Well, if you're really serious about starting your own home based internet business, next step really doesn't have to be that difficult at all. There are 3 relatively simple ways to start making an online income and one of them is sure to fit your particular idea of what it is you would like to do. So, just relax, take a deep breath, and peruse following list until you find something that strikes right cord.

1-Join One or Several Affiliate Programs

This is probably one of easiest and quickest ways to get started making money online. The internet is full of products that have affiliate programs you can join and most of them pay generous commissions. When you join an affiliate program, you are simply making an agreement with owner of a product that you will receive a commision in exchange for referring a prospect to that person's product (usually a sales page that you have sent prospect to via your affiliate link) if that prospect ends up making a purchase.

Start by choosing a product or service that you're interested in and then visit some of websites which have achieved top rankings for keywords which describe that topic. You're sure to find top affiliate programs for that industry relatively quickly. Or, try visiting one of many affiliate program directories (you can find them quickly enough in Google) and scan their listings and recommendations until you find something that appeals to you.

This is a good one for newbies since you don't even need your own website to get started. You will, however, need to learn how to use pay per clicks so you can get some targeted traffic to your affiliate link. Once you start generating some income from pay per clicks, you can then start reinvesting some of your profits and get yourself set up with your own website. By that time prospect of getting set up with your own website won't seem so daunting.

2-Join a Residual Income Program

Residual income programs are somewhat similiar to affiliate programs in that you typically get paid for referring a prospect to program's website if that prospect decides to make a purchase. However, difference lies in fact that with these programs you also have opportunity to earn a monthly recurring income if prospect you refer becomes a paying member of residual income opportunity program. For example, I belong to one of these programs myself. If a prospect comes to my website and clicks on a link which takes them to sales page for product and they buy, then I get a commission. However, if that prospect also decides to become a member of residual income opportunity program, then I get a check every month as long as that prospect remains a member of that program.

Let's start with a list of qualities that might benefit someone working for him/herself:

1. Ability to see big picture and plan accordingly;.

2. Self-discipline;

3. Ability to use time wisely;

4. At minimum, a moderate drive to achieve;

5. Adaptability;

6. Autonomy;

7. Decisiveness;

8. A feeling of control over your own destiny;

9. Having (energy) drive and enterprise;

10. Motivation to grow;

11. Sense of intuition;

12. Ability to spot opportunities;

13. Perseverance;

14. Problem-solving abilities;

15. Risk-tolerance;

16. Self-confidence;

17. Social skills.

As an example, let's look at John Doe. John has an excellent nose for a good opportunity; he drives his wife crazy with always turning everything into a new business idea. He's not afraid to make a decision and take risk. He has a huge drive to achieve; he wants to be rich! John is confident that he can accomplish everything he sets out to do.