Me and my Two Babies - July 2009

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Hello and welcome to my blog- on this page I’ll tell you a little about me and how I got to be where I am today.

QUICK BIO

I’m now 53 years old (Crikey! That sneaks up on you doesn’t it?) and I’ve been married for 26 years. I have had a full and varied life and I believe in living life to the full. On leaving school I went to Music College and ended up being a Music Teacher in a posh private school. That lasted for about five years until I realised that being a School Teacher was never going to get me the things I wanted in life, true financial independence and no money worries! I left the profession and bought my own pub with a massive bank loan and my parents acting as guarantors. We were very successful and made quite a lot of money, you could in that business in the 80s and 90s and ran that pub for 15 years before selling it and moving to a village pub in Wales. Soon after that we could see the writing on the wall and knew that the pub business was in inevitable decline so we sold out and bought a house.

I had taught myself how to build web pages so I could build a website for the pub (looking back it was awful!) so I decided that I should have a go at making money on the internet. That was in March 2004 and I have built my online business since then mainly earning money by being an affiliate and also by building websites for other people. Before the Global financial meltdown I was doing particularly well selling Spanish Property in partnership with a couple who lived in Spain. Fortunately (or maybe it was just good foresight) I didn’t totally depend on that business and I was diversified enough for the collapse of that market to not affect me financially too much. All I had to do was get cracking on new markets, of which there are thousands of opportunities online, which I did and have now easily surpassed my old income in less than two years.

HOBBIES

About 5 years ago just before going on at the Apollo in Manchester
About 5 years ago just before going on at the Apollo in Manchester

I’m still very much into music and perform quite often in public. I play the Piano, Keyboards and the Trombone and play various types of music all the way from classical to pop music. I once made it onto the stage of The Royal Albert Hall!

I also try to stay fit. I’m up at 6:30 every morning and off out on a 5 mile run (7 at weekends!). I find exercising like this suits my personality because I hate wasting time during the day, I love to be busy with my business or relaxing with my Family so I get the exercise out of the way early and by 8:15 or so I’m ready to give some time to my Daughter before school and then get on with doing some work. I also find that I work better when I’ve exercised as I’m more alert and the blood’s moving around my body better.. I also love a weekly game of squash which is the only sport I play since I retired from playing Football (soccer) for the local pub.

Don’t get me wrong here I’m not a boring fitness freak or anything like that! I love a few beers with the lads and can out-drink most of them and I really love my food, especially Italian..

I also love a game of snooker and play twice or so every week. I can’t seem to get a break above 50 these days but you never know… one day…

FAMILY

Our son Alex just before passing out. We're very proud but always a little scared whilst he's out there
Our son Alex just before passing out.

I have two kids, a son Alex, 19, who’s an engineer serving with the British Army in Afghanistan. We’re very proud of him and also a little scared whilst he’s out there. He’s football mad which is probably my fault for taking him to Old Trafford to watch the Reds as season ticket holders throughout his childhood. He was quite clever st school and got through it all without being very interested but once he joined the Army it was like a transformation and it’s so great to see him become the proud independent man everyone wants their son to be. We are fast becoming best mates which is the best thing I could possibly think of..

Katy on the back of our boat in Gran Canaria
Katy on the back of our boat in Gran Canaria

Then we have our Daughter, Katy, 11 going on 30, who’s obviously still at school and a real little Madam. Seriously she’s Gorgeous and a very clever little girl with a mind of her own and she’s going to seriously break some hearts when she’s older (If I haven’t warned them all off before!  ♥ )

She says she’s either going to win the X-Factor and be really famous or become a teacher. If she isn’t famous I think I’ll have to teach her Internet Marketing so she can keep the business going when I’ve got my feet permanently up! (Don’t really think that will ever happen. As long as I’m fit and well this is the best job in the World and I can’t see me ever getting fed up of all the cash it generates!)

My Wife Kath said to me that I’d die a slow painful death if I put a photo of her on here so I’d better not if I don’t want to employ a personal food taster. Suffice it to say that we have been together since we were 17 and she’s my best friend.

So now you know more or less everything about me. I’m not spinning you the hard luck stories so many marketers out there do.. I have been pretty successful at whatever I have done and will continue to be. I know what works and I know all I have to do is stick to what works and ditch whatever doesn’t work. It’s a very simple rule to live by and I’m more than delighted with the way everything has turned out.

What I will say though is whatever I know about the internet I have taught myself. I haven’t been on any courses or seminars… Ten years ago I was too busy running my first pub to be interested in computers. I first bought one so I could save some money by printing my own menus and price lists for the pub. I had to get my brother to show me how to turn it on! I guess what I’m saying here is this isn’t rocket science and you don’t need to be particularly clever to be successful online. It’s basically no different than having a High Street business. You have to find a good product or products then put it in front of people who may be interested in that product – That’s it! The main difference is it’s much much cheaper to do this online than it is in the real world.

We all know everybody has a hard time believing photos these days so below there’s a short video of our cars.. I didn’t even blur out the number plates I’m that transparent!!

Hope you enjoyed my story, please come back often and see what I’m doing. I’ll be testing out the latest products as they appear and I’ll be able to give you my humble opinion on them.

cheers,

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