A lot of the advice already offered is good, specifically the "find a problem" meme, but I would also caution you that Lifestyle businesses are very different f

A lot of the advice already offered is good, specifically the "find a problem" meme, but I would also caution you that Lifestyle businesses are very different from startups, generally. In my opinion (and I invite opposing views, because this is just me here) a lifestyle business should generally be started in an area you have solid experience in. It's very hard to relate to your customers if you don't understand their problem, and it's even harder to fix their problem if you don't understand what other challenges your solution may create. Everyone I know with a lifestyle business is involved in something they've always done. FASO[1], which recently posted here[2], does very well in what basically amounts to a niche photo sharing business (no offense intended). As I understand it, Clint, the founder of that business, had significant experience in the area from having run an art gallery before then. To him, the solutions were probably very obvious -- To you, probably not so much. Not saying it can't be done obviously, but in trying to pick a lifestyle business, the one closer to your core knowledge set is the way to go, otherwise you'll need to consider how much time it will take to understand your customers, understand the problem, understand why nobody else has already solved it, and if they've tried, understand where they've failed. [1] - http://faso.com/ http://faso.com/ [2] - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3103389 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3103389