We are All Designers Here

We are all designers. And design, as defined on Wikipedia (it's legit), is: a specification of an object, manifested by an agent, intended to accomplish goals, in a particular environment, using a set of primitive components, satisfying a set of requirements, subject to constraint.

So, if we think like designers when creating our businesses, maybe we should ask these questions:

What is your object?
What is your business all about? What are you selling?

How am I involved in the creation of this object?
You probably can't do it all alone. It is important to realize your strengths and focus on those. If you really just love knitting and would rather avoid marketing all together, you may want to find ways to outsource those tasks that cost you a lot of time and cause you dissatisfaction.

What goal is it accomplishing?
Are you going into business because you need to unload all of those stuffed animals you just made? That's great! Do you want to be completely self-employed within a year? Awesome. But you should define this right away so you know where your priorities lie.

How will it be created?
This might be considered the Research & Development stage. Find your suppliers. Perfect your craft and make sure you have the right systems in place to produce the amount of items you plan to sell, according to your goals (see previous question).

What makes it functional?
How will people find your business? This is a big, big question to answer and one that will come with a lot of trial and error. The most important thing is to make sure that there is a clear path to follow from first meeting to the sale and even the delivery and feedback. It is a continual loop and you need to be conscious of every step along the way.

What is it not?
This might be one of the most important questions to ask yourself. Design is all about creating order and function in the simplest way possible. Simplify your business. Find your focus and find a way to perfect that one thing so that your customers clearly understand what it is you are trying to do.