The six W’s refer to the six questions who, what, where, when, why, and how. Answering these six questions will help you come to a better understanding of your new project or business. Starting a new business, developing a new product, or launching a world-changing project is no easy task. By answering the Six W’s you would begin to build the consensus, both within yourself and with your team, needed to launch your project. Along the way you will tackle many of the important issues that will later determine the success
A whole myriad of regulations, needs, and conditions must addressed before you can even start your idea. How do you form a business? How do you set up a bank account in your company’s name? What is the opportunity? Why is your solution the solution to the want or need you are trying to meet? What are the potential pitfalls that might hold you or your new project/business back and how are you going to address these challenges? And these are just some of the questions you have to ask before you even start your new business or launch your next project.
The first thing you need to do is stop. Slow down. Sit back. Think. Starting a new project is exciting, and you don’t want to lose momentum, but you do want to make sure you properly reflect on the tasks at hand and the long road ahead. Taking the time to outline your thoughts and the challenges your project will face will save a lot of time further down the road.
What, specifically, are you trying to accomplish? What, exactly, is the problem you are trying to solve and the want you are trying to meet? Skip the flowery language and save that for the marketing materials to come. Drill down and figure out exactly, precisely, you are trying to do. A team should always build at least some consensus before moving forward with the project. The same is true of an individual, you must be sure of what your business or project is trying to accomplish.
Why will your solution or business address the wants and needs you are addressing? What makes your business special? The answer could be as simple as location, you want to start up a grocery store in your neighborhood because there is no grocery store nearby. Or maybe the answer is more complex, you’ve developed a radically new drug that will kill cancerous cells.
If your project or business doesn’t seem to offer any unique attributes then you should step back and figure out how to make it unique. For a business to succeed you need to stand out and you need to offer customers a reason to turn to you to meet their demand. Maybe there is a grocery store in your neighborhood, but the service is poor, the fruits and vegetables are rotten, and everything is overpriced. You can make your own grocery store unique by offering good service, fresh fruits and vegetables, and reasonable prices.
The questions of why feeds directly into the question of how. How will your project deliver its promised solutions? The question of how often includes a lot of the specific ways you will address the problems and wants as outlined in the answer of why. Let’s continue with our neighborhood grocery store example. How will you deliver better service? Maybe you will provide more training for your staff and be more careful in the hiring process.
Who will be involved in this new business or project? We will let you in on a little secret, many funders are more interested in the people involved on a project, then the project itself. The reason is simple, a great team can make even a mediocre project successful. A poor team, on the other hand, likely won’t be successful even if they have the greatest idea in the world. So make sure you think long and hard about who you are going to include in your team and why.
When will you start your new business or project? Why is it important to start the project at that time? For a lot of businesses and projects the right time is now and this feeds into the question and answer for why. Most projects are working to address a pressing problem or to meet a current want. Still, for some projects or businesses it may make sense to wait. For example, opening up a bathing suit shop in the middle of the monsoon season might not be the best way to build momentum. On the other hand opening up an office supply shop near a university just before the beginning of the school year might help you attract your first customers and allow you to build momentum.
Where will you start this project? The importance of location depends a lot on your specific project. For example, an internet company can usually be more flexible in choosing their location then a grocery store. Having a big flashy office in the downtown of a major city may not be important for an online store. On the other hand having the corner location in an affluent neighborhood in the big city may generate a lot more revenue for your grocery store then if you opened up in a small rural village.
Answering these six questions is just the starting point in establishing your new business or launching your next project. We won’t lie, the road ahead will be hard, but if you persevere the rewards could be tremendous. If you are looking for further advice, we can offer specialized and detailed mentoring services, helping you understand many of the pitfall and challenges you will face. We can also help you understand your market, customers, and competitors.