So McClelland added some heat to her idea, and things started popping.

"I found many clients wanting information on marketing, business licences and more basics," she said. "Knowing the SOHO market was growing, I wanted to reach more entrepreneurs."

McClelland created a course, Starting a Successful Small Business, and took her ideas to her local radio station in British Colombia. A week later, she had her own talk show, Family Business, which covered various topics for the self-employed business owner.

This was the first step for McClelland in establishing her business. And then, in the spring of 1996, she discovered the Internet.

"I was amazed by the potential of this communications tool and spent hours every day doing online research," she said. "I developed my Web site on paper and had a designer create it."

Within three months, the New York Times picked McClelland's Biz Resource site, www.bizresource.com, as one of the best business sites on the Internet. On an average day, she has 400 visitors to her site, and 80 per cent of her company sales are Internet-based.

McClelland's main focus is Internet marketing. She works as a consultant and professional speaker, and employs three Web designers to design her clients' Web pages. Her typical customers are small- to medium-sized business owners, who "want to generate more publicity or traffic to their sites," she said. McClelland also works with meeting planners for larger companies that hire speakers.

She also has three Web designers and some graphics designers and artists who work with her. Because her site generates the contracts, she receives a commission on the work they do.

Although the objectives of Biz Resource have remained the same—to provide a place for entrepreneurs to get useful info on how to grow a small business—a new site has spun off it. As McClelland's business grew, she created Think Without Boundaries, www.thinkwithoutboundaries.com, which highlights her speaking, consulting and training work. She calls this "the key" to her business growth.

But along with success come challenges. And like most online- and small-business owners, McClelland faces these challenges every day. The biggest issue she has is keeping up-to-date with the fast-paced Internet industry. She always tires to "stay fresh."

"People will not visit a site more than once if you don't provide new content, so that is a constant concern," she said. "Due to the speed at which the Internet changes, with new technology, new search-engine criteria, the challenge is keeping up!"

Generating traffic to a Web site is also one of the greatest challenges an online business faces. McClelland was active on the Internet prior to her site launch, and she credits this for her initial success. She said that already being known by her existing clients allowed her to start with a good traffic count when she invited people to her "grand opening."

McClelland said she uses "marketing on a shoestring" to promote her site. Through press releases, media events and cross promotions, she said that all of her advertising is low or no cost. And the advertising is nonstop: she is always promoting herself.

"I make sure that everything that leaves my office has my URL on it," she said. "As a professional speaker, I ensure that all my audience members have something to take home with them that contains the Web address. The marketing of a Web site is truly an ongoing process that you can never stop focusing on."

But along with her success, McClelland does have some regrets about her business. She wishes she had done her initial start-up a bit differently, and offers some advice to new businesses: she would have planned out her Web site more carefully, and developed a stronger cash-flow model, she said.

McClelland stresses the need for a professional Internet marketer, which would have offered her the knowledge and guidance to point her in the right direction.

"Do your homework and look at other sites," she advised. "Hire someone to act as a consultant for you. Research your industry, join online discussion groups, learn about Web culture and just jump in!"

As an online success story, Biz Resource proves that simple, low-cost marketing and careful strategic planning can lead to success on the Internet.

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Check out McClelland's favourite Web sites:

Alta Vista: www.altavista.com
"I love the translation feature for when I get e-mail in another language!"

World Time Zones: www.isbister.com/worldtime/
"Since I do business all around the globe, I like to know what time it really is in London without guessing!"

Fast Company: www.fastcompany.com
"I love the print version, but the online one gives me instant access to current 'new business' trends. I'll often cache the site's pages on my laptop to read when I'm travelling."