Welcome to part five of the arc started in Thoughts on Building a Business, Part 1 and continued through Thoughts on Building a Business, Part 4. I've been sharing questions that I didn't know enough to ask when I started NextStage but which, once I got it going, everyone kept telling me I should be asking.
This post deals with the people who make up your business and ends the series of questions in this arc.
When is a paying client a worthwhile client? What’s your client acquisition cost? What’s each sale’s support cost? What’s each client’s maintenance cost? How much is each sale costing you? Can you support each sale?Do you have employees or do you have contractors and consultants? Is there a difference in how each is treated and how each is compensated for their labors? How much equity do you want to share? Are your employees and consultants concerned with opportunity costs? Do you know what opportunity costs are? Do you have a trustworthy lawyer to draw up employment, consulting, incorporation, intellectual property, trademark and all the other legal agreements you'll need?
Bing Bang Boom.
I've hit you with a lot in posts 1-5, I know. Now I'll tell you the one question which, in my opinion, you really need to answer before you answer anything else; Who do you trust?
I can sit here all day typing things that come to mind based on what I've gone through and am going through (and again, I know I don't know how to run a business), but what I've learned to answer before I answer anything else is “Do I trust this person? Do I trust the information they're giving me?”
In the next post in this arc we're going to start answering some of these questions. Over my five years I've made some friends who'll help answer some of these questions and any others you might care to ask.
Yep, more to follow.
» Thoughts on Building a Business, part 7 from BizMediaScience
Adventures in Small Business Management across the 8th Dimension, Part 7 [Read More]
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