What are some of the most important trends in the industry where you would like to one day build a career or business? What skills or competencies will be vital to businesses in this industry in the future?

Be careful not to get sidetracked by your question – yet.

At the beginning stage of a business, you must certainly determine your positioning within your industry (in the Industry Description section of your business plan, eventually), but what will matter most now, is knowing and describing your niche.

Your niche market is a tiny segment of the broader industry market and might be too small to show up on the radar of companies affected by the important trends.

Your aptitudes and clientele will lead to the skill set that pertains to your business operation. The skills and competencies that pertain to the business you want may have little to do with those in the giant firms of your industry.

Your niche is what you do in the context of your industry that brings the money in.

For example, giant business consulting firms like Deloitte or McKinsey & Company might do innumerable business services in fields like design, medicine and international tax accounting that I don’t share skills in. And the giants' menu of business support modules may change drastically form year to year, in keeping up with technological change and with customer demand.