No Diagnosis, No Direction: How knowing your Starting Point can transform your Entrepreneurship
Would you take medicine or start a treatment without knowing your diagnosis? Probably not. No one in their right mind begins therapy, a diet, or surgery without first understanding what’s going on, what the root cause is, or what they want to achieve. And yet, that’s exactly what many entrepreneurs do when they rush to set goals without having clarity about their current situation.
In this article, I invite you to explore why making a diagnosis before defining objectives is essential, which tools you can use, and how this process can become a powerful compass for your personal and business growth.
“Diagnosis is not the end, but the beginning of practice”
It’s natural to get excited about a goal: we want to sell more, launch a new product, grow on social media, expand into new markets. But — where are we starting from? What resources do we really have? What obstacles are we facing? Which skills do we need to strengthen?
Without clear answers to these questions, any objective risks becoming a blind experiment.
Just as someone who wants to improve their health begins with a medical checkup — cholesterol levels, blood pressure, physical condition — an entrepreneur also needs a comprehensive diagnosis that includes both the current state of the business and their own competencies, beliefs, and attitudes. Only then can you set realistic, achievable goals aligned with your purpose.
Why is a Good Diagnosis Crucial?
Diagnosis is the starting point of any conscious transformation. It allows us to clearly see where we stand.
Here are some key reasons why it matters:
Avoids decisions based on assumptions. Instead of acting on intuition or imitation, it enables informed decisions.
Prevents frustration. Goals that don’t match reality generate demotivation and burnout, since they’re harder to reach and progress feels invisible.
Facilitates planning. Knowing your starting point helps you choose the most efficient path toward your goal.
Strengthens commitment. When you understand the “why” behind your goals, your commitment to the process deepens.
Connects you to your truth. An honest diagnosis helps you stop acting from ego or fear and start acting with awareness and intention. Sometimes we resist facing reality because we fear it will be worse than we imagined. But often, we might be pleasantly surprised to discover we’re further along than expected. Either way, whether we like it or not, it’s the reality we must build from — and the sooner we accept it, the better.
From the perspective of entrepreneurial psychology, self-awareness is a foundational pillar. Only when we recognize our abilities, limitations, and thought patterns can we lead authentically and make decisions aligned with our vision of life.
1. Entrepreneur’s Diagnosis: Looking Inward to Move Forward
Before evaluating the business, it’s wise to first examine ourselves in our entrepreneurial role. What skills do we have? What motivates us? How do we handle uncertainty? What’s our leadership style? All these factors directly impact business results.
A powerful tool for this self-diagnosis is the Entrepreneurial Mindset Profile (EMP), for which I’m certified and which I often use with entrepreneurs and teams. The EMP evaluates 14 dimensions of the entrepreneurial mindset, grouped into two categories:
Business skills such as opportunity recognition, execution, innovation focus, and future orientation.
Personal traits such as independence, self-confidence, need for achievement, and risk tolerance.
The EMP profile is not a judgment but a map. It shows you your strengths and areas for development to enhance your entrepreneurial performance. Not all entrepreneurs have the same profile, nor do they need to score high in every dimension. What matters is understanding how your style shapes your decisions and how you can complement yourself with others or build new skills.
👉 You can learn more about this assessment or book a consultation at this link: Entrepreneurial Mindset Profile (EMP) | Explore Your Potential - Celia Soonets
In addition to the EMP, you can complement your personal diagnosis with other strategies, such as keeping a self-observation journal: for one week, note your reactions to common challenges (decision-making, conflicts, delegation, communication).
This individual diagnosis is key to avoiding one of the most frequent mistakes: setting goals that don’t take into account who you are today or how you manage the entrepreneurial process.
2. Business Diagnosis: Looking at Facts, Not Assumptions
Once the personal diagnosis is done, it’s time to look at the actual state of your business. How are your finances? How are your clients behaving? Which processes work well and which don’t?
A classic starting point for this diagnosis is the SWOT Analysis:
Strengths: What do you do better than others? What unique resources do you have?
