Since 1981, I've run a home-based micro-business, Accurate Writing & More. My wife and I provide affordable-but-classy marketing materials that focus on the benefit to the prospect. Our work runs the gamut from brochures to newsletters to press releases to ad copy to resumes. We also help businesses figure out marketing strategies that cost little or nothing to implement.

I got my first computer--an original 128K Mac that still runs today--in April, 1994. Almost the first thing I did was write a little handbook on low-cost marketing. That book evolved into a 384-page opus, *Marketing Without Megabucks: How to Sell Anything on a Shoestring*, published by Simon & Schuster.

The online world caught my attention early, and in 1987 I stuck my toe in the water with a CompuServe account. But unreliable phone lines, molasses-slow 300 bps modems, and the text-only command-line interface drove me off again after a few months. (In those days, a CompuServe account could only receive e-mail from another CompuServe user.) I didn't go back on-line for seven years, and things had sure changed a lot.

When I went came back, in July 1994, it was specifically to research an article for a computer magazine; I was having trouble finding sources elsewhere. I took out an America Online trial account--and my life changed. First I discovered the wonders of e-mail. I had contacts all over the world, made various win-win business deals, "met" marketing experts like Jay Levinson (Guerrilla Marketing), posted free classified ads... It wasn't long before I landed $6,000 worth of encyclopedia writing that would have been a good deal less lucrative without e-mail. Needless to say, I kept my account once the trial period was over.

Simon & Schuster sold me back the entire remaining inventory of Marketing Without Megabucks in March, 1995. I began actively marketing the book on the Net. Since a lot had changed in marketing since I wrote the book--including the emergence of the Net as a commercial vehicle--I wrote an extensive update to bring the information up to snuff; I include one with every direct sale.

In the fall of 1995, I started participating in several mailing lists. Now, as much as two hours of my day might be devoted to reading and answering my e-mail. I subscribe, currently, to six lists, and one of them has 50 messages on a slow day (the others are more manageable).

It was through participation on one list, the now-defunct Internet Marketing Forum, that I discovered I was losing credibility as a marketing consultant because I didn't have a Web site. While developing my site, I got vast amounts of expert advice from the recognized masters in the field, and as a result, when I put my site up in May 1996, it immediately began to draw positive reviews--and book sales! Incidentally, it was through that same list that I landed a $10,000 writing contract.

I find many other on-line venues and opportunities. I've appeared several times as a live chat guest on various forums, have circulated articles (with full contact information) in many e-zines, and have appeared in print collections of advice from Internet experts.

My site has about 80 pages, gives away lots of free advice, including excerpts from my two books and other related material. It also includes two e-zines that promotes my book on low-cost fun. I am currently undergoing a site-wide redesign, followed by an aggressive promotional campaign--and then I expect to go after banner sponsors.

The site cost me almost nothing to put up, since I and an intern did all the coding. I rent 20 MB on an ISP server for about $500 per year, and of course, I pay $50 per year for a domain name (frugalfun.com). I find it's already profitable through book sales. But interestingly enough, more than half of my Web-based book sales come from people who "know" me through my posts to mailing lists. They read my posts and signature, visit my site, and then order a book or two. The lists have also brought me several dealers, including one fellow who pre-paid for a whole case to Australia.

In dollar volume, my list participation brings me much more work than my Web site. I joined the list where I'm most active in April, 1996. In September, I started getting marketing clients. I've now done work for about 15 members of that list, and several have already come back for more. In fact, I'm working as Interim Marketing Director, consulting 5-10 hours per week, for one member of that list.

By the end of 1997, I expect the Net to bring in about half my income. With the possible exception of getting my first computer, going on-line was the best investment I've made in 16 years of business.