I have done exactly this with my business. I originally made mobile apps for entrepreneurs. You can find a number of them on Problemio.com - but after that I wrote books based on the apps, started a YouTube channel, made online courses and started coaching people. I completely self-branded as a business coach/expert, and have turned it into a business. I can explain exactly what I did if you want to have a conversation about it.
First piece of advice is charge from day one. Something. Anything. Prove that there is value in what you do. If people are unwilling to pay, deliver more value.
Stay true to the process and you'll have a business. Happy to chat further.
Questions to ask yourself:
* Do you already have customers for this product?
* What is the value to the customer in buying/using this?
* Are there competitors selling similar products? How do they price it?
* Is there a cost per customer for you?
* Is the value to the customer more than what it would cost you, and the competitors price also high enough?
The difference between a product and a business is a sustainable profitable revenue model. A revenue model needs value to the customer higher than cost of the product.
If you use the business model canvas, you will find that the product related parts are about a third of the canvas, a third is revenue/profitability, and a third is execution. Sketching one out will give you more clarity.
I can help you map out the non-product parts in your business model over a call. I've done this with more than 50 startups in the last 18 months.
This is the billion dollar question. Many times a product can become a full scale business. It will depend of how far you want to take it. Do you want to build a sales team and scale the business? I guess a product becomes a company once it generates recurring revenue and create jobs.
Enter your answer is it useful/
How many people would use it
estimate the market size
is it fun?
is it easy to use?
learning curve is slow and simple.
does it save time?
does it save money?
what problem does it solve?
is it inexpensive?
