The digital economy is booming, and there's never been a better time to learn how to shift your income from trading time for money, to automating sales online to generate an income.

Many people simply aren't aware that this opportunity exists. Then there's the question of "how is this done?", and of course "can I do this?"

Some of the main resistances to change are mental in nature and overcoming scepticism is one of the main difficulties many face when presented with this idea.

It's far easier to shut down the possibility, than to have to make changes in your lifestyle and belief system in order to make it happen. But all belief systems and habits aside, how does anyone make a living on the internet, and over what timescale are we talking about?

A business model known as affiliate marketing lets anyone promote someone's product and earn a commission from it. You don't need to own a product yourself, talk to any customers or even handle any products. That's all done for you. All affiliates do is send website traffic to products and services they recommend.

Imagine you recommend a nice restaurant to a friend. Well, affiliate marketing is the same thing, only if your friend visits the restaurant and buys a meal, you'll receive a commission. The concept itself is fairly simple, it's the 'how' which is a little more tricky.

Putting that aside for a moment, just imagine how many people are on the internet looking for a particular product or service. There are millions! Just a small slice of those purchases is enough to get you out of a difficult working environment and working for yourself, from your laptop, from anywhere.

What's great about affiliate marketing is that you can compound your efforts over time. You can get adverts or content 'working for you' running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. What's even better is the power of scalability. Once you've found a strategy which works, you can scale up to a global audience. With digital products, postage and storage isn't an issue. And you can earn up to 40% commission on digital products.

Let's back up a little and look again at the title of this article "How to set yourself free in the digital economy". What is freedom semantics aside, for many, it's the ability to create income without a boss, job or employer. It's the ability to earn money without feeling miserable or trapped.

Being free can mean many things. For the purposes of this article, it means being financially free and freedom to choose who you spend time with and how you spend your time. That's real freedom for many. It's often the opposite of working in a job you don't enjoy for the sake of financial gain, or, worse still, just to keep your head above the water.

But what does it take to build a life of freedom? Can you do it too? Not everyone can achieve this kind of freedom. The reason for most is a crippling belief system which keeps them chained to a 9 to 5 job, in a situation which doesn't serve them, because it meets some other needs. Security, ambition, status, duty or simply meeting your immediate needs are some reasons people don't venture out of what they believe is possible.

Of course an internet business can be built alongside a normal job too. That's one of it's most appealing benefits for many. But it's often someone's beliefs which stops them from even attempting to change their situation and circumstances.

So, an internet business is a means to set yourself free using the digital economy. By setting up small 'trickles' of income, by promoting and selling affiliate products, anyone can, over time, build an income which is completely independent of their time. Most people are trapped in the equation of trading their time for money. Affiliate marketing is a means to escape this trap and 'leverage' the internet to make sales, even while you sleep.

This doesn't happen overnight of course. It's a business like any other. However, an internet business can offer the ability to use automation and digital products to earn commissions. This has a two-fold benefit. Automation means your business can run without you. Digital products can be sold globally without needing postage or handling. Owners of affiliate products can afford therefore to pay affiliates more for the selling of these products.

Put all that together and you've got a huge robotic income machine - potentially. Once it's up and running, you simply need to 'tweak' it and scale it up. There's a lot involved in this process too. It's not easy and most people don't have a strong enough reason to make it happen.

But if your life is not working for you, you feel trapped or unfulfilled, an internet business can allow dramatic changes to happen in your life. Providing you work hard on your business, an on yourself.



By Tim Halloran