5 important questions to ask right now

1. What should our business be worried about?

If your answer is: nothing, economy, or competition. #yourdoingitwrong.

Nothing is BS. Economy is an excuse. And competition is not specific enough. 

What are your customer preferences? Are they changing? Do you serve a young demo or an older? Are you at risk of not attracting new business? When's the last time you took a chance? Changed something? Maybe it's time.

2. Is what we are doing today going to work for tomorrow?

There is managing for NOW and there is preparing for tomorrow. Sometimes tough to do both, but if you don't have an idea of what tomorrow looks like you are too short sighted.

What can you add, to that which you currently do best, that will serve to build for tomorrow without turning off your current success? Can you add a service to attract a new demo without changing the service that serves your core? For example.

3. Do we have the right people — in the right jobs — and are they happy?

"Right people" is though. In the right jobs is a challenge. Keeping them happy should be easy. 

At the core of it all, you need to understand people.

When you hire them — what makes them tick? Do those things resonate with your business?

The right jobs — what are their personal goals? Are you putting them in roles that will allow them to get after those dreams?

Keeping them happy — what makes them feel important? Do that.

4. What is slowing down our customers buying process, or causing them to choose elsewhere?

Again, understanding people — but this time: your customers. What makes them tick? What makes them feel important? Do that.

There is always a better option in this world. It's too big and there are too many options. You don't have to be the best. You just have to be the best to them in a way that makes them feel important.

If everyone only ever chose "the best", there would only be one of everything in this world. -Me, just now

Can you imagine: one operating system, one supermarket, one car?

People chose the best for them out of the options for a million reasons. Figure out what those reasons are.

5. What items on the expense side of the P&L can we get rid of or decrease?

Break out the ole P&L and go down the list. Where are you spending money? Do you need to be?

Some things are musts: you have to keep the lights on, you have to have a certain level of manpower, you have to keep advertising.

Others are maybes: you might have two people doing the job of one, you may be outsourcing something that can be done internally, you may have an expensive vendor you can replace.

Every business owner should be thinking these things daily. And as with most things I blog about, I would suggest starting with the numbers.

With each of these questions and answers you should be able to assign a number; a number you are either currently achieving or trying to achieve. Goals and metrics.

If you can't put a number to it, stop doing it.

These 5 questions were paraphrased from a recent post on inc.com 5 Questions Businesses Owners Should Be Asking. They have cool pictures too.