Day 3 : Two Questions about Starting my Business

Day 3 of starting a business is where most people quietly give up. Not because they’ve failed — nothing has even happened yet. They give up because two questions start eating at them, and nobody around them has a real answer. I remember sitting in my apartment in Dubai, three days into deciding I was going to build something around AI and marketing automation, staring at a blank notebook. The questions felt simple on the surface. They weren’t.The first question: Who am I actually doing this for? Not in the fluffy “find your why” sense. I mean: which specific human being, with which specific problem, is going to pay me? When you’re starting out, the temptation is to say “everyone” — real estate agents, coaches, consultants, e-commerce owners. That’s not a business. That’s a wish. I made this mistake early on. My first few conversations with potential clients went nowhere because I was speaking generally when they needed me to speak directly to their situation.The second question: Am I good enough to charge for this? This one is sneakier. It hides under the label of “imposter syndrome” but it’s actually a practical question in disguise. You’re asking: have I done enough, learned enough, proven enough to ask someone to trust me with their money? In my experience training people across Dubai and the GCC, this question paralyzes more talented people than any skill gap ever could. The answer I’ve landed on — and what I tell every new student — is that you don’t need to be the best. You need to be one step ahead of the person you’re helping.These two questions don’t disappear on Day 4. But answering them honestly, even imperfectly, is what separates people who build something real from people who keep “getting ready.” Here’s how I’d work through both of them if I were starting again today.