While it is true that a normal start up business would need at least a small amount of capital, which most of the times equals that persons salary, or double even, in a year. But online businesses are not like this. There are still expenses of course but a lot of them can be limited if not eliminated completely if you take the time to investigate and work on what you can do for free.
First off many people may think you need a huge advertising budget even to make a dent. I am sure if you have spent any time online you have heard horror stories of Google Adwords bills and vast amounts of money spent making nothing or only a little more than you budget.
While this method may work for those who have the money to spend it on it is not true for everyone who has an internet business. Not all advertising needs to be costly, there are ways to post in forums, respectfully, and that will give you credibility and free advertising. Writing articles about your particular business or industry, blogging, social networks. There are lots of ways to get advertising without spending any money. If you are not the greatest writer you can hire the work out, rather cheaply, and still get a great deal of free advertising with very little spent.
Maybe when you are at home you get distracted to easily and you do not work as hard as you would at work, so you think having a home business like this will take longer because you will be in a bad environment. Well, there are a few solutions to this. One is to create a designated office area where you only do work related to your business. You will work harder and be away from your “home.” The great benefit is that it is relaxing. You can work with music or movies playing. While you lounge in a comfortable chair with the quiet of the day around you and no distracting work buddies. That is a lot easier to work in than an office with stupid meetings all day.
With a little discipline and some investigating you can have viable home businesses and make money online without spending a fortune to get there. Like anything it takes work and long hours, but only at first. As things pick up it gets easier and you will wonder what you used to complain about.