So we're piecing together our business plan, usually over wings and cola at some restaurant downtown, and we're really trying to hash out how the business is going to work and piecing some really good ideas together when one of my buddies says, "Stop. We need to stop." I'm thinking, man, we were making progress, what's the deal?

The thing is, he hit the nail on the head: we were putting the cart before the horse. I'll concede that its important, logistically speaking, to have a good idea of what the operations will look like (which is what we were working on), but that plan needs to have a foundation, and we just didn't have one. We had a million good (nay, great) ideas, flying in a billion different directions; and that's only half the problem.

John Roos is a big wig Lawyer down in Silicon valley and says that you need to have simple, simple, simple model. He says its a matter of asking, what are you good at? What does (or what can) your business do well?

And thats it.

Why should you ask it? Pretty simple, really. First, its branding; you will be the go-to business for whatever it is that you're good at. Statistics prove that niche business are far more successful (ironic, isn't it). It will lead your insides and your outsides.

Second, decision making. I sat down and talked to a friend of mine, Daniel, who is working on his business right now - he's really got things rolling along and I think that he's asking himself that question a lot as he encounters different obstacles and has to decide where he belongs in the market. He's in a new, competitive landscape, and he needs something to set himself apart - how does he do that? Well, what is he good at? What value can he offer above the rest of his competitors.

Slow things down. Its tough to put those more glamorous ideas on the shelf as you table this really simple question - believe me! I kept thinking, "There must be more productive things we can do with our time!"

But the answer will pay off in spades!