With this recession everybody is looking for other ways to earn residual income online, an income that keeps coming in when you are not working, when you are asleep.
The days of a corporate job for life are gone, and even if they had not evaporated, people are fed up with the 9 to 5 routine, and being away from their family because they have to go to that company team building weekend.
So what are the ways to earn a residual income online? Network Marketing - here you become an independent distributor of a company a bit like a commission only salesperson, You promote the company's product or service to people you know and meet and if they become customers then you receive a commission every time they make a purchase.
At the same time you recruit other people into the business and they become your "downline".
You make money when they make a sale too.
The advantages of this business is once you have people buying regularly from you or your downline you receive a monthly check regardless of whether you worked on the business or not.
The disadvantages are that you need to know a lot of people to build an income you can live off or otherwise be prepared to approach a lot of strangers and try and persuade them to join your business.
Many people get put off by this.
Affiliate marketing - this is where you build a website and then recommend and promote products of a company you will pay you a commission.
The commission is made when someone comes to your website, reads a product review and then clicks through from your site to that of the merchant.
By giving you a unique code the merchant knows the customer came from your site, so you will get a payment.
This method has the advantage over network marketing in that you do not have to approach anyone or sign them up.
Once they reach the merchants site, the merchant takes care of all the shipping and dealing with customer queries.
You have no involvement in that.
The disadvantage is that you must first find a product for which there is strong demand but not much competition.
It can be difficult to find this balance.
You must also be able to build a website and know how to write good copy that will compel a potential customer to click through to the merchant's site.
These are just two areas to look a earn a residual income.
They are not get rich quick schemes but with hard work and persistence you can succeed.