If you’re in business, or would like to be, you’ll quickly learn that it takes risk to create dollar signs. Risk is the currency of currency. In this article, I’ll teach you how to take risks wisely. You’ll get ideas on how to be honest with yourself, how to research your idea, plan your idea then “risk small” and maybe even “risk big.”

For this article, I will be using the example of an app idea. These same principles obviously apply to many other industries.

1. ALWAYS BE HONEST.

Ok, so you’ve got an idea. How do you translate that into a stream of revenue? The answer to that question involves a lot of honesty (with yourself), sweat and some more honesty. I can’t stress that enough, BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF. When you get swept up with the idea of an idea, it’s easy to overlook very obvious weaknesses. MAKE SURE IT’S VIABLE.

MOST IDEAS HAVE A LIFE-CYCLE THAT LOOKS SOMETHING LIKE THIS:

1. You’re overly excited about what now is only a vague representation of what could be a great world-changing idea.

2. You can’t sleep as you figure the ins and outs of this possible venture.

3. You buy a domain.

4. You invest lots of energy and thought into the idea.

5. You pull in a few friends or co-workers, they get excited as well.

6. You do some initial work on the idea. After a few weeks you realize how much work it will take.

7. Your enthusiasm begins to wane.

8. You begin to notice the idea’s weaknesses. The things that you were previously blind to.

9. You quickly realize that your idea is stupid.

10. Dang it.

Truth be told, that’s actually a pretty good outcome, it’s much better than putting tons of energy and money into an idea only to come out empty. My point: honesty is the primary thing that could very well save your marriage (and your business idea).

2. RESEARCH AND PLAN.

Next to self-honesty, it’s important to make time for RESEARCH and PLANNING. If your idea does take off, these two practices will save you both time and money. If your idea isn’t successful, you’ll also save time and money by avoiding a potential money-pit. It’s a win-win. It may seem like a waste of time at first, but information and vision are the life-blood to any project. Don’t move forward without a clear idea (preferably on paper) of your desired outcome.

Research how others have accomplished the same thing. If, for instance, you are wanting to design an app, take a look at the App Store, see what sells, what doesn’t. It’s very likely that someone has already done something similar. If you can’t find a similar app, read up on app successes and failures. Useful information is more than likely there, you just need to take the time to find it. Patterns are replicable, once you find a good pattern, you can apply it on a small scale and then on a large scale.

Once you’ve found a good pattern through research, it’s time to plan. You’ll want to first plan for an initial small risk with the possibility of massive success. Create a plan that’s scaleable, but doesn’t involve a lot of initial risk. This is where your research and idea-honing come together. Find prospective employees on Odesk.com or Freelancer.com, begin a conversation with a few key friends or colleagues, people you’d like to add to the project if it were to go big. Let them know that you’d like to partner with them if the idea does take off. But… don’t hire them… yet. Lay a foundation that doesn’t cost you much, but can scale. This approach will come with future roadblocks, but it’s much better than losing you and your wife’s life savings on a stupid idea. Again, this step could save your marriage.

3. TAKE A SMALL RISK.

Okay, so you’ve spent a few late nights being honest with yourself, researching and planning. If your idea is still viable, it’s time to get serious. Create a block of time, maybe a weekend (or two), where you can put into action those practical steps you’ve already planned for.

Go ahead, take action. Create detailed breakdowns for your idea, get some mockups made. Create a landing page. Move forward with your idea. Remember to always stay true to the pattern that you’ve discovered through research and planning. Don’t stray too far from your pattern, if you do, you are stepping into greater risk. There’s a time for big risk, but it’s not yet. This is when your idea just begins to come to life. Let it grow, don’t force it.

Once you have a detailed idea of what needs to be accomplished and you’ve done everything that you can do. It’s time to get some prices. Calculate that final risk. Contact that app developer or web developer. See what that last push will take. This is the final stage of your idea from initial thought to finalization. If your idea is still living, it’s probably good enough to be worth the risk.

Go ahead, create it.