I mean, sure, I am tired of getting all emails telling me how I can enlarge body parts I do not even possess and inviting me to look at naked teenage girls. But this is a small price to pay for my freedom - my delete button works just fine, thank you. Oh yeah, and I am wondering, has rest of civilized world heard of filtering your email as it arrives to your inbox? I do not need help of my Internet Service Provider for this - my IQ indicates that I am above average in intelligence.

And if you decide not to comply (buy into this "protection") with Habeas, then you will surely be crippled. Sure sounds a lot like Mafia to me. What do I mean by all this? Just stay with me here as I briefly go through paces.

Habeas (a private corporation, mind you) has proposed that we all pay for a header in all our outgoing emails that identifies email as legitimate (i.e. not sp*m). And for this "privilege", we will be required to pay.

Small businesses, those who make less than $100,000 a year, will pay a fee of $200 a year for privilege of sending email to people who have legitimately requested it. Outrageous! But that is only tip of iceberg.

Those business owners that make over $100,000 a year will be required to pay ½ cent to 1 cent per email sent, up to a maximum of $3,000 a month. Who died and made these people God?! And I thought government was giving it to me in way of taxes every year... Now you tell me that I have to be robbed by common citizen, too?

"So what," you say, "I do not even do business by email..." Well, let me explain to you how this will affect you, ordinary citizen. Right now, header is free for ordinary citizens to use in their emails. But they ALSO originally said that only rich would pay taxes, didn't they?

Really--what *do* you know? Think long and hard about this, because you can use your areas of expertise, your skills and/or your hobbies as springboards for promoting and selling your goods or services to a captive audience --by offering a free online course.

If It's Free, It's For Me!

Why offer a freebie when you're trying to make a profit from your business? While at first glance concept might not make sense, it is actually one of oldest and most effective marketing techniques both online and off. People simply love to get things for free, and merchants oblige, with goal of selling additional goods back end. From taste testings at wineries and supermarkets, to product samples delivered door-to-door, vendors have used freebies for decades to promote their products.

Free classes fall into this same "try something for nothing" category.

Again, using a comparable example from brick and mortar world, consider craft store chain that offers free classes on how to make decorative wreathes. Where will most, if not all, of people who attend these classes purchase their crafting supplies?

It's a win-win situation; those who take class gain a new skill for free, and store gains new--and probably repeat--customers!

Those Who Can Do, Teach

"But I've never taught anything in my life!"

Chances are, you have--whether showing a child how to bait a hook or bake cookies, or coaching a new co-worker on job, we all have opportunities to take on role of teacher now and then. "Teaching" is simply taking something we've learned, and showing someone else how to do it.

The fact that your instruction didn't involve a structured course plan or weekly quizzes doesn't make you any less of a teacher in these situations.

When developing your free online course, focus on selecting a subject that meets these three criteria:

·One that involves a topic or skill that you consider yourself good at, or even an expert; ·Something that other people would love to learn; ·And, finally, has some sort of tie-in back to your business.

Going back to craft store example above, you can see that offering free decorative wreath class successfully satisfies all three of these qualifications.

Still not sure what you could possibly teach in your own free online course?

Begin with third criterion--base it on your business itself-- and go from there.

Let's say, for example, that you operate a marine supply company aimed at sailboat owners; you might offer a free "Safety Tips for Sailors" course, or a "Long-Distance Sailor's Survival" class.