Millions of people around the world are making a living online through self-employment. Many average men and women are already doing it in India.
At last, you too can start your own profitable internet business at a shoestring budget - a profitable business of your own where it is difficult to lose money.
When I met them first, Sumathi and Vinod were newly married couple. Vinod was a Salesman in a small company and earned Rs.4,000 a month. Sumathi was a homemaker. Their financial position was so bad that they had postponed indefinitely having a child. Sumathi was wearing a yellow thread as thali as she did not have a gold chain.
"You are a B.Sc. graduate in Mathematics. You can go for a job and make some money," I said.
"No. That is not possible. I have to stay at home to take care of my mother-in-law," said Sumathi.
"That's only a secondary reason," Vinod interrupted and said, "Her educational qualification can get her only an ordinary 9 to 6 clerical job. If she is really lucky, she may get a salary of Rs.1,500 a month. She had wasted three years in studying useless B.Sc. Mathematics."
"I don't think it is a waste. Everything has a meaningful purpose that we generally don't see or understand. What we consider as waste may, in fact, be a short cut route to prosperity," I said.
"I appreciate your positive attitude. But, in my case, I think, you are too optimistic," Sumathi said politely. "If you believe that you can make decent money by working for yourself, we can find out a profitable income opportunity," I said.
"I have already told you that I can not go out for a regular job or on business. Do you still think I can make money by self-employment?" Sumathi asked me. "If you are willing to learn anything that would help you work on your own at your terms and earn good money, I have a suggestion," I said. "I am ready to work hard," said Sumathi.
"Through formal education, we learn many things that are not useful to us in every day life. However, things that are not useful to us may be useful to others. If you can identify those unfulfilled needs, you can make money. It is not necessary to have razor-sharp professional knowledge to make money. Useful knowledge at any level can be converted into a marketable product," I told Sumathi. "You can do something on Internet using you knowledge in mathematics."
"What can I possibly do on internet? I don't think I have any productive skill that could be used to earn money on internet," Sumathi wondered.
"People use internet primarily for information and communication. Meaningful content is the lifeline of these two activities. We visit a website only if it has some useful content. The success of any website depends on the quality and usefulness of the content. You can create content," I told Sumathi. "But I am not a writer," said Sumathi.
"The content is the king of the internet. It need not be a collection of words. Content can take different forms such as presentation, software, audio, video, checklists, and worksheets. There are thousands of websites for school children. These websites giveaway free mathematical worksheets. They sell high quality mathematical workbooks and software. You can use your knowledge to create worksheets for kids," I said to Sumathi.
"But I don't know anything about creating websites or selling online to kids," Sumathi said.
"All websites need original and quality content. Create what you can and try to sell them in bulk to the existing websites. They will sell your content to customers," I said. "It's interesting," said Sumathi.
"How much can she earn?" Vinod asked. "If Sumathi works hard, money will flow in beyond your imagination. Please don't set a limit to her future income by your small expectation," I said with a smile.
We spent the next hour in discussing about internet and how she could use her 'useless' knowledge in Mathematics to generate income. After this brainstorm session, she decided to become a Content Creator.
She did not have a computer and did not have money to buy a computer. This immediate problem was big and real. I had an old computer that was sleeping on the dusty loft in my apartment. I gave it to her. There was a small problem in the hard disk. But, an engineer sorted it out for Rs.250.
In a short time, she learnt to use the computer and the internet well with the help of self-paced CD-ROMs and books.
In the months that followed, Sumathi developed a few dozen worksheets and workbooks in PDF format. She sent professionally written proposals with beautiful samples by email to 286 websites. She understood Spam Regulations and worked within law.
Only one website out of the 286 websites responded. The company asked her to create content in the form of worksheets for different grades on contract basis. She was paid $150 (approximately Rs.6,000) a month. It was 50% more than what her husband earned.
Over time, the company was impressed beyond measure with her intelligent and engaging content. They asked her to take part in the development of an educational software product for a fat fee. Chances are bright that our children are using the software that has some of Sumathi's content.
A few months ago, I met Sumathi in a jewelry shop. She had gone to the shop with Vinod to buy a new pearl necklace. She was pregnant then.
""Is your mother-in-law alone at home?" I asked Sumathi. "No. She is not alone. We have appointed a full time nurse to take care of her as I am busy with my internet business. We pay the maid Rs.2,000 a month," said Sumathi.