I am going to start with a bit of a ‘controversial statement (as I am quite prone to do):-Starting a Business, Online (or Offline) is NOT for everyone & actually may NOT be for YOU.If you are looking at working for yourself and starting up a business, you might be the best Joiner, Painter, Mechanic, Salesperson, etc, BUT it may not be for you – If you don’t have or acquire certain traits, skills and experience, you will probably fail (maybe ending up owing a lot of money!) and being an employee is probably better for you: especially if you prefer:-regular hours,regular pay,regular holidays,sickness pay, orare risk averse,lack willpower and stamina.Working for yourself and starting a business is definitely NOT a job. You have got to ask yourself if starting up and (hopefully) running a viable, successful business is for YOU – and no-one else.This is exactly the same for an Online business, maybe more so. Just setting up a website for your Offline business is definitely NOT classed as running an Online business – really, all Offline businesses should have a website as an online presence as a minimum, however if you are really set on setting up an Online business, then there are specifics that must be addressed:-It is NOT EASYIt takes TIMEIt takes MONEY (maybe not a great deal initially but it does cost if done correctly!)It is NOT a ‘Get Rich Quick’ solutionYou will need to LEARN & develop a new set of skills and be comfortable with MarketingAn understanding of Computers will be required & you must be willing to learnIn comparison to a ‘traditional’ bricks & mortar’ offline business, an Online business can be very cost-effective as a start-up. So… What do YOU consider as an Online business?Lots of people have found many ways to run a successful (profitable?) Online business, I have personally made a decent living selling items and information on a ‘popular’ auction site but the method(s) I have learned are only a few and I am currently still looking to learn other methodology and processes.As an example, please ‘Google’ (funny how this has become a ‘verb’!) or place in your search engine “make money online” – at the time of writing this gives 165 Million results, so there are many ways (some good, some not so!) regarding making money online. Have a good look around and see how big the online business is, and how vast the number of opportunities are. The only thing I recommend is NOT to buy anything before you have had a good look around – there are lots of scams and totally useless products/programs out there – so Caveat Emptor:- ‘Buyer Beware’!I want you to understand the range of opportunities out there, and that what may be suitable for some people may not be suitable for others.Looking at things from a positive angle however, I believe the plus points of an online business are:-Anyone can start and run a business, with no restrictions on age, race, gender, education, privilegeNo commuting or having to get up and get ready for an early or late startYou are working for yourself, not as a wage slave for an ungrateful boss/company