Opportunities: What changes in the environment could you leverage?
Weaknesses: What areas limit your growth or efficiency?
Threats: What external factors could harm your business?
This analysis is especially useful if done with honesty and ideally with external input (consultants, advisors, mentors, or your team).
But it’s not the only tool. You can also use a PESTEL Analysis, which examines environmental factors that may impact your business:
Political
Economic
Social
Technological
Environmental
Legal
This is particularly useful if you’re considering growth or expansion into new markets.
3. Financial Diagnosis: Putting Numbers to Reality
Beyond understanding your entrepreneurial profile and business state, it’s essential to see how all of that shows up in your numbers.
Many entrepreneurs avoid this, but financial indicators are not just for accountants — they are decision-making tools.
Clarity in your finances allows you to:
Know if your business is truly profitable or just generating income.
Spot hidden or excessive expenses draining resources.
Measure the real impact of your actions (campaigns, investments, launches).
Anticipate liquidity or investment needs.
Some basic indicators you should know and review regularly are:
Monthly revenue and trends (increasing, decreasing, stagnant).
Profit margins (what you truly keep after covering all costs).
Break-even point (how much you need to sell to avoid losses).
Profitability by product or service (is one sustaining the whole business?).
Debt level and cash flow.
If you don’t feel confident interpreting this data, seek support: a financial advisor, user-friendly accounting tools, or mentorship can make all the difference.
👉 I invite you to visit the “Your Arsenal” section of my website and read this article: Financial Goals and Indicators for the Micro-Entrepreneur — Celia Soonets
Remember: what isn’t measured can’t be improved. And what isn’t understood can’t be managed.
4. Process Audit
Make an inventory of your internal processes (sales, customer service, production, logistics). Where is time or money being wasted? What can you automate or simplify?
This business diagnosis is not just for large companies. Even microbusinesses can benefit from doing it once a year or before setting a new strategic goal.
5. Objective Diagnosis: Are they yours or borrowed?
One more thing is worth reviewing: your goals.
Sometimes the objectives we pursue don’t come from deep conviction but from external pressure, social expectations, or comparison with others.
Diagnosis also helps verify whether the goals you’re setting are truly yours. Some guiding questions:
Why do I want to achieve this?
What problem would this goal solve?
What would change in my life if I achieve it?
What would happen if I don’t?
This introspection helps separate goals driven by ego, urgency, or fear from those that truly align with your purpose and vision.
From Diagnosis to Action: Turning data into direction
Diagnosis only has value if it leads to action. Once you know your starting point, it’s time to define clear goals.
This is where the SMART model comes in, which proposes that your goals should be:
Specific: clear and concrete.
Measurable: progress can be tracked.
Achievable: realistic given your resources and context.
Realistic: aligned with your vision and purpose.
Timely: with a defined deadline.
Once you define your main objective, set intermediate milestones and concrete actions, and review your progress regularly.
👉 You can read more about SMART goals in this article from my “Your Arsenal” section: Working on your Annual Plan — Celia Soonets
Diagnosis and Entrepreneurial Resilience
Diagnosis not only improves strategy but also strengthens resilience.
When you know what you have — and what you don’t — you adapt better to change. You’re less vulnerable to frustration or self-deception. You can make decisions with more calm and clarity, even in crisis moments.
An honest diagnosis also helps you accept mistakes with less guilt, because you understand they are part of the journey and that you can always adjust your course.
Remember: resilience is not resisting without changing — it’s adapting without losing direction.
Conclusion: Your Map Starts Here: Every goal needs a map, and every map needs a starting point.
Conducting an integral diagnosis — personal, business, and strategic — not only improves your decisions but also connects you with your truth. And from there, any goal has a higher chance of being achieved.
I invite you this week to take some time to evaluate your current situation. You can start with something as simple as a list of strengths and weaknesses, or go deeper with tools like SWOT, EMP, or a process audit.
Remember: there is no growth without awareness. And there is no awareness without diagnosis.
