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Guest post by: Dr Don Yates Sr PhD Become an Author

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It does not take much time or effort to start moonlighting on the internet. With all the doom and gloom news about the economy, there has never been a better time to make an extra paycheck online with a minimal amount of time and effort. If you have an internet connection, you can get started on the road to having the internet pay for your mortgage, car payment, kids' college tuition, or even that special vacation you have wanted. Now, do not worry that you have to be a tech whiz to start a business online--I am a complete techno-dunce.

A perfect part-time business would have to be very easy to start, require little time and money and no technical expertise, be easy to maintain with just a few hours a week and have a proven track record with a high probability of success.

There is actually one other important criteria--it has to be perfect for you! Experience has taught me that it is different strokes for different folks, and there is no "one size fits all" perfect business. You are much more likely to be successful if you do something you find fun and interesting. With that in mind, here are five of the best ways to make extra cash moonlighting on the internet:

We're in the information age, and the internet provides you with the ideal medium to exchange know-how for money. Do you know the best fishing holes? How to play guitar? The secrets to a successful marriage? A recipe for moist and delicious brownies? A trick for saving gas? Think about your career, your hobbies and your interests. Virtually anything you know can be turned into extra cash. And don't worry if you think you're not an expert--as long as you know more than the average person on the topic, that information is valuable.

However, if you do not believe you know anything those others would pay for (highly unlikely); you can take someone else's know-how and make money that way! It could be as easy as interviewing a veterinarian to help you create a dog-training product. Ninety-two percent of people go online looking for information, and you could be one of the many people cashing in on selling it.

One of the largest online marketplaces makes it a piece of cake to get your own business going. You can open an account and start making money within hours on eBay! While I dislike that whole "sell your garbage on eBay" thing, there is some validity to it as many people get their start on eBay by selling items from their garage or attic that pre-eBay would have been thrown out. This approach is fine, but where is the business once you run out of those items? If you want to create an eBay business that doesn't require tons of time and effort, you need to leverage products that can be sold over and over again.

This is one of the reasons I'm not a fan of the "eBay seller for these" kinds of opportunities, where you sell things on eBay for other people. You get access to stuff people want to sell, but because each item is unique you have to work to list each and every one. There's no leverage there!

Take a look at some of the largest eBay Power Sellers and notice how they specialize in very specific products (iPods, cell phones, dog grooming kits, etc.). This allows them to leverage their efforts. A listing is created once, and money is collected over and over again.

Unlike information marketing, this business requires the handling of physical goods, but even that can be automated, so it shouldn't prevent you from considering this idea.

This may possibly be the absolute laziest way to make money because it doesn't require you to have a product, make a sale or ever have any interaction with customers. This is essentially a "referral" business, or as one of my book contributors likes to call it, "passionate recommendations." Basically, you can get paid a referral commission just for sending people to sites (or vendors) that are set up to pay affiliate fees once a sale is made. The vendor does all the selling, fulfills the purchase and handles any customer service issues--and you just collect your check….not bad!

Some people choose affiliates based on whom or what is paying the highest commissions and that certainly is a viable option. Most people opt to choose products or goods they are passionate about so that the process is much more fun and engaging.

Insurance and credit card companies pay high commissions for referrals that convert to customers ($40 to $150 and up), but the competition is fierce. It may pay well, but is this something you'll enjoy doing for the long haul?

Alternatively, you could take a look at your hobbies and other things you enjoy and see which affiliate programs are good matches. As always, do your research to verify the viability of your market. A good place to look for ideas (and downloadable products just waiting for an affiliate) is ClickBank.com.

This business is best suited for folks who enjoy communicating about a particular subject. Think of blogs as journals of sorts. Although you can have a personal blog, writing about a particular topic will have a higher chance for financial success. The range of topics is virtually endless--photography, sports cars, parenting, dieting, star gazing, the latest gadgets, Hollywood gossip--you name it, as there are blogs on just about everything you can imagine. Don't worry about competition. Folks who read one blog are apt to read others on a topic they're passionate about, as long as you have something interesting to say.

Once your blog starts getting traffic, you can make money passively with things like AdSense (Google's ad revenue sharing plan) or actively by doing a little bit of affiliate marketing.

You can see both types of moneymaking strategies at SparkleCat.com, which is a blog about a person's cat. What makes it interesting is that it's written from the cat's perspective and often refers to her "human." At the top of the page are Google AdSense ads, and sprinkled throughout are suggestions for things like cat furniture and premium cat food, which are tied to an affiliate program. Pretty cool, no?

