Unfortunately, that’s actually the wrong way to get started.

We’re taught in life that there is such a thing as “a million dollar idea”.  We’re told that the if we just build the right thing and put it out there, people will immediately recognize the value of it and buy it.  It seems reasonable, but it is just simply wrong.  Let’s put this through a rational filter for a moment…

• When was the last time you saw something that was new/awesome and actually bought it?
• How many times did you buy something like that this week?
• How much did you spend on it?

Now, let’s rework those questions a little bit.

• When was the last time you bought something at all?
• How many times did you buy things this week?
• How much did you spend this week on things?

What’s going on there?  Well, you buy the things that you buy.  Everyone does this and this is how commerce works.  The lesson here is that people buy what they want and need, so you should consider providing this as a product developer.  Over the course of a week or so, you buy all sorts of mundane things that you need or perceive that you need, and the vast majority of all money is made providing these things.  They’re not sexy, but they do sell and people do buy them.  Go to Walmart to see how unsexy the products are there, but how many millions of dollars are sold each month in just one store.

The question you should be asking yourself during the process not “Will people buy this?” but “Are people buying this now?” and if they are and they do not have a good option for it in your particular app store, then you’ve got a solid product.  Perhaps it means just doing something better than the next guy or just doing better market analysis to position your product higher up in the charts for a popular category.

So, to sum up, the question of “Will people buy this?” is automatically answered if people are already shelling out money for it somewhere else.  Knowing what people are buying and how much of it they are buying is the best way to choose a solid product to begin developing.  That’s just how it works, even if it’s a little less sexy than “I have a great idea for an app…”

While it was great, it is time for a new direction for me in general and this blog specifically.  Over the past 6 months, I’ve stopped taking on new clients and worked with existing ones through to closure.  Now that I’ve taken on the role of CTO at Memory Deck and advisory positions at other ventures, my plate runneth over.  It’s time to focus on my own companies and share this perspective for those that are interested.

So, this blog will now reflect that new direction. I’ll be talking about things from the developer’s perspective and dive deep into topics such as the use of real analytics to solve real business problems for solo and small online / mobile business owners.  It’s going to be an interesting year and I am looking forward to writing about it.  Enjoy!

Good collection of acceptance icons from infomerchant.net

Great set of images from credit-card-logos.com

Amex merchant account holders can get images direct from Amex

3D Icon Set from VirtualLNK

Smaller icons for credit cards from Zeusbox Studio

PayPal, Credit Card and ClickBank logos

The URLs are included so you can copy and paste them.

How to pick a niche and see it through

You might be in the same boat as I was a couple years ago when it comes to niche selection.  How do you pick something that will be successful?  How do you know if it will be? How do you drive through setbacks and keep on rolling?  Nick and I have experienced all of this and we’re out to share it with you.

We also regularly interview people who have JUST made it over that hump and are making money online.  We’ve got some great interviews posted or in the can for upcoming episodes.  Who better to talk to about how to get over that first and real hurdle of earning income online?  We’ve got some really great stories to share, so stick with us!

Cutting Through Hype

Nick and I are natural skeptics.  We participate as consumers of “Gurus” and other information marketers focused on the Internet Marketing space because there, in among the hype, is useful marketing information.  We’ve all spent way too much time in among the BRIGHT RED HEADLINES and insanely long sales pages just like you.  What we try to do in the Niche Show is cut through that hype and talk about what is absolutely necessary and fundamental to getting your business launched.

We Are Selling Nothing

We have no information products. No list. No nothing.  This is just a podcast about Online Business.  Surprised?

We have no designs on being gurus of Internet Marketing.  We simply want to present a skeptical, valuable and entertaining message without hype and shilling.

It’s a refreshing view on a sometimes shallow and self-serving topic.  If this sounds like a view that interests you, please visit our new Online Business and Internet Marketing Podcast, The Niche Show.

Links: The Niche Show

Why you’re at risk of failing in your online business

Chances are you’ve consumed a lot of blogs, podcasts, ebooks, video courses, seminars, calls and lots of other Guru-to-Student materials.  Chances are also pretty good that you’ve implemented everything exactly you heard exactly as you understood it and gotten almost nowhere.  What’s missing? Why is it that all of these fool-proof systems out there seem to leave almost everyone behind earning almost nothing?  Why do 98% of people fail to make any money?

What’s missing?  Well if you’ve done well in any job, you probably owe a lot of thanks to other experienced coworkers, your boss, and maybe even the CEO.  It sounds strange, but you might have missed the value of what these people have done for you!  The support environment in any good company is HUGE.  It provides:

• Good people to emulate
• Established proven systems that work for people like you
• Professional oversight and management
• Friends and team support
• Formal and informal training
• Room to make mistakes, but clear consequences of utter failure
• Lots of safety nets to keep you on track and productive
• Easy next steps to get an income boost (even if it’s not much!)

From day one in a good company, you’re always surrounded by the tools you need to do what you need to do and there’s someone there to make you do it!  Even in jobs with lots of leeway and freedom, the end goals are always set and managed by an authority figure who ultimately needs you to be successful (even if it doesn’t seem that way all the time!)

What does that have to do with running your own online business?

Well, when you’re on your own and taking courses from your training sources on-high, you get none of those benefits you enjoyed as an employee.  You get no support. No mentors. No structure. No boss. No leadership.  You don’t know if you’re going down completely the wrong path.  You don’t know if what you’re trying is solid, but just needs some tuning to get results.  Or, to put it more bluntly, you have no other stakeholders that care about your success and no one is keeping an eye out for you!

Mentors: The Missing Piece

When you’re going it alone, you never know if what you’re doing is the right next step. We rarely do this in normal life, however. When we need to test our assumptions and find the best path in something unfamiliar, we often seek the professional advice of lawyers, accountants, bankers, financial planners, personal trainers, etc.

Why is it that we only settle for mass distributed online business training courses?  Having personal mentors that care about your success and can help you along the way is a critical part of life.  You should not settle only for hands-off online training for what might be the most important step of your life!

Where to Find Mentors

Here’s a partial list of places to begin finding mentors to help you out in your business.  Feel free to drop in some comments if you have some other ideas!

SCORE - Non profit volunteer mentorship options

Meetup.org – Find nearby online business community