It’s time to think about the core product(s) and service(s) you would provide to your customers. This is the time to set out, maybe for the first time, some detail about your business. The following is simply a list of questions. Don’t worry if you’re not sure of all the answers. This is just an exercise to get you thinking about research you may need to do and support you might require.

What will your products / services be?

Can you describe the ‘whole’ business. What package would you offer to stand out? I.e. your product plus amazing customer service, total convenience, real affordability etc.

How would you source / make your product / service and how would they be delivered to your customers?

How do you know there’s demand for your business?

Who would you expect your customers to be?

Why do you think these people would buy your product / service? Do you have evidence for this?

How will you let potential customers know about your business?

Write down ten solid reasons why your business will be a success!

Once you’ve listed your ten reasons for success, it’s time to challenge them. It’s a good idea to ask someone you trust to help you with this. You should both be honest and constructively critical of each of the ten reasons. Ask yourself, do your ten reasons really provide solid evidence that your idea will work? It’s unlikely that they all do.

The more open minded you can be about your business idea and other people’s criticisms / observations of it, the stronger the idea will become. Passion and belief are great but they’re not enough. You need clearly considered reasons why your business will work.