12 Entrepreneurial Questions

As I was surfing I came across this great list of questions to ask yourself to help you really look at what you are doing as an entrepreneur, to really narrow down what you want to do.

Who are you trying to please?

I want to be happy in the work I do, not disgruntled that I have to work. I want to make my family function better and also be happier. I want to make my customers find joy and to truly love their new logos and or websites.

Are you trying to make a living, make a difference, or leave a legacy?

My goal is to make a living, but that is so that I can make a difference in my family and in so doing leaving a legacy in my children. I also have decided just recently that I want to try to always be working with a charity or non-profit and giving of my services. God has given me these talents and given me the business that I now have and I want to share these with others. I want to help out and hopefully make  a difference.

How will the world be different when you’ve succeeded?

I’ve talked a little bit about my dream of quiting my daytime job. This would be one of the biggest difference in our lives and one of the best. The reason this is important to me right now is I feel like my boys need more structure in their lives. With my day job this is just not possible. My schedule is constantly changing day to day and even week to week.

One other exciting goal for after I quit my day job is to start doing preschool with Zane. I did a little before Zarek was born and loved it and really would rather do homeschooling with him than to pay to send him somewhere else.

Is it more important to add new customers or to increase your interactions with existing ones?

This is a hard question for me. I am trying to balance this out a little right now. I think maybe this is hard because I’m just starting to grow my business, so I’m constantly trying to find new clients that will become clients now and in the future. I’m finding that I do love that I have clients that stay around and use me as on of there resources.

Do you want a team? How big?

I don’t think I really do want a team. I’m pretty happy just working by myself right now. I have worked in the corporate world for so long and worked with others for so long, some time alone will be nice. And who knows someday I may change my mind and will want to work with someone, but not right now.

Would you rather have an open-ended project that’s never done, or one where you hit natural end points?

I would rather have projects that have end points. I enjoy doing large projects but somehow there is this relief and joy in seeing something done. Even large projects I break into smaller projects just to be able to see that end point, to see that check mark on my list.

Are you prepared to actively sell your stuff, or are you expecting that buyers will walk in the door and ask for it?

I have be actively looking for clients but I have also been really blessed with some really great referrals. I have even just had people find me through my site, twitter, and other social events.  Which it is always wonderful when someone just happens to find you.

Which: to invent a category or to be just like Bob/Sue, but better?

I’m kinda a “be like Bob/Sue, but better” kind of person. My aspiration for my business is to help bloggers and entrepreneurs showcase their blogs/business. To help them show off their passion, pride and love for their blog or business. And in this I want to be able to spend time one on one with my clients and not just make a site that works and is there, but make something that really shows off their business, their personalities, something that they love.

If you take someone else’s investment, are you prepared to sell out to pay it back?

My intention is to take in no loans. Maybe this is a crazy idea but so far so good.

Are you done personally growing, or is this project going to force you to change and develop yourself?

Are we ever done growing? I know I’m not. I try to be continuously learning and growing. In a way starting up my business has pushed me to be more involved and to learn even more. I have a huge stack of books to read right next to me right now. I have lists of tutorials and articles to read in my bookmarks. I also have gone to a conference by myself for the first time this year and am planning on going to WordCamp in the fall also. I would love to go to BlogHer, but we will see.

Choose: teach and lead and challenge your customers, or do what they ask…

I love to teach my customers and I love to challenge them. One of the things that I do that is probably unique in the web design world is I try and make my designs as user friendly as possible.

I try to make it so my clients will be able to edit small things themselves. I try and make it so that the menus are easily editable in the control panel or widgetize the sidebars so they can move things around to there liking. Now sometimes this is hard for them and when they feel stuck I am there for them. I will first try to send them instructions on how to do it to see if they can learn how and if they just don’t feel like they can do it then I do it for them.

How long can you wait before it feels as though you’re succeeding?

This is another really hard question, even just the other day I was noticing the mountains and valleys in my business right now as I work on learning how to balance everything. Some months I am amazed at how fast my business has grown, but even just last month I felt as if I was struggling. I didn’t feel like I was a failure, but I felt like I didn’t get as much work as I wanted for the month. But then I sat back and looked at my business for the last 6 months as a whole and it has been growing and I am succeeding. So I would say that I already feel like I’m succeeding, I’m getting to my goals and that’s all that matters.

If you want to see some of my work check out my portfolio at Uniquehorn Designs. You can find the original list, with all 16 questions, at this great blog post: 16 questions for free agents.

These are my answers what are yours?