I'll answer these questions right here.

So let's suppose you are tired of your 9 to 5 job and want to switch it for a profitable business, maintained by you, where you are the only boss. OK I understand. It's just the thing I want to do.

There is a hole bunch of opportunities offering just that. But do they really work, or they just want to take your money and then leave you on your own? The answer is some of them do work, but others don't.

The secret answer is none of them will work unless you take massive actions in advertising and promoting your page/website. It's that simple. But regarding that you must do all the work it seems not so simple anymore.

Now don't get desperate. There is some techniques that allows you to work a few hours per week and still generate an acceptable extra income. Some people make millions from it. I'll show you how.
First you need to decide what you would like to start with? Either you want to sell/promote your own product or you want to sell/promote an affiliate program. Basically you can do both.

If you choose the first option, I can say that it's the most profitable of all. And you keep all the profits for yourself. If your product sells and the people like it, you can expand your business and create an affiliate program that other people/organizations will be able to sell your product/s for you in exchange of a small commission. It's really simple technique once you've captured the attention of your clients. Your affiliates will make extra sales for you for a small peace of your profit. You would want to give them even more because you do almost nothing while they are eager to sell more and more of your product. Because if they don't they won't get anything.

But there is some things you should consider before throwing your investments. First it's really hard to find/create a product/service in a tight niche, which will grab the attention of thousands. Second if you don't have a website and you are not a web designer, you'll have to spend a little fortune to pay someone to do that for you. Which is a very good investment of your money if the idea is worth it. And third you'll have to spend some more on advertising and promoting your business. Otherwise you won't get noticed.
So if you have that great idea that nobody has ever think of you should go for it and invest as much as it needs. My advice to you is to be careful because you could end up broke without even one sale of your product.

Now about the second option. It really is the simplest. Most people consider it easier than the first one and the only option to start a business with zero investment.

Let's talk about affiliate marketing. It's all about promoting other people's products and services. Most of the affiliate programs are free to join and with some of them you can generate up to 80% commission per sale referred by you. How it works?

You join some program/s or as many as you like. Each of them represents a new income stream for you! After that you get access to their marketing tools, even some of them give you free web page/ web store which you send your visitors to. It's really a simple thing to do and you have the freedom to market their products in any way you like. You are not supervised! You can even post an advert in your local newspaper if you like. Every sale or subscription generates a commission for you. They are calculated and added to each other and at the end of the month you receive your commission check. Right in your mailbox or in your bank account. But it gets even better. For every person you personally referred to become an affiliate, like you are, you get a percent of his/her sales as well. That adds to your personal commissions and your income becomes even bigger.

Some people do not waste their time to promote or advertise anything and still generate an incredible income. The secret is that they have enough people under that sell the product and they just get their percent on the commission their affiliates earn. It's the best business ever, but it takes time and a lot of efforts to build an army of people who will work for your financial freedom.

Nowadays there is a bunch of people ( Internet gurus ) who generate millions of dollars each year by promoting and selling other people's products. They don't have their own products. And they don't even work so hard. But they had worked even harder to become what they are now.

If you still want to profit from the Internet I advise you to try first with the affiliate programs and when your business start to make you a serious money, then you can start thinking of your own product or service. Don't ever get desperate and do not ever give up. You should be dedicated to be successful. You don't need to commit all your time to this. But you do need to commit a little part of it and most important to make efforts in that direction every day. Hard work and dedication is the key to success not only on the Internet, but in life too.