Starting an online business that can let you quit your "real" job is something you really can do.
In fact it's done by thousands of people every year, and you can be one of them.
There are many advantages to an online business.
You can work from home, so the rigors and expense of a commute will be a distant memory.
Your income potential is limited only by your time, effort, strategy and execution.
Because it's online, it makes you money 24/7/365 and can be done from anywhere you have Internet access.
Perhaps the best thing for many people is that an online business can be started in your spare time with very little capital.
The size of the online marketplace is expanding dramatically every year.
These are powerful advantages that a traditional business can not offer and explains the rush of people that are hoping to stake a claim of their own in the online business space.
You can join them too, if you follow some simple steps.
Here's how you can start an online business that can let you walk away from the corporate world and never look back.
You have a few choices when starting an online business, but one of the most popular is starting an affiliate marketing business.
An affiliate marketing business is paid by referring customers to another company.
Every time they do this they are paid a commission, which can be very lucrative.
Many of the largest and most well recognized companies have affiliate marketing programs which you can join and start making money.
We're talking companies such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Target, Yahoo, Ford, Comcast, and Blockbuster Video.
There are thousands more, some well known, and others unknown.
Many small business owners make thousands of dollars every month referring customers to other company's web sites.
Some pay for completed sales, while others pay for leads.
Your job, as an affiliate marketer is to refer visitors form your website to theirs.
If you've done a good job getting targeted traffic to your site, and pre-selling them once they're there, you will see a nice, fat affiliate check in your mail box every month.
Most of these businesses work through affiliate marketing networks.
The largest of these are Commission Junction, Google Affiliate Network, Shareasale, Linkshare, and Clickbank (Clickbank handles digital download products only).
You join these networks, then are allowed to promote products from companies they represent.
A tracking link is used to send customers to a website who you're an affiliate for.
This allows you to get paid for the referral.
You don't technically need a website of your own.
You can promote your affiliate links with a number of number of other methods.
Having your own website will allow you to more effectively presell for larger monthly commission checks.
It will also allow you to build your own traffic, which will dramatically increase the value of your business.
Having your own site will give you much greater control over your online business and allow you to build a customer and visitor list.
Most online marketers will agree that having your own list is where the real money is in online marketing.