To start a home business on the Internet is not nearly as difficult as many people who just don’t understand will try to tell you it is (even though they’ve probably never even tried). Internet home business opportunities can be found all over the place: you can become a freelance blogger or SEO writer; you can write and sell e-books; you can run a store on e-Bay; you can become an affiliate marketer and choose from over 10,000 and growing products to sell; and on and on.

One of the great things about a home business on the Internet is it’s easy to get started. You don’t need very much money and you can find all kinds of ways to get very low cost or free advertising. Another great thing is you do it on your own time and, as long as you have a computer and an Internet connection, you do it wherever you are–from your home, from a Starbucks, from a deck overlooking the ocean while you’re on vacation from you j-o-b.

And finally, with proper strategies used and plenty of diligence, your Internet home business allows you to use the power of leveraging and work smarter instead of harder. When you leverage, you cause a small action to bring in giant results. This is the secret of all rich people: they know how to make a little effort go a very, very long way.

Eventually, working smarter instead of harder and not needing worry about huge marketing budgets or taking out business loans, you see your Internet home business begin paying for itself and then, soon after, you’ve got real profits streaming in, even while you sleep. Before you know it, you don’t need to work for some other company any longer and you fire your boss and become your own.

But none of this will happen by itself. If you are going to take advantage of Internet home business opportunities, you have to be a real self-starter. You have to be able to motivate yourself, make key decisions for yourself, and effectively manage your own time (especially for at least the first six months). You have to take your business very seriously (even though it’s fun) and set high goals that you then go all out for.

Say to yourself: “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.” With that attitude in mind at all time, start a home business on the Internet and fire your boss.

Books

Most are aimed at white-collar workers, but many of the techniques can be used by anyone if you can set aside the examples which don’t apply to you.

Getting Things Done – David Allen

• Excellent for capturing and recording needed actions, projects, paperwork and filing, reviewing.
• Less strong on how to choose what to do, motivation, procrastination
• Very definite on what you need to do to be organized, but flexible on how you set up your system.
• The best all-round, if you only read one book, make it this one.

Do It Tomorrow – Mark Forster

• Excellent on how to decide what to do and when
• Deals with motivation and procrastination

Organizing from the Inside Out – Julie Morgenstern

• Strong on organising Stuff and getting rid of clutter
• Deals with different personality traits and how they affect organising

Time management from the Inside Out – Julie Morgenstern

• Deals with different personality traits and how they affect organising and time management
• Her actual system (Time Mapping) is quite strict and doesn’t fit everyone

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey

• Classic of the “life goals” type, much good advice

First Things First – Stephen Covey

• 7 habits applied to time management, very “top-down”
• Strong on balancing work and personal life

Online discussion groups

Getting Things Done

Analog GTD (paper-based Getting Things Done)

Do It Tomorrow

Organizing from the Inside Out

Piling vs Filing

Pendaflex PileSmart

The Pile Cabinet

Canadian “Do not mail” service

Canadian Marketing Association