The other day I had an interesting conversation. It is really a similar conversation that I have with most people when they find out I have online businesses. Most people want to start something or think they have a good idea for a product online. As the conversation goes on it usually is exhausting to find out after some time of teaching that most people have no idea where to start because they lack the basic research skills. I think if you were to break down the process of developing an idea into a business thinks would be much easier and you would be able to sort out the good ideas from the not so good ideas. So here is how I do it, I break the thought pattern down into phases.
Idea phase
I take an idea that I think is interesting and first figure out how I can take it from the idea stage to a beginning online presence. This involves figuring out where to either purchase the product or manufacture the product. I make no attempt to being any sort of operation. I then get out the pen and paper and make a beginners budget that shows me if the product has some profit margin potential. If the basic math shows at least a 20 to 25% profit margin I move on to phase...