After coaching hundreds of entrepreneurs at various stages of their evolution, I’ve found that answers to these 5 questions can make or break any endeavor. Of course there are lots of other areas that must be addressed, however these will get you moving in right direction quickly.

Shhh, don’t tell anyone. Once you have these answers, you’ve created a basic and relatively painless (dare I say it?) Down and Dirty Business Plan™.

Are you ready? Go for it!

1. What problem do you solve?

You MUST begin here. If you don’t know what problem you solve, you don’t have a snowball’s chance. What real need do your potential customers/clients have that isn’t be fully addressed yet? Where’s their pain?

2. For whom do you solve it? or What is your niche?

In today’s economy, best (many say only) way to market your goods or services is to be very specific about targeting your potential customers. You can locate them, they can find you, and others can refer to you. This is scary for most entrepreneurs because it means saying “No” to some people. Let it go. It works!

3. Who’s your competition?

By John J. Alquist

How content and satisfied are American employees? Not very!

According to Corinne Maier, a psychotherapist and author of “Bonjour Laziness,” corporate cubicle inhabitants are anything but tranquil and joyous. These natives are truly restless.

This French writer quotes a Gallup study of employed American professionals showing that:

1. Some 17% claim to be "actively disengaged" in their jobs, close possibly to acts of sabatoge, some rather subtle.

2. And 54% claim to be "not engaged" in their jobs.

3. The remaining 29% are "crazy about" their jobs.

These are attitude findings of "professional" employees. How much worse would these findings be if employees of ALL kinds had been interviewed by Gallup? And what leads to such overwhelmingly negative attitudes with only 29% job satisfaction, anyway?

Maier explains:

1. "Reverse Verbal Signals" and "The Idiocy Of Lies." Example: a company remarks that it "values jobs" but then has massive layoffs.

2. Add managerial jargon, gibberish, power struggles, excess emphasis on diplomas and degrees, and employers demanding a lot from employees--but promising and delivering next to nothing in return.