This business is very similar to eBay in the sense that it's a monster-sized marketplace but more similar to a store in the true sense of the word. Think having your own retail outlet but without the hassles of rent, employees, utilities and all the other expenses of a traditional brick-and-mortar store. The neat thing is that it can be as hands-on or as hands-off as you want it to be because of companies called drop-shippers, which can do most of the work for you. In fact, you don't even pay for the inventory until you make a sale. How cool is that? Most people think the hard part of this business is creating your virtual store, but nothing could be further from the truth. Yahoo! has made the templates and wizards so easy that, dare I say, even a caveman can do it!

The best way to ensure your success is to do your homework and research what products people most want to buy. You need to find a niche. Once again, start with things you enjoy. Let's say you love fishing. What products do fishing folks want to buy most? (Or get even more specific, like, what are bass fishermen looking to buy?)

Then the task is to find the right source of those products so you can carry them in your Yahoo! Store. In most cases, you'll be able to pull pictures and product descriptions directly from your sources and plug them right into your store.

As you can see, this business requires a little bit more upfront work, but once it's done it can be maintained with very little regular input on your part. There you have it--five perfect part-time businesses. Are you ready to start moonlighting on the internet now? Yanik Silver

This is one of the fiercest (and most childish, in my opinion) debates in network marketing, and I feel the need to address it head on for two reasons. The first and most important reason is that infighting between network marketers for the sake of making their individual home-based business opportunities look superior is silently one of the biggest cancers that attack the credibility of all of network marketing as a whole.

The second reason is to provide some clarity for those unfortunate prospects and/or distributors who may have been confused, misinformed, or misguided (probably a mix of all three) by this catty nonsense.

Here's the simple answer: it really depends on YOU. What inspires you, what jives with you, and what you feel most comfortable with? Contrary to its notoriously cookie-cutter image, network marketing is one of THE most customizable home-based business opportunities ---- or businesses period that has ever existed, which is one of the things that I absolutely love about it. So now for the longer answer!

The first time I personally caught wind of this little debate was about 10 years ago when I had started my first home-based business in MLM. It was a well-respected service company that is still going strong to this day. A leader from the front of the room was making a snide, tongue-and-cheek remark about how he didn't want to "sell lotions and potions or fill up the trunk of his car with products".

I really didn't think much about it at the time. I was one of the flocks, and what he said made perfect sense to me. The more experienced team members that surrounded me nodded their heads in agreement like pew-sitters in a Baptist church. (It was much later that I would find out that almost NONE of them were making any real money after YEARS in the business---but that's another article!)

So, my first impression on this whole issue was formed: service companies were the way to go, and product companies were absurd, laughable affairs where you had to carry a trunk full of stuff. This was my way of thinking for years---until I joined a product company!

I can't speak for ALL companies (neither product nor service), but here are just a FEW startling comparisons between my first two companies---one product, one service.

The biggest eye-popper was the fact that in my first product company, people were making bigger checks with much smaller organizations. The #1 money earner (my upline) at that time was making about $100,000 each month (I saw his checks with my own eyes). He had 1,000 distributors and 10,000 customers in his organization.

The leader of my former team (in the service company) was making about $30,000 each month. This guy had at LEAST 10,000 distributors and tens of thousands of customers. My jaw dropped when I realized this.

In my product company, it was easier for me to help others be successful. In the first service company that I was in, you'd never make any decent money unless you were able to recruit large numbers of people into your business. So what about people who weren't that good at recruiting?

In my first product company, I noticed that each time I or one of my distributors got an additional customer that equated in several additional dollars in RESIDUAL income. In that company, I was making $100 per month in residuals with just 16 customers. In my service company, I had 20 customers and made about $5 in residual each month.

In my service company, your residual never amounted to much unless you had a huge organization that was at least 6 levels deep. The problem with this is that most people will NEVER see 6 levels in their organization. And in home-based business it is critical that people make enough money to keep them in the game until they either "wake up" and start producing, or eventually recruit a superstar.

There was a huge difference in the attrition rate. Because almost nobody made CONSISTENT money in my service company (recruiting bonuses don't count. These are promotional. In network marketing, the only income that REALLY matters for longevity is a residual check from real customers); the attrition rate was the typical 90% that exists in MLM. In my product company, that attrition rate was much closer to 50%-60% percent.

The people that I brought in made more money. This was what struck me the most. Due to where I was mentally at that time, I never had much success in that product company due to my own unwillingness.

