do I improve continuously, and when do I stop innovating?

· Am I still following my vision, or have I digressed?

· How do I define my brand?

· What little things have I left alone for too long and need my attention before I put them off, yet again?

· What is working out?

· What is constantly failing?

· What needs to change?

· What needs to stay?

· What needs to go?

· What lessons have I learned from past mistakes and experiences-good or bad?

· Where do I lack?

· What are my achievements? Why?

· What next?

· Is my idea my first draft?

· What (and how) do I think of myself?

· How do I deal with rejection, and what do I do with the reasons stated?

· How do I deal with the ‘prodigies’ around and take time to perfect things?

· What is my own definition of success? (It doesn’t have to be money; no judgments if it is.)

· What and how can I make it easier for the end-user?

· What is holding me back?

· Do I want to spend the next few years on this? Is it worth it?

· Does my product/service have the potential to grow?

· Does the market have the potential for growth?

· Have I talked to enough relevant people (valuable experts/ industry leaders) for my project?

· What was my motivation/trigger?

· What are the milestones that will give me an idea about where do I stand?

· Am I having fun?

· Am I taking enough help?

Most of these questions have obvious answers. We have not given the answers because they are for you to figure out.

Take these questions as a spark that would ignite the fire that will test your idea before you invest in implementing it.

After Answers…

It is surprising to look at the number of people who take up projects and do things for the sake of doing it or put conscious effort and proactive thought in the products of their own imagination. These are the same people who wonder why things are not working out.

It is as common as it is ironically funny.

A mistake even entrepreneurs with multiple ventures makes is dropping dreams if the answers aren’t convincing enough to further pursue their own ideas.

Do not abandon your dreams if these questions made you realize against your idea. It is a sign to now take that as self-constructive-criticism and work on developing the same idea from these questions or look at other concepts or projects you have saved in your ideas folder. Focus on the deficiency if it turns out to be inefficient. You are more than your ideas.

— by Manas, Content Strategist, Slangbusters Studio