1. Consider Your Market

Some business advisors will tell you that the most important part of any business plan is not the product, but rather the market.

Think about it ... to sell a product you must first have a market because that is where you find your customers.

Never start a business by trying to decide what products you're going to choose to sell because products don't buy from you, people do!

So, first criteria in choosing any product line is to examine if there is a market of people interested in that product.

2. Consider The Market's Passion

Once you have discovered if there is a market for a product, you need to check the market's pulse. By that I mean - just how passionate is that market about the product? And more importantly - will they pay good money to pursue their interest?

Do not try to sell to people who may be passionate for their interest but their spending is almost zero. Focus rather on people who regularly spend money on their passions and interests.

4. Consider Affordability

You have narrowed the available target market and discovered that it has an interest for the product. You know that there are plenty of customers out their who want your product.

That's great!

But can they afford it? They want your product - it's on their wish list - but if it's priced so high that it's out of their financial limit, not amount of passionate dreaming on their part will make you a sale.

So realistically, you need to consider if your product is priced so that it's affordable to the majority of your market. If not, then your market size just shrunk drastically. And so does your real market.

5. Consider The Margin

Going into business is all about making a profit. If you weren't interesting in making a profit, you would be opening a non-profit or a charity.

So when considering what product your business will promote, be sure to consider "Can I be profitable with this product?" Is there a good markup on each product?

You don't want to have to sell 1,000 widgets at a profit margin of .80 cents to make a profit of $800. Wouldn't it be less time and effort consuming to be marketing a product that has a profit margin of $80.00 - you'd only have to sell 10 of them to make the same $800. Better yet, would be something with a profit margin of $400 or $800. How many do you have to sell now?

6. Consider The Simplicity

One side factor to consider once you've looked at the profitability of a product is how complicated is the product to sell?

The time and effort you put into selling a product is part of your total profitability equation.

Every product line must stand by itself. Some will have unique parameters. Others will require detailed explanations and diagrams or necessitate a greater amount of customer service. Some products appear to require you act like a doctor in order to be marketable.

So always consider how much product knowledge you will need to acquire in order to make a sale. The simpler, the better.

7. Consider The Marketing

Another criteria to explore is how much control you have over the marketing you will be doing.

You need to be able to market your business! So, are you going to be able to advertise? Online? Offline? When you create your marketing plan, will you have control or will the company limit how, where or when you are able to advertise?

Remember, not being able to advertise and market will ultimately mean you are not in business.

8. Consider The Approaches

Explore exactly how you will market the product. Can you do home parties, trade shows, online promotion, one-on-one presentation, group presentations, long distance sales, catalogue sales, fund raising techniques, and so on.

The more options you have, the greater the choices of marketing approaches, the greater your success. Why?
First, you will be able to reach more target markets; and
Second, you will be able to market using the approaches and methods that suit your personality and lifestyle.

Some companies allow you to only sell their products using their standard method and this definitely limits your success.

9. Consider The Fun

A final criteria - and for some this might be the first criteria to consider - is can you have fun doing this. By that I mean, will you enjoy selling this product?

You don't it to just become "another job". Going into business for yourself is about enjoying life as you want to create it. And that means you will want to be able to wake up every morning and be proud of what you do as well as look forward to doing it.

The two big supporting arguments for picking such products are:

• If you enjoy the product, it will make your business more fun to run.
• If you like the product, you can talk more knowledgeably about it.

So be sure to pick a product for you business that you can get passionate about!