Jan Strieter and her husband, a diesel mechanic for Catepillar, recently settled in upper peninsula of Michigan in a small town called Negaunee. "We love it!" exclaimed Jan, telling me how family goes snowshoeing on picturesque rock bluffs adjoining their property.

"Selling isn't something I was born with," said Jan. "I was a waitress for a long time, which taught me to listen to people. Then I worked for Tupperware and Avon." Like Eakins and Krahns, Jan sells for Buyersonline.com. What does Jan like best about selling part time from home? The extra income, of course. Jan thought a second, then added a good point. "Being around other positive people is so great!"she said. "They are awesome!"

"I put in a backyard deck!"

"I helped pay for my children's braces."

"I pay for a personal trainer!"

"My children are my hobby. My 2-year old sits on my lap while I work at home part time."

"I don't have to hide my phone bill from my husband anymore. I've eliminated it with some simple work!"

These are some of things people tell me they use money for that they earn selling part time from home. Do they "Earn Unbelievable Amounts For Doing Nothing!!" like so many opportunity ads promise? I have met some people doing that, but a lot of folks are happy with just a little extra income a month.

"Get up and get going," recommends Phyllis Eakins.

What could you do with more money in your pocket?

That's it for start up costs.

Things like promotion, Search Engine submission and, copy-writing you can do yourself at first, via free methods and manual work. After you start making money with your web site, you will be able to afford automating and outsourcing many of these tasks.

Remember, you have to make a choice: you are either going to invest money or time into whatever you want to do. At first, time was ONLY thing I could afford. But then I decided to outsource a few things (some people have more copy-writing talent than I do ;-) and invest a few bucks into my business. The key is to invest it wisely.

Pay for something only when you are absolutely sure it will bring results. Otherwise, spend more time researching and observing other Internet marketers and their strategies.

As you start making money with your online business, your purchasing power will increase. A year ago spending a $150 on an autoresponder services sounded crazy to me and impossible to afford. Now I look at it as a necessary cost of running a business and saving time following up with my customers.

Let's summarize your online business start-up costs for your first year of operation. If you start making money first year, your expenses might go up since you will probably be more willing to invest:

- Domain Name: $16.00 - Web Hosting: $6.00 x 12 months + $28.00 set up fee = $100.00 - Web Design: $50 (training materials) or $200 (outsource) - Totals: $166 (do-it-yourself) or about $300 (outsource)

As you can see, you still need to spend a little money to get started. You can spend more or less money, depending on how much time you are willing to put into your business.

If $166.00 seems like a lot to you to spend in 12 months, then you might want to try a completely free web site offered by Geocities or Angelfire, as I mentioned before. Your business won't be as effective because there will be no company domain name or a well-designed web site, but you will at least get your feet off ground and get a feeling of what it's like to run a web business.