I have a pretty solid ability to predict which online stores will succeed and which will fail– largely based on one strong correlation.

To explain, it’s important to first look at what it’s like to launch a brick-and-mortar retail store.

What It Takes to Have a Brick-and-Mortar Store

Opening a brick-and-mortar store is an enormous investment for most people. Going into debt up-front is almost a given. Usually said debt comes in the form of bank loans. Sometimes investors are involved, in which case you know the store-owner-to-be did some SERIOUS hustling, not including all the time they spent slaving over a hot laptop writing/re-writing the golden business plan.