There is a theory that states it is easy to find the answer once you know the question but it’s very hard to ask the right question. Every business should have several feedback loops that an entrepreneur can use to understand where to focus their efforts. The feedback loops should be set-up based on question, that you if answered, give you specific insight into what your business is doing well and whether it will or will not miss the targets it has.
There are two (2) basic questions you should always be asking yourself: “Why will I fail?” and “Why will I succeed?”. Many entrepreneurs don’t want to think of failure as it tends to have negative connotations and they tend to only focus on success. That attitude works if you are trying to motivate yourself but if you want a profitable and valuable business you should consider failure and success as variables in an equation. “If we don’t do X and miss doing X we would have failed to get to where we specifically want to be on this initiative”. This is an example of a question about failure that should encourage you to focus on the variables that will ensure your business doesn’t miss a specific target it has set. Conversely, “If we do X and exceed doing X we would have succeeded in getting to where we want to be.” This is an example of the success that would occur if specific variables were managed properly.
Challenging yourself to ask why you will fail and why you will succeed is a different way to think about your business. They are constructive questions that will generate new questions to help you build a profitable and valuable business.
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