Recently, I was thinking about the way it is when you work for an employer. Not long ago, I was reasonably content as an employee until my employer decided that, due to "market conditions," all overtime was going to be eliminated. Although I didn't really enjoy working 60, 70 and even 80 hours a week, it more than paid the bills. It also allowed me to save a little and spend a little with enough left over to be able to do some planning for a comfortable life in the future. Of course, I felt, as most people do in this troubled economy, that I was lucky to still have a job, but when the overtime, which had been available for several years, was abruptly stopped, my yearly income was instantly reduced to half of what it had been. Suddenly I had to make some hasty adjustments; I had to downsize my life-style. That's when it occurred to me with stunning clarity that it was my employer who determined the quality of my life. It was my employer who determined what I could or could not do in my life by regulating how much money I could earn. The "scales fell from my eyes" and I finally saw the true nature of my condition as an employee. This was an unsettling revelation but I should have realized it before because it had always been that way. It is still that way for millions of people everywhere.

Entrepreneurs instinctively know this and are willing to forego the "security" of a steady paycheck in order to have more freedom and control over their lives, even though it requires them to take more risks and make sacrifices in the beginning. Entrepreneurs know that once their business venture takes off, they will have more control over what they earn than if they worked for someone else.

With all of these thoughts cascading through my mind I finally realized that I could no longer continue to depend on the whims of the decision-making people "at the top" whose salaries and bonuses, incidentally, increased, while they made sure that my salary and the salaries of my co-workers decreased. We, as employees, had worked to improve productivity and the rewards of our labors went straight to the top.

I resolved to find other ways to make money that would allow me to have more control over my life. I decided to "hire myself" and find a better way to earn money that was not limited by what someone else decided that I should earn. Almost everyone who has an employer faces this dilemma and now; when businesses are cutting costs dramatically and sometimes desperately, our jobs and our incomes are liable to end up "on the table" the next time there is more "cost-cutting" that needs to be done. I don't want to be vulnerable to this uncertainty; I don't want to be a "wage-hostage."

More and more people are finding out that Internet Business, that is, some form of online commerce, is the key that will unlock opportunities for anyone willing to make an effort. Whether you choose to engage in affiliate marketing, have a web site selling merchandise or service, or create a monetized blog, there are many possibilities for anyone to develop one or several, additional, income streams and finally free yourself from the tyranny of a paycheck that is limited by someone else's evaluation of your service.