Are you an established entrepreneur looking to enhance your income or are you a newcomer to entrepreneurship? Here are 4 questions that every entrepreneurial leader must continue to assess in order to hone their competitive edge.

1. Who?

Entrepreneurs often make the mistake of not clarifying the EXACT targeted niche for their intended audience. No matter how brilliant such business owners may be, their venture is bound to fail.

Here are 4 questions to help you gain clarity about your target market: 

1. What is the age group and gender of your audience?
2. What is your audiences’ professional lifestyle?
3. Describe their personal lifestyle
4. How will your product/services benefit them?

How Clarifying Your WHO Can Help You:

– Product Development of the best fit for your services, or products you sell
– Competitive Edge: The products and services you hope to sell may not be effectively refined enough to best serve your target market
– Marketing Plan for effective marketing language and collateral 

2. Why Not?

Time and time again, entrepreneurs are hindered by limiting belief and wavering self-confidence. 

Here are 5 things to consider that will help you clear your mind of your doubt to help you begin planning for the propping up and the prospering of your company:

1. Identify your logistical obstacles
2. What additional skill sets do you need to develop, or have other professionals assist you with?
3. What personal challenges are preventing you from success?
4. Determine the monetary challenges that will hinder your progress
5. Do you need specific software or equipment? If so, how can you acquire them?

How Answering Your WHY NOT Questions Can Help You:

– In order to get rid of the doubt, you must fully understand the obstacles you’re facing
– In order to develop an effective plan to help you overcome your business challenges, you must identify what it’s going to take for you to successfully start-up your company.

 “If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run, then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward”

                                                                          – Martin Luther King Jr.

3. When?

One of the biggest challenges in starting and making sure your business is a success is building a plan with short and long-term goals. Here are three questions that can help you organize your timeline to achieve your short and long-term goals:

– Is there a specific timeline that you are following plan your business?
– What  deadlines do you need to create for yourself in order to help you stay organized and on track with each phase of your: planning, launch, and implementation
– What smaller details might you have overlooked that you need to add to the timeline for your planning, launch, and implementation.

How Answering Your WHEN Questions Can Help You:

With many details to research, implement, and develop, having a clear timeline with realistic benchmarks will help you to start and continue with your business.

4. Why?

We tend to forget the reason behind some of our actions and ideas. One of the key elements of every company is the ambition and vision of their business leader and/or founder. Here are two questions that can assist you with your ambition and vision:

– What was your motivation to start your company?
– How can you transform your ambition and vision into a selling point?

 How Answering Your WHY Questions Can Help You

– The WHY is what allows you to wake up every day and find the renewed dedication to achieve your business goals.
– The WHY becomes a key selling point that helps attract customers investors.

 “You don’t learn how to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over”

                                                                              – Richard Branson

Sometimes realizing that you don’t have all the answers can be disconcerting. As you start to answer these questions, you’ll your company begin to evolve. Would Steve Jobs and his colleagues would have known that their apple computer would have become the tech giant it is today, starting from a computer and going into phones and even watches. As an entrepreneur, you must always keep the 4 W’s in mind, whether you are just starting or wanting to evolve as a company. They will be key in order to achieve success.