That being said, there are lots of advantages for doing business on Internet! It truly offers one of best opportunities for 'average' person to test their entrepreneurial spirit. Some of advantages of being an online business owner are:

+ Affordable startup costs. You can get started with just a few hundred bucks.

+ Flexible. Because your work is done on your computer and from home, you get to choose when you work.

+ Possibility of more free time -- eventually. Some online businesses can be automated to a certain extent. Automation will help to reduce your workload and eventually give you more free time. + Testing and research are relatively cheap. Need to find out what your potential audience thinks of a product idea? Chances are, there's a message board (or a hundred) where your potential audience gathers. Need to research your competition? Use search engines. There's so much you can do online for little or no money.

+ Exciting! If you thrive on change, Internet is one of best places to get it! You can experiment and test to your heart's content for minimal cost.

+ Ever-growing. Every day more people get 'connected' to 'net. That means that your potential audience is always growing.

+ Multiple streams of income. You have ability to sell lots of different products online -- including other company's products, in return for a commission -- which means that you can potentially earn several 'pay cheques'! A bunch of 'smaller' cheques may not seem like much on their own, but add them all up and they can become a solid stream of income.

+ Opportunity is everywhere! The Internet reaches a worldwide audience with a wide variety of interests. There are countless niches on which you can focus your energies!

Some people turn a profit within just a few months; others take years. There are lots of 'little guys' -- small, home based businesses -- who are happily and successfully earning a living from Internet. Will you be next?

_____

Angela is the editor of Online Business Basics, a practical guide that shows eBusiness beginners how to build an online business on a shoestring budget. Visit her online at http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/article.html or request a series of 10 free reports to get you started: mailto:businessbasics@workyourleads.com .

After you click on one of Actions, you are presented with a Rule Description, with underlined values, which you will click on to apply values.

The last step would be to assign a name to rule you just created and then click OK.

As you can see from above choices, there are MANY things you can do to organize your incoming email.

Let's do one together, don't worry, you can always change this later.

Exercise: Let's say you want your OverHall IT! issue to stand out from rest of your emails when it is delivered, you know you don't want to miss a single issue so you have decided to COLOR CODE this incoming email.

>>Open Outlook Express >>Click on TOOLS at top of your screen >>Move your Pointer to Message Rules; slide Pointer over to Mail and Click >>Click New >>In Conditions, Click in box: Where From Line Contains people. You should now have a check mark in that box >>In Actions, Click in box: Highlight with color. You should now have a check mark in that box

Did you notice each time you clicked on a box a value popped up in Rule Description area with your chosen Conditions and Actions underlined? This is where you enter values you want to apply. Now we are going to go there and work:

>> Click on underlined condition CONTAINS PEOPLE >>Here you would type in overhall@chesapeake.net OR you can choose someone from you address book >>Click ADD >>Click OK >>Now, back at Rule Description, Click on underlined action COLOR >>In Select Color Box click on little black down arrow to view and select your color choices >>Select red >>Click OK

The last step is to assign rule a name, although you may leave default name already provided.

>>Type in OverHall IT! newsletter >>Click OK >>Click OK or continue creating other new message rules for your other incoming email

I hope you explore this wonderful way to organize your email and have fun!

Outlook and most other email programs also provide message rules, although steps and wording might be somewhat different. Just check out help section for steps you'll need to take in your email program. ~~~~ The Organizing Wizard, Janet L. Hall, is a Professional Organizer, Speaker, and Author. She is owner of OverHall Consulting, and Organizing By Phone. Subscribe to her FREE organizing newsletter at http://www.overhall.com/newsletter.htm or visit her web site at http://www.overhall.com

Copyright 2001 by OverHall Consulting P.O. Box 263, Port Republic, MD 20676 All Rights Reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy, or distribute so long as article is kept intact, this copyright notice and full information about contacting author is attached.