The hottest trend on the Internet are the so-called amateurs -- women working from home, designing their own pages and setting up their own Web sites.

``It's amazing how much they're able to do on their own,'' says Richard Glidewell, a Sarasota investment specialist who has written extensively about sex sites. ``With little outside help and no outside financing, it's a testament to the entrepreneurial possibilities at the entry-level of this business.''

Colin Daniels, who runs a large fetish site in New England, says he often has amateurs pose for his professional photographers for free, just so they can get video and stills for their own sites.

Many amateurs are former strippers who have decided cyberlife is easier than being pawed by drunken bar patrons. But others are office workers who just want to work on their own.

``A little web cam, an inexpensive leased space on a server, third party billing, and you can take off your shirt every night and be in business,'' Daniels says. ``Half of them seem to be in Florida,'' Daniels says.

While most website activities take place behind closed doors in the privacy of Webgirl's, as they're called, homes, that's not always the case.  The most interesting website this reporter discovered comes from a Webgirl right here in South Florida.  Barbara Leigh is known worldwide as the world's biggest exhibitionist and one look at her website and you will soon see why.  "Finding a real nitch in the market was easy" says Barbara. Even though that's her real name printed on her drivers license, she's not allowed any more to be called "Barbie" on her website since Mattel toy company sued her for $100,000 and she has all the court documents and settlement agreement papers posted on her website to prove it.

"I didn't really 'find a nitch' per se', says Barbara Leigh, "I think it found me.  My boyfriend of seven years really got turned on by taking pictures of me flashing in public.  After a couple years we had such a huge collection, all our friends were telling us to publish a coffee table book.  Considering the low startup cost of starting a website, versus publishing a book, we thought we'd give the cyber world a try."

After having her BlondeFlasher.com website for only one year, this has become her fulltime job.  "Lots of people think you just throw up a website, then go to the beach to return at the end of the day to see how many thousands of dollars you've made", says Barbara.  "But it's not like that at all.  Like any business it takes lots of time and devotion.  I work on my site seven days a week and personally answer every email and chat with everyone that sends me an instant message when I'm working online.  And despite all the setbacks with my lawsuit and finding a suitable host company, I'm able to make a living, pay my student loan and my settlement with Mattel.  I really enjoy what I do and believe it or not, I love meeting my members in person and often invite them to meet me when I go out flashing in public."

Barbara Leigh's website is difficult to properly describe.  To say it's a site about public nudity or flashing in public still doesn't prepare the surfer for what they will see on their visit to her site.  She describes it as "extreme flashing" which is closer to being appropriate, but still from what I've seen, even that is only 60 percent accurate.  The raunchy adult magazine, Hustler, is quoted as saying, "BlondeFlasher.com is the only site we've discovered where cyber surfers with a public nudity fetish can be completely satisfied, regardless of how demanding their fetish".  They go on to describe the site in expletives not suitable for print here.  

To meet her, she is the sweetest, most personable, southern accented lady with all the wholesome charm of the girl you'd bring home to mom.  After meeting her, you'd never expect to see her on an adult site, but regardless of your moral beliefs, you can't help but like her.  "I think being 'the girl next door' has really helped to make my site so successful.  People know I'm for real and my monthly parties that I host have hundreds attending every month, I invite all my members to come see me naked in person.  I think they like that", she giggles.  I guess so but for this reporter, seeing her perform on one of her twice weekly live webcam shows was all this seasoned reporter could handle, after all, I'm only human.

Another site is operated by a couple from their home in the central part of the state. They go by the names Carolina and Gary, and they don't want their exact location revealed because they fear complaints from their Bible Belt neighbors.

``We earn a living from this, and a rather nice one,'' says Gary, who won't give his last name.

A former carpenter of show-business sets, Gary handles the technical end. He says they started four years ago for only $15,000.

Carolina says she used to be an office worker in New York City. She does two live webcasts a week in which the 1,500 subscribers (paying about $13 a month) can type in requests and chat. The average subscriber stays for about three months, then moves on.

As with many amateur sites, the couple have aligned themselves with several other amateurs, so that for the same monthly fee, viewers can visit several amateur sites.

``I don't find this to be an exploitive situation,'' Carolina says. ``We make our choices, our own decisions. I'm a grownup. This is what I chose to do.''

Says Gary: ``It's a relatively simple job.''

ANGELIQUE: Office worker has second job using three web cams.

Many amateurs go out of business, just like the professional sites, but some thrive. One that has beengaining a national reputation is a Vancouver office worker who goes by the name Angelique [pictured at right].

``She's really gotten into this,'' Glidewell says. ``She has three web cams in her apartment, so you can watch her all the time.''

South Florida's Internet Porn: porn operators on cutting edge