It's pretty common knowledge (from people who understand it) that being a marketing consultant is perhaps the single best home business you can have. Not only because there's almost zero overhead or hard costs but because it is one of the few ways to realistically make a lot of money fast -- even if you're broke without a speck of business experience.

Let me give you an example of why I say this:

Not long ago one of my students gave me the "Robert Allen" challenge -- only with marketing consulting instead of real estate.

He asked what I would do if I were dropped off in the middle of an unknown town or city with no money, no credentials and no more knowledge about business than my neighbor's pet dog -- and was given just five days to make $10,000 as a marketing consultant.

What would I do? What steps would I take? What mindset would I adopt? And how successful do I think I would be and why?

My answer shocked him.

Not only because it made sense...but because it became obvious I was telling him the truth about how fast and easy a home business marketing consulting can be.

Here's what I told him:

First of all, I would immediately find a mentor. Probably someone in the community. Or else I'd go to the library (which is free) and hop online and check out some books on the basics of direct marketing.

I'd spend the first day either asking questions or reading up on the subject, finding out exactly what others have done to grow their businesses fast with good old fashioned direct marketing principles.

Then I would simply take what they did -- the raw basics, nothing fancy -- and I would spend the next few days approaching small businesses and find ways that I could leverage what the small business had already been doing and quickly generate cash for the business. And I would probably do it on a contingency basis, getting paid on the sales. That way I would get paid more and I wouldn't have to try and prove myself for a big upfront fee.

With most businesses, just doing one or two really minor things is enough to make a significant change in their profits. I've seen it hundreds of times -- how just one or two "tweaks" to a sales or marketing plan turns into tens of thousands -- even hundreds of thousands -- of dollars almost overnight.

And that's it. That's what I would do.

It's pretty cut and dry. I would find knowledge. I would find information. I would find a way to help jump-start me.

And you know what?

It really is that simple. You don't need a lot of money and you don't even need a lot of knowledge to get started making money as a marketing consultant. All you need to have is the willingness to learn and take action.