Who Am I? (the very long version) Click here for the Short Version

My name is Tony. I live in South Florida, in Delray Beach. I worked as a computer programmer and manager for 17 years, mostly in Dallas Texas, and career-wise, they were not all happy years. I loved the work in the beginning because I liked to develop software and make hard tasks in the office into easy automated tasks. I became disenchanted with software development because of the politics; its not just as simple as someone needing software and you “just writing it”.

Around 1990, I got into a marketing business before the Internet was as mature as it is now. I worked it hard for 2 years, but it didn’t work out for me then because it didn’t “play to my strengths”, but I didn’t realize that back then.

Ironically, in 1994, I got a job as a manager with a marketing company. The job was to develop their software and manage their I.T. department. It was an exciting job for about 2 years, but unfortunately for me, politics reared its ugly head in that job in the 3rd year, so I decided to resign.

My entrepreneur-fires were stoked again though