All About Me…..

Well maybe not all. I wanted to take a minute and give everyone a chance to get to know a bit about who I am, how I got here, what I hope to accomplish and why I am looking to Internet Marketing and, more specifically, Niche Blogging for income. So lets start at the beginning shall we?

Who Am I?

This reminds me of one of those profile things where you try to write something really cool and interesting about yourself. Truth is, I’m not really all that interesting. At least I don’t think so. I’m a 48 year old guy from Alabama. I have 4 kids and 4 stepchildren. Between them I also have 12 grandchildren. Most recently I worked as a carpenter building homes I knew I could never afford for other people. Before that I managed a retail jewelery store for a national chain and there again, I was selling diamonds and gemstones I myself could never afford to buy at the salary I was being paid. Weather I was working for myself, or someone else, either in sales, management or something more physical, I somehow always seemed to come up a dollar short.

How Did I Get Here?

I live in a fairly rural area so, when the housing and real estate markets started going downhill, so did the construction work. Needless to say, when everything bottomed out, I found myself unemployed and staring 50 dead in the face. Too young (and too broke) to retire and too old to compete with 20-somethings for what little work there was, I realized I needed to find something that I could build now that would eventually pay me continuously later.

Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s I worked as a sales manager for a company that brokered advertising specialties. Some of you may know what I mean. All the little things like coffee mugs, pens, golf balls, key chains and the like that companies have their logo imprinted on. Desktop computers were just coming into their own and the internet was still in it’s infancy. If I remember right, compu-serv was the king of the hill and Windows 3.2 had just come out. Through our affiliation with the Advertising Specialties Institute (ASI) we were offered access to an experimental program where we could go online and look up the various manufacturers of the specialty imprinted items we sold. We could sort them by price, quantity breaks, production times or even their location in relation to our client. We thought this was the greatest thing since fluffernutter…..(for those of you who don’t know what that is …click here ……).

The sad part was that orders were still taken over the phone and artwork had to be over nighted to us and then again to the manufacturer. I had a conversation once with the owner (my dad by the way) and asked, “Wouldn’t it be great if our customer could send us an order with the artwork instantly over the internet and then we in turn do the same back to the manufacturer all in the same day?”  Unfortunately, even though the internet was still ‘brand new’ the word ‘virus’ had him convinced it would never work.

Ever since that time, the thought of marketing products and services online had just been stuck in the back of my head. I knew in my gut it could work, I just didn’t know how and didn’t know anyone that did. After my dad passed away, we sold the  business to pay his medical bills and some other expenses. I went to work in the retail sales field, selling everything from used cars and mobile homes to jewelery and life insurance; all in the name of making ends meet. I just kept thinking, there had to be a better way. After my divorce, I decided it was time for a change. I have always been good at working with my hands so I went into carpentry; building houses, decks, gazebos, boat houses and piers. I did pretty well. Worked for myself on some things and contracted to other, bigger builders on others. It felt good to be able to point to something and say “I built that”.

What Do I Hope to Accomplish?

I have found that I like building things. I also like working for myself. I enjoy the thought of financial freedom and what that freedom would mean not only to myself but to my family. I want to create a secure source of residual, passive income that will allow me to live a retired lifestyle on a playboy budget. As long as I don’t get the two mixed up, I should be okay. I don’t need to be a millionaire (but it sure would be nice).  There’s a house my wife found. Dead in the middle of a 150 acre tree farm. Half of it’s hardwoods the other half pines. A beautiful home, a huge workshop…..piece and quiet and financial security….

Why Internet Marketing and  Why Niche Blogging?

After my dad passed, I really wanted to explore this burning desire to make money on the internet. But like I said, I didn’t know how and I didn’t know anyone that did. I’ve literally signed up for hundreds of ebooks and ‘guru’ certified, can’t loose products and processes.  The only thing I have found is that they all have the same things in common. Their so-called make money plans don’t work, and yet every time I got online I couldn’t help but notice that everywhere you turn someone is advertising something. That meant to me, someone’s making money. So I kept looking.

I had heard about blogs, and social networks but had never put the pieces together until one day, while reading about how some self proclaimed internet marketing genius was making a fortune and was going to buy his 5th vacation home, I noticed a little ’slug’ on his site that said  ‘make money blogging’. I clicked the link and needless to say, I was not impressed. There was this same guy reworking the same sales pitch. Like I said, not impressed; but intrigued because he also mentioned social networks and using google supplied ads and affiliate links to make commissions. Finally, a couple of words I actually understood. I didn’t like the guy, but the concept actually made sense. After a few more weeks of research I found a program that actually looked like it could work. And not only that but one I could actually learn. With a step by step lesson plan and a time tested proven method, building a network of Niche Blogs seemed like the perfect way to get started.

As a unique way of looking at what blogging really means, a few of us gathered together our thoughts on how blogging can change the world and our individual lives. This is what we came up with:

“Can A Blog Change the World?” by Ruth: “Blogging as an opportunity to use your voice for what you truly believe in, changing your world for the better”.

“My Blogging Vision” by Lisa: “When I started blogging back in October of 2007, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I’ve seen a lot of changes in my life since then yet my vision for my blog remains the same.”

“My Blogging Journey” by Stephen: “Life has been a journey of twists and turns for me. As an introvert it has sometimes been a little bit too stimulating…if life has taught me anything, it is that the world is an amazing place with so many struggles, challenges, opportunities and stories from real people.”

“At the Speed of Blog” by Steve: “What I have seen in the way mankind has changed in the form of communication during my lifetime.”

“Turning Dreams Into Goals” by Donna: “For the past year my dream has been to make enough money working online so that both me and my husband could work from home. We have a business that I currently run from home and I wanted to turn that over to him while I created websites.”

“Why I Blog and Why I’ll Continue to Blog” by Michelle: Inspired by others who ‘care’, I got to thinking about the world we all live in and how we have this amazing communication channel we know as the World Wide Web: I wondered if by blogging, can I change the world? Here’s some of the thoughts that quickly came to mind”

“Blogging Vision 2010” by Jen: “AkitaJitsu’s “Niche Blogging for Non-Techies” is all about answering technical questions about building niche blogs in a non-technical way. Jen (aka, Akitajitsu) started the blog a few months ago, and has written a plan for the blog’s future. She hopes this blog will become a popular resource for niche bloggers.”

“Blogging to Change the World – My World” by Leslie: “Blogging can be a hobby, something you do for fun. For me, it changed my world for the better. It made my life the dreamlife I always envisioned.”

“Niche Blogging” by Loren: “Making goals, missing goals and maintaining blogging relationships.”

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.