I've managed and started many businesses, and continue to work in a business advisory role today. I've recently initiated the closing of my fourth start-up (mostly due to lack of time, but there were other factors as well), and am looking to go 'off the grid' for a while.
I'm going to be taking up a personal interest project of working on an online game I've designed for fun. Having had a few failed gaming start-up attempts due to mismanagement of other people, I plan to do this all on my own (again, for fun and the learning experience).
My question is, at what point (if any) in the process of developing a working game, should I start looking at wrapping a business model around it? Theoretically, if I enjoy the project and I'm good at it, I could do most of it on my own. Of course, running a business is another beast altogether, and I doubt I could continue to maintain my interests and operate a privately run business at the same time (especially if one is based on the other).