Karen Wingham, a financial advisor working for a company in Gates Mills, Ohio, was known for her ability to help middle to low income families squeeze every penny out of their paychecks. This fact was, in fact, a little ironic, since her abilities allowed her to build a large portfolio of happy customers and, therefore, a very comfortable income. Her large paychecks allowed her husband to be a full-time Dad after he injured his back and was left unable to work in his factory job. Their family had financial freedom, which in turn helped Karen mentor more clients, which then brought in more money. Her career was on the fast track to success.

Then, in late 2004, the company was bought out by a national chain, and they downsized. Suddenly, Karen was left without a job. In most cases, a person with Karen's finances would have the ability to be out of work for a few months and not be affected. However, with the sudden surge in her income over the last year, she and her husband finally thought that they could afford to to move out of their two bedroom apartment and purchase a house, and they now had a hefty mortgage payment. Two months later, her husband's back needed another surgery. When Karen was laid off, she lost her health benefits, and all of a sudden, her financial situation became that of her former clients'.

As Karen attempted to find a new job in a similar field, she had little success. While she brought a lot to the table, Gates Mills is an upscale area, and few companies were interested in marketing to the lower income bracket. She had little interest in starting over in a new career field, and she didn't want to have a job that cut into her time with her family. As a result, she decided to take a risk and attempt to work from home via the internet.

Like Karen, there are thousands, if not millions, of individuals looking to work from home and make money online, for whatever reason. And although the internet boom of the nineties has long since passed, there are more opportunities to work online than ever before. Most people know that there are individuals making full time incomes over the internet, but few know how they do it. What's their secret? What do they do different?

There are countless ways to profit from the internet gold mine, but below are some of the main ways that people get started:

1.) Drop shipping.

Millions of people are making money off of internet auction sites like eBay, and most of them do it by drop shipping. This is simply selling products via eBay or your own online store, and the supplier of the product will ship directly to your customer. This way, you never have to store, package, or keep inventory.

2.) Affiliate marketing.

When an internet marketer creates a new product, he or she needs to find people who will sell it. That's where affiliate marketing comes in. Individuals agree to sell the products, and in return, they receive a commission for whatever they sell. This can be extremely profitable, and it takes very minimal start up or running costs.

3.) Real estate investing.

Yes, you can invest in real estate online. There are ways to purchase properties through government auctions and get excellent bargains. What you do after you purchase is up to you.

4.) Surveys.

A lot of people aren't interested in earning full time incomes online, but would like to make extra cash a few times a week. For these people, online surveys are perfect. They won't buy you a luxury house, but they will put a few bucks in your pocket.

5.) Google Adsense.

Those who already have existing web sites, Google Adsense provides an easy way to make them profitable. Google gets more advertisers than they can handle, so they allow webmasters to run ads on their site, and they split the profits. No work is ever needed, because Google handles everything for the webmasters, and then they send a check at the end of the month.

6.) Blogs and MySpace

People are finding that they can make their blogs and MySpace accounts profitable by utilizing several strategies. They can use them to promote their affiliate marketing business, or they can place Google Adsense ads right into the text. This way, people are making passive income from something that they were doing anyway.

As for Karen, she decided to create a web site giving financial advice. She made a smart move in sticking to what she knew. On her site, she discussed strategies for pinching pennies, and she made it profitable by running Google Adsense ads, by being an affiliate for magazine and newsletter subscriptions, and she drop shipped videos on the topic. She was able to utilize three strategies into one site. And, after less than six months of being up and running, she was pulling in $1,000 a week.

Today, that number has almost doubled, and she is making more money than when she held her job. The best part is that she is able to stay home with her husband and her two small children.

That, my friends, is working smarter.