However, I learned THE most valuable lessons of my entire network marketing career. One of them was that I noticed was that due to the compensation plan, EVERY person that I ever brought in made money---that was not the case with my service company. Because of this, even when people quit, none of them could say that they had not made money and this helped to not put a strain on my friendships as people decided not to do the business anymore.

Now, please understand that this is NOT a cheerleading article for product companies vs. service companies! I am comparing two very specific experiences from two companies that I have personally done business with. If you were to choose a random service company and a random product company and compare the two, you would find a great deal of variation as far as which one was "better"--and that is my point.

There is no "hard and fast rule" of "which is better" when it comes to the service companies vs. product companies debate. As a matter of fact, as soon as I hear anyone, and I do mean ANYONE going in the direction of making the argument one way or another I immediately know that I am dealing with an amateur that does not get the bigger picture of the network marketing home-based business world outside of their company. So should you. LawrenceCole

For me that was a question when I started online. As I have said, offline many years ago, I had done the AMWAY, Tupperware etc. Online, I can still do all those; but here is the problem. If you are located in the USA, then products are easy to deal with; you can load your car and garage and sell your products.

If you are overseas, many products have to be approved for import unless you claim for personal consumption. In some case, the country must license any products to do business in that country. Even then, some of the products that you may want may not be importable.

Not all products are properly labeled. If health or diet related, may actually be dangerous. Often these types of products do not come with USDA approval and all you have is the claims and guarantees of the manufacturers. You take the risks. Now days, health drinks of one kind or another and healthy chocolate seem to be the rage. Unlike going out of business in the USA, you cannot easily return products; most online companies are once sold, there is not return policy.

I have tried several product affiliations, since most product sites have a better compensation plan, than do service sites.

XXXXXX Health Net, now out of business, where I learned to understand “autoship” and “bundling” You will receive a shipment every month and you don’t get to pick individual products; you have to take one of the pre-bundled packages. Good for them; not so good for you.

XXXXXX, a health drink, was a terrible experience, If you like downlines, they give you spillover, lots of it – nearly 30,000 names, but the downline is useless to you – if it is even real? Because you only have a name, no access, the sponsor retains access. With downline, you need access to your team, to motivate them, help them, etc.

Sponsors claim to be available to solve problems, but they were not. Too busy getting more signups than taking care of present members.

They wanted a US address, because when I first signed as they were not shipping to Malaysia, at that time. I would have had to re-ship for personal use.

• This should have been disclosed in advance of any sign-up or upgrade.
• I upgraded for a $500 shipment during their transition to open Asia operations. Several attempts to get sponsors, support and management, to stop the shipment for re-shipment to me in Asia,
• The company made no attempt to reconcile the matter; then claim backs the shipment, since no one was there to accept it, etc.
• Failed. Lost $500. Nobody helped or even read their emails.

XXXXXXX Chocolate, similar problems, wanted a US Address, willing to ship to local and re-ship, lots of workarounds, helpful, but for $1300 I passed. I had already joined, but wasn’t made aware of the problem until I tried to upgrade, and then only after I had made the order and they wanted to ship.

Most of the better, organized product sites, advise you in advance before your signup that they do not do business here or there. Check the FAQ’s and Terms.

Most products pay better, if you can manage your shipments, etc. For me, I have learned that I prefer to babysit paper as opposed to products. Make sure the company can do business in your country.

I have a concern about all the dietary, sliming, health drinks and beauty products that are pushed via our online affiliate programs. Some come with certifications, research etc. Few if any are FDA or equivalent agency approved. And yes, I have seen those that even after stringent FDA approval guidelines still suffer the recalls.

Let us introduce a section from our next Chapter 10 on MLM Programs regarding products

Lose weight! Firm up! Look better! Live longer!

'Tis the season for consumers to be confronted with a wide range of health, beauty and fitness products and promotions. Many of these items aren't available on store shelves and are sold only through distributors.

Many companies that market their products through distributors sell quality items at competitive prices. But some offer goods that are overpriced, have questionable merits or are downright unsafe to use.

The Federal Trade Commission warns consumers to apply a healthy dose of caution before buying products advertised as having "miracle" ingredients or techniques and guaranteed results. Many of these "quick cures" are unproven, fraudulently marketed and useless or even dangerous. Before using one of these products, the best prescription may be to check with a health professional. FedTradeCommission

We covered a number of options for you. The themes of passion and doing something you are interested in rang through the discussion.

If you are already online and in business, hopefully, you got a tip for growing or diversifying your business. References have provided to show which businesses are prone to failure and those that are most likely to succeed.

If you are just getting started, then prepare yourself, follow your passion and interest if you can, and decide for yourself whether you are a product or service person. See next section for more information.

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