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I am always happy to find a way of using my purchasing power to benefit something that I care about. We all have causes that are close to our heart, two of mine are Oxfam and Amnesty International. Today I heard about a new collection of charities - including my favourites - that have got together to form Aidmaker. It is already up and running in eight countries. The way that www.agoodcause.co.uk

works is that it allows you to download software to track the purchases that you make online. You pay no more than the usual price but the participating shops will donate a proportion to the charities every time you shop. Find out more at www.agoodcause.co.uk

If you listen to the news broadcasts lately you will probably be feeling pessimistic about the prospects for starting your own online business. Every industry seems to have its own troubles at present. Well, the first advice if you want to reserach teh profitable industries is: stop listening to the news! They have to write attention-grabbing headlines every hour and when theses are dominated by one broad issue (the economy) the writers have to dig deeper into a small niche to think of anything new.  So a story that would not make it on a busy day is now centre stage, and then represented in a thousand different ways for the next five bulletins.  So take a break and free up YOUR creative powers to think how you can use the economic situation to your best advantage.

If you are trying to make money online, then you need to understand the fast pace of internet trends. A website can do a very nice trade in diamond studded wallets for futures traders, but if those traders suddenly lose their jobs, the market can disappear overnight. So the first and fundamental lesson is - diversify your income streams.  Never rely on one income source, and in online business you must always have an eye to the next business trend.