Most people when they think of creating a business online, they think of creating a product, selling the product, and hope to make enough capital to finance their next product idea.
This kind of thinking is short-term, and doesn't lend itself well to a long-term business venture.
When you stop and think about a longer-term business model, whether online, off-line, or a mix of the two, you really need to think about the bigger picture.
What's really needed is a method to capture leads, convert those leads into smalltime customers, and gradually build them towards customers that spend more with you in terms of three factors: frequency, monetary value, and recency.