I soon got involved in mailing out circulars offering various products and services. I charged others to mail their circulars using my bulk mailing permit. I also charged them for running their ads in my ad-sheet. It was a world where we paid to run our ads in each others newsletter. There seemed to be a lot of people selling same opport-unities to each other.

Fast forward 30 years, and I see many similarities in some on-line businesses. That discussion on forum caused me to step back and ask a few questions. The most important question was, "What's difference between selling a dream and helping someone to really build an on-line business." I see hundreds of plans/schemes that I'm convinced are not plausible ways to earn a decent income on-line. These are biz-ops where people are just selling each other latest insider information and plans that promise to make them big successes.

I know that most of these plans aren't doing trick because I talk to numerous people about what really works every week. I'm involved in several mastermind groups and also participate in brainstorming calls. We discuss what techniques are really growing each others' businesses. I also get emails from 20 - 30 people a week who aren't achieving level of success they desire, and they often ask me for solutions.

I have to first of all admit that I may not have a ready solution for them. What's working for me make not work for them because of differences in my target audience, difference in my relationship with my audience, and even timing. So I spend a lot of time brainstorming with them... usually for a fee :-)

One of first realities we must face is that selecting right product or service to promote is perhaps most important decision they have to make. Choose wrong service.... one no-one wants, and you're dead in water before you start. Yes, you'll get a few people purchasing your product but not in volume you desire.

The fact that there are so many books and reports out there telling you how to do it, should be a clue. Since these books are selling so well, that tells you that most people don't know how to do it. Read through Joe's book and you get a lot of great, viable ideas. Using these ideas, you can generate an on-line income in 30 days or less. However, I still believe that best model is setting up a business that generates a long-term residual income. If you have time, build a very solid business with several pillars in foundation. This is key to long-term on-line success.

How do we do this? Locate or create products or services that are consumables. Those are products or services that people use over and over again, and that they pay you for - over and over again. Examples of products would be medications, vitamins, or printer cartridges. Examples of services would be shopping cart system I promote at http://ProfitAutomation.com Other services offering residual income include web hosting, website maintenance, long-term consulting, perhaps writing articles on contract with an ezine.

You want to set up several of these products or services offering residual income so that you are not totally dependent upon any one of them. Ideally, you want to set up several related businesses. You want them related so that you don't spread yourself too thin, and so that you can develop a deep level of expertise on your product line. Your increased expertise will dramatically improve customer relations and referrals.