- How many years of education do you have?
It doesn't matter, this question is not particularly relevant. The number of years of education does not correlate strongly with business success.
- Do you have a degree?
This doesn't help a great deal either.
- If you have a degree, is it in business management or business administration?
Still not a big factor. The worth of a MBA from a great business school not-with-standing, there are many more business owners running successful businesses that don't have an MBA than do.
- Assuming you attended high school, were you popular?
While being a people person might help, it isn't a significant indicator of success.
- Have you or your parents or your guardian ever owned a business before?
Once more, it doesn't matter. You are just about as likely to have learned bad habits as good ones.
- How old are you?
There is no magic age for starting a business. If you're old enough to take this quiz seriously, you're old enough, and there is no such thing as too old.
- Are you male or female?
Not only is this not an important factor, statistics have shown for quite a number of years that more new businesses are started by women each year than by men.
- Growing up, did you have any siblings?
Oldest child, youngest child, and middle child syndromes have nothing to do with being successful at business.
- How tall are you?
In the corporate world this makes a difference, but it has nothing to do with success at starting or running a business.
- Are you in good physical health?
This one is important only to the extent you have to be able to physically do whatever it is that your business demands of you.
- Are you of average, above average, or below average intelligence?
Believe it or not, even this is no indicator of business success potential. As proof, I point to individuals with mild retardation who are successfully running businesses.
- Are you religious?
Religious and ethnic culture aside, this has no bearing on how successful you will be with your own business.
- Have you arranged for bank financing?
No? Good. 95% of new businesses do not receive bank financing, nor SBA financing, nor even professional investor funding.
- Have you chosen to be a corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship?
Sorry, but true to form, the form of business you start doesn't relate to probable success or failure.
- Do you have enough cash to cover operating expenses for six months?
Now we're starting to reach questions somewhat pertinent to business success. While not absolutely necessary, a six month supply of cash can help, but only if it doesn't get in the way! You see, cash is necessary to buy materials and pay for appropriate business expenses, but it can also hide a lot of mistakes. Sometimes being a little lean is a very good thing.
- Would others describe you as persistent or quick to change?
Persistence is a very strong determining factor in your success.
- Do you want it now or are you willing to wait?
There is sometimes a fine line between ambition and greed. Individuals who can defer gratification are long term thinkers. And being around long term is one of the hallmarks of a successful business.
- Are you very good at what you do?
This one counts! You must be good at what you do to be successful long term. In fact, the single most important factor indicating long term profitability is your customers' perception that they receive high value. Unless your product or service is good, customers won't perceive the value as high.
- Is there a strong market for your product or service?
This ought to be a no-brainer. Unless someone wants to buy your product at a price high enough for you to profit, you don't have a business. Yet I see people investing years of time and energy (not to mention money) to produce a product nobody wants to buy.
- Is there any competition?
Of course there is. Even if you have a totally new product there is competition for the dollar in your prospective customer's pocket. You should learn about the most direct competitors in your field and try to avoid their mistakes while modeling their successes.
