You can start a business by simply writing a book or making an audio CD with information about anything that people are willing to buy. Sell these books by e-mail, online auction sites, or your own merchant site. If you have a podcast that is very strong, make CD's and find a local distributor to help sell them. Take the same podcasts you are now offering for free and offer them for sale on your website or in CD form online and off.

The key is to create a product that is professional in style and content. This means product value, people. Give your customer something of value and they will come running. Make the product as strong as you can, with proper design, marketing, packaging and information that is hard to find.

Start with an e-book and test the market. If the response is good, make a CD and test again. Ask your customers what they liked about your product and what they did not like. Fix the problems and expound on the positive aspects. This will build value in your product. Offer your product to other sellers in a joint venture with the profit being split. After all, the cost is minimal if you do it right.

Create the product, test the market, survey your customers, improve the product, find distributors, create an affiliate program and repeat. Write effective sales copy. Test some more. Improve the product by offering a free second edition. Include useful links that relate to your information. Always be a salesperson, but not a hard sell. Show your potential customer how your product can benefit them. They should not have to be sold if your product has quality.

For free advertising, add a link in the signature line of your emails. Include your domain name on everything, your business card, letter head and your car. Make some shirts with your domain name to give away after you start making some money. Make some hats and do the same. Get out of the house and talk with small related companies in your neighborhood and offer to split the profit with them if they will sell your books, CDs, DVDs and yes, even your give away shirts.

Start an ezine and gather e-mail addresses using autoresponders and an opt in form. Market directly to your customers selling more and more expensive products such as seminars and classes. The sky is the limit as to how successful you wish to be.