Having shared the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs in 40 countries, I have decided to start a series of blog bills  on my thoughts about the key factors of success and the pitfalls of entrepreneurship in the retail business whatever the product or service being sold: hairdressing, optical, cosmetics, mobile phones, etc...etc...

The first step is to get the framework right, to make sure that you are going to include early enough in the thinking process the right questions on the key pillards of the business:

- 1/- What is my idea ?

- 2/- Who are my Clients ?

- 3/- What is my products & services offer ?

- 4/- How should my Place be chosen and my Space be designed and organised ?

- 5/- How should I create my Team ?

- 6/- What should be my Marketing and Promotional Strategy ?

- 7/- What should my Organisation and my Back Office be ?

Each of these question should be answered by asking more accurate questions to get all the elements of the future business plan. But let's start by the first pillard, the one that starts it all at the very beginning: "What is my Idea ?"

Asking yourself this question on the eve of lauching a new retail business, like any other entrepreneurial business, is not just about defining the activity in which you want to do so, not just about writting down a list of products and services you want to sell or offer. It is about pushing the question into deeper zones about what you want to be or become in your life and professional life.

The first one could be about the relation between you and the activity into which you are planning to invest yourself, your time, your thoughts, your "nights". Most of the successful entrepreneurs I met had either very strong committed passion and skills related to their activity. They had not just wanted to be their own bosses nor wanted to grab an opportunity or copy a friend. No, they a natural appeal for the acivity, they had developed a sort of born creativity for giving a personal and distinctive input allowing them to build a competitive edge on their markets. They also had shapped and sized their ambition to their personnality and to the lifestyle they felt suited for in life both professionally and personnally.

Shapping your ambition is about positioning your project at the right level of segment. The following questions have proven to be quite powerful in that perspective:

- What is the segment for which you have not only the strongist "vibe" but also the natural ease in attitude, behavior and conversation ? What is the segment in which you have built the strongest professional experience in the past few years ?

There is nothing more difficult then having a "luxe vibe" and trying to go for an affordable concept in which what is going to make the difference is your capacity to format the lowcost but profitable quality-price package, more than your capacity to refine the quality of service. And vice versa, don't you feel it a bit complicated to develop a luxury concept with a personality and mindset made to run an average or economic concept. Go where your real nature is or inclines you to go. You will always be better at giving what you know and do best.

Sizing your ambition is about evaluating the consequences of growing the business on thet content of your working days and the specific skills you will have to develop naturally or through training and coaching. Working with many entrepreneurs in the hairdressing business, I was able to translate the issues of the entrepreneur in numbers according to a chart like the one hereunder and explore their answers to the following questions:

- Am I "made" to be a self entrepreneur or am I made to becomme a CEO of a large chain of retail shops and hire expert poeple to whom I shall have to delegate power of decisions on key aspects of the business ?

- What would I like my days to look like in the future ? On the field, meaning in the retail shop, with on going direct contact with my clients and shop personal ? Or at one stage in life "in an office" conducting management meetings on Marketing, Human Ressources, Cashflow and suchlike ?

- Do I agree to delegate part of my power as manager to poeple I hire and in whom I can put my trust ?

Anticipating the consequences on your daily life, on your mindset and thinking patterns of each critical change in size of your future business is definitely a keystone to success.

Of course most entrepreneurs  had learned about their own ideal shape and size of business by confronting themselves with reality and testing their own limits in  these terms. And one could say that even if you spend too much time asking yourself questions you don't move forward. But how many entrepreneurs did I meet that were facing dramatic difficulties and hinders linked to the only fact that they had miss these keystone questions that would have made their professional and personal lives better and successful.

So if you are an entrepreneur or wanting to be one, take a few minutes, take a step aside, take a week-end and have a genuine conversation with yourself around questions like these to weigh the consequences of your future decisions on your daily life. And give yourself the bottom pillard of your future success

To be followed in the coming weeks