books and tuition, and partying (unfortunately).   Question # 3 - Is there a successful track record of selling these types of products or services to the niche?   A big mistake that inventors make is to create products that require that people change their normal habits and routines. There is a genius inventor here in Houston that has created a unique keypad that makes typing much easier (it requires only one hand rather than two).   It really in an ingenious product, but he is floundering. Why? Because people are used to regular old keyboards and dont want to go through the pain of learning something new, no matter how easy it is. To be successful, you should pick a niche that is already buying products and services similar to yours and that are paying the prices that you want to charge.   To be honest, this advice goes against traditional thinking. Most marketing experts will tell you to find a niche and fill it, meaning to find a niche market with a problem that isnt being solved. I agree with that thinking; however, theres an old saying in marketing that "Scouts come back with arrows in their backs."   By that I mean, if youre trying to sell a new product to a niche that doesnt have a track record of buying those products or services, you might find that they are just not ready to buy it. Take the fax machine. Its used in almost every office in America and many homes as well. But when it was introduced, it floundered for many years because people just werent ready to buy it.   The safest way to penetrate a market is to find one that already understands the need for what you sell. Then all you have to do is build a better mousetrap and sell it to them (or license it to a competitor).   Question # 4 - How much competition is there in the niche? Its better to jump up and down in a pond than an ocean. The more competitors you have to deal with, the more aggressive your marketing efforts must become to be the winner.   Now this might sound contradictory to the answer in "Question # 3," in that I told you that you should sell to a niche that already buys your type of product or service and now Im telling you to go where there is little competition.   However, hopefully your product or service is different or unique enough that you dont have any direct competition. Even if youre marketing in a niche that already sells the same type of product or service you do.   Question # 5 - Are you familiar with the niche or do you have experience in the niche?   People like to buy from people that have "been there and done that" and have walked in