There is one additional factor that I believe has import in whether a business will last that you didn't mention: How does this business help other people in a relevant way? If you make money at other people's expense, all the passion in the world leaves you morally bankrupt and sooner or later, this will weigh down the business. Many businesses make money by creating fear. In the end, they will not succeed or the people in them will have some comeuppance. Many make money by playing on greed. They too have the same outcome.

When I chose businesses and I had three successful ones in the past and two at present - one of the two is a remnant of a past one - I always looked for an answer to the question: "What relevance does this have to someone's life? I have sold both products and services and I never asked how much I could get for them. I asked instead, how much do I have to get from them to have a reasonable product and provide a valuable service? When I had that answer, I also had "the glow" which is my term for that inner drive that kept me working "1000 hour" weeks to get a business off the ground and to set an example for employees.

I always overpaid employees by a small margin. In one business, I gave all of them leased cars for their personal use. That $149 additional monthly expense kept many of them from going to competitors because no one else did that and once you have a car, it owns you! Do you know what it costs to train a replacement in direct and indirect expenses?

Now, I have businesses I can run sans employees - just occasional outside labor. I have a small counseling practice to replace a five branch treatment agency I created and sold. I bought a few condos in a newly rehabbed building. Usually, the worst I can expect is a clogged drain and I bought every tenant a pressurized plumber's helper. For nineteen dollars, I got a smile and saved either a half our trip or calling a repair service.

I always try to think ahead. I use a joke as a centering tool to think outside the box:

What is an eternal source of fire and heat that costs nothing?

Answer: A stick, a block of wood and a string bow to run the one into the other fast enough to generate a spark.

I always look for a hundred dollar solution to a million dollar problem. I look for the best way to serve and still make a reasonable profit. I try to put on a show along with whatever product or service I offer because a transaction is a business; a show is a memory ... and a relationship. Many of my clients and customers become friends who take on new roles in my life. I like it that way.

My son and granddaughter are musicians. they perform all over the world. After the show, they can be found at the back of the house shmoozing with fans and developing relationships. They learned well from the old man! Here is how the kids connect. They were beginning a tour with a knew musical sensation, Kate Nash, and they invited her to the studio for some fun before the tour began. This is the result:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Vj0FIuq54

By the time the tour ended, they were best friends and talking about another tour together. he didn't have to go to the trouble of getting the studio set up and writing a song, but the ending got the new kid on the block into the middle of things and that was both needed and fun. It is the principle that he learned. he applied his acumen and talent to a problem: "How do we get connected with a stranger so that the music becomes more relevant?" The little tape is the answer.

I taught him the principle when I brought him to my place of business as a pre-teen. He translated it to his business.

Life goes on and can be lots of fun if it is about more than money or gaming the public.

Milt,

Well stated and I feel your passion here. You have strong well developed values that look to be serving you very well. I am curious did you learn anything about yourself as you commented on this post?