Remember setting up your first lemonade stand as a kid and feeling the satisfaction of your first sale? Tom Zawacki credits that first introduction to entrepreneurship as the inspiration for his website Lemonade.com*, which allows people to combine commerce and community online. Jean talks with Tom about the new generation of lemonade stands and the latest trends for making money online.
Tom says popular sites—especially social networking sites—are becoming easy ways for individuals to make extra cash. "What's happening online is now there is the ability to set up businesses that allow you to recommend products and to recommend those products to your friends," Tom says. "Then you can have them buy the products through your online business and you can make money off of it, too."
Tom's business provides frameworks for people who want to start their own online businesses. "You set up a virtual lemonade stand that allows you to set up the products that you recommend," he says. "Then you recommend those products in your lemonade stand and e-mail your friends and tell them to come to your lemonade stand." Tom says when people click to the websites from your stand and make a purchase, you get a percentage of the sale.
