The prospect of starting out on your own in business should not be a decision made on a whim. And it is usually not. But despite the "allure" of being an entrepreneur, many people never take the plunge.

However, with today's economy, technology and conditions, there has never been an easier time to start your own company. I am amazed every single week at the sheer number of ideas that are floating around out there- many of which have the makings of a serious business waiting to happen.

I've recently been reading Chris Anderson's "The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More." Anderson makes the point that today's technology allows virtually anyone to be a publisher, distributor or retailer. There are so many goods and services that can be made available today at a profit that one decade ago would have been a failing business model.

There are so many possibilities here, it would be impossible to mention them all. But here are a few ideas:

&bull Publishing: In literally minutes, you can have an Internet presence by starting your own blog, an online, interactive newsletter. This kind of online forum is critical to telling your particular story.

&bull Advertising: If you have a site with a decent number of visitors, this can be monetized by becoming an advertiser. Google, Microsoft and many others offer ad programs you place on your site and make money every time someone clicks on the ad.

&bull Retailing: Launching an online store has never been easier, nor have more options been available. You can let other companies like Amazon.com do most of the work for you, you can have your store hosted on Yahoo Stores, or you can run the entire site yourself with free software on your own server. If you aren't a do-it-yourselfer in this area, there are many professionals available to help you decide on and implement a store. E-Bay is also a really easy, economical way to reach millions of potential customers.

&bull Education: Several online companies allow teachers to help educate non-English speakers via a webcam. For some, this has become a lucrative, full-time job.

Design: If you have graphic design skills, you also have many options. With the help

of sites like Logoworks, eLance and others, it is easy to hang out your shingle as a freelance designer and start building your portfolio.

&bull Genealogy: I have a friend who is just now launching a new Web site that will help professional researchers expand their reach and to receive income for their work.

For entrepreneurs already running or starting a company, there are many other options that make your job so much easier. Of course, each of these has pros and cons that are worth careful consideration, but these can save you tens of thousands of dollars in software. The open-source movement (essentially free software) can provide some really good business software for very little money.

Not all of the following examples are open source, but most are relatively inexpensive.:

•Customer relationship management: Salesforce.com, SplendidCRM and others allow you to track customers, sales, prospects and service issues inexpensively.

&bull Project/task management: dotProject, activeCollab, BaseCamp are all good options depending on the level of detail you need in tracking tasks, milestones, outside teams and schedules.

&bull Enterprise resource planning: This category usually encompasses a company's accounting/finance, order entry, warehousing and other critical components. There are some really interesting open source initiatives coming from CompiereERP and OpenBravo, to name two.

&bull Design software: Most companies these days require some graphic design. A free package called Gimp can do a lot of what Photoshop does.

&bull Communication/collaboration: Everyone needs a word processor, e-mail, spreadsheet and presentation application. OpenOffice and Google's online tools can do most of what the expensive, typical software packages can do.

Don't fall into the trap of having to use the most popular, buzzed about (and sometimes overpriced) software solution. With a little effort and Google's help, you can search around and find several alternatives for most software systems.