I think the great thing about the internet is that it does allow the little man to compete and sometimes beat the high street. You only have to look at businesses like Woolworths to see how big stores are being affected by competition from the internet.

Where I think the little man does really well though, is the niche areas of the internet where the returns are too small for big business to bother with, but very nice for a small one man band or husband and wife team.

I really like the idea of people making money from their hobbies, and you only need to think a little creatively in order to do just that. A friend of mine has just turned her photography hobby into a stream of income by becoming a wedding photographer - I did a quick website for her and she’s got listed on Google, so she’s already generating leads from little extra outlay. She’ll need some more photography kit, but that can be built up gradually from her extra earnings.

Some ideas are less straight forward than that example, but I’m sure if people talk it over with their friends and family (or shoot us finance bloggers an email!) then they can get some ideas on generating a side income from their pastimes.

The internet may be killing off high-street businesses left right and center but it’s a real enabler when it comes to starting home-based enterprises.