Starting Your Own Business – Due Diligence
Questions to ask before starting a new business
There are so many so-called ‘business opportunities’ out there in the big wide world that the problem is deciding which one to start with. Here are a few simple tips to help you start out and begin the investigation process.
- Follow your heart – You can’t commit your life for something you don’t believe in. Let me give you an example. Just a few months ago I was pitched with a business opportunity, yes it was MLM, based upon healthy coffee. Looked interesting so did a bit more research. The product is basically instant coffee with an added extract from a mushroom. The mushroom extract looks good and has some valid research around it. Looking good so far. Ok then try the product. This is where it comes unstuck for me – the taste wasn’t great and the aftertaste was very bad. So despite lots of promise the product fails to impress – so walk away from that one.
- Have a clear pathway that you use to evaluate each potential business. When someone pitches you with the new business that they have just bought into – at a price of £1000 or more very often – you have to ask is this hype or is this genuine? So what is my process like?
- do I respect the person pitching me
- does the product fit with my belief system
- is the product a one-off or repeat sale
- is there clear evidence of success
- if it is MLM has the company been growing steadily for at least 5 years
- If it is a health product are the claims being made reasonable, backed by science, legal (a big one these days)
- Do you have a network of people who would likely buy these products?
- Can I afford the investment to get things going – what is the timeline?
There are many other discriminators that I use and that are very helpful but the 5 points above weed out 95% of the time wasters and that enables me to look at the few that qualify for my time. Diligent Investigation is the key.
Tags: Aftertaste, Belief System, Business Opportunities, Business Opportunity, Clear Evidence, Diligent Investigation, Discriminators, Due Diligence, Follow Your Heart, Health Product, Hype, Instant Coffee, Investigation Process, Mushroom, Pathway, Starting A New Business, Starting Your Own Business, Time Wasters, Timeline, Weed
