Marissa Mayer asks startups these three questions, but I think it is just as important for existing businesses to ask themselves the same.

1. Can you deliver?
2. Can you connect?
3. Can you grow?

Businesses , especially solopreneurs / freelancers, sometimes get caught in a cycle of delivering then connecting then growing. But rarely all three active at the same time. We ignore the need to find new clients because we are spinning all our plates working with the ones we have. Expanding is desperately needed but shunned because the hit to our overhead and calendar just can't take it.

We spend time tweaking and futzing over our products and services to deliver a perfect product rather than a shippable product. I am in no way ever saying to sell half-baked products. I'm suggesting that we can avoid the next two steps of connecting and growing by circling in the 'creating' cycle. We can't ship what we don't have. Blame is passed on down the line. +Seth Godin's "Poke The Box" comes to mind.

How much time do you spend creating things to sell? How easy is it to get your product / service into the hands of those that have a need? How can you continue to make more product and sell to more people without cloning yourself or hiring a gaggle of staff?

Taking time to answer, honestly, these three questions and begin to cull and streamline your process isn't just a luxury of startups – it's a necessity of existing business. 

#SmallBiz   #SmallBusiness   #Business   #blog   #startup  

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Three Questions Marissa Mayer Asks Startups

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