Recently I wrote about a new project I was considering, and the 16 questions from Seth Godin that forced me to really think about the fundamental motivations for starting it in the first place.

One of the first things we had to do was to prepare a pitch for a potential customer for the project. In essence, we were going to propose a fundamental change in their thinking about how to generate extra revenue for the company. That made me think about another blog post by Seth Godin: Change and its constituents.

We decided to make a list of all the stake holders within the organization of our potential customer. Using this list, we established if they might feel hurt by the proposed change or benefit from it (or perhaps even both). This enabled us to prepare a response for every objection that we might encounter.

The pitch was going to be for senior executives in the organization, and our first task would be to win them over. But after we left, they would have to go and essentially sell our proposal to the rest of the company. Handing them an appropriate response for each possible objection we could think of might just make the difference.

Visit Seth Godin's blog for more thought provoking ideas and questions

A few months ago, I bookmarked a blog post by Seth Godin that really made me think at the time. He lists 16 questions that people should answer when they’re planning to start a business. What I liked about these questions is that most of them are not the typical multiple choice questions that you often see. These are open questions that really force you to dig deep into your motivations and personal goals.

I revisited this page this week because I’m working on a project that quickly turning into a completely new business. Instead of just rushing into the project, I sat down and made myself write down the answers to all 16 questions. Putting words to paper means you can not fool yourself into thinking you’ve fully answered the question.

As it turns out, it’s not always as easy as you would think to understand your own reasons or needs that guide you when considering a new venture. Often, you just go with the flow and continue doing what you’ve always been doing. Working through these questions helped me to be better prepared for the project and to be ready for when the project turns into a real business.