Being I own several online businesses I was interested in obtaining tips that could help me with them as well as possibly starting others. As I perused this book I was pleased to see that Sharon L. Cohen covered the basics concisely without being overwhelming for anyone that is new to online ventures or not internet savvy.

Aside from giving basics such as e-commerce, marketing/advertising, customer tracking, business essentials (plan, license, tax,) name/location, effective website design, generating traffic she also gives suggestions of what types of online businesses may be started.  The list does include 199 suggestions and if the interest is there one may pursue further research.  Each suggestion has a brief business overview, skills needed, tips, and where to find more information.

If you are expecting detailed information, it's not in this book; however, it does contain the basics to whet your interest enough to find out more.  I believe this is a good book to get your mind wrapped around what it entails to run an internet based business and whether or not you have enough discipline and interest to run with it. In my opinion this is a good resource for a beginner.

Reviewed on 04/02/2011 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Irene Watson

Author Sharon L. Cohen outlines the ins and outs of internet business success in her book, “199 Internet-Based Businesses You Can Start with Less Than One Thousand Dollars:  Secrets, Techniques, and Strategies Ordinary People Use Every Day to Make Millions”.  While hoping to motivate and inspire, she offers sound advice on what it takes to start an online business while maintaining a realistic grasp on what that involves.  Her business ideas were less than exciting but all in all, a decent reference book on the subject. 

More than ever, people are choosing to shop online instead of going to a traditional ‘brick and mortar’ store for a myriad of reasons.  These reasons can range anywhere from not wanting to deal with parking lots and crowds to saving time and gas or just being bored.  Whatever the reason, more and more entrepreneurs are looking to cyberspace to build their passion and income.  And Sharon L. Cohen shows you how. 

“199 Internet-Based Businesses You Can Start with Less Than One Thousand Dollars” begins with a solid background on business and tackles such subjects as a business plan, marketing, customer service, and much more.  Cohen continues by breaking down her 199 businesses into sections for easy navigation; the groupings around the same theme give her readers additional options that perhaps they hadn’t previously considered.  Further, some ideas have ‘sideline businesses’, closely related spinoffs that are only slightly different than the initial one.  While I did find some of her suggestions good, I was a bit disappointed overall; some of the ideas offered seemed to be hardly worthy of her subtitle, “Secrets, Techniques, and Strategies Ordinary People Use Every Day to Make Millions” - such as an internet site for selling crickets (#26) or worms (#27) as fishing bait. 

I also found the subtitle to be misleading.  Big, bold letters tell us that ordinary people use the contained techniques to make millions yet she says, “You will not make millions on your first attempt at starting an e-commerce store”.  Granted, she is trying to give her readers a realistic look at the difficulties of starting a business (which applies to traditional storefront or website) but this statement – 32 pages into the book – is not what the cover is implying. 

199 Internet-Based Businesses You Can Start with Less Than One Thousand Dollars:  Secrets, Techniques, and Strategies Ordinary People Use Every Day to Make Millions” is a good look at what it takes to start an internet business, complete with a sample business plan appendix.   Targeted at those with intermediate computer skills, Cohen does include some lingo definitions and suggests supplemental training for those whose skills aren’t up to par.  A good ‘business basics’ book.

Reviewed on 03/01/2011 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Vicki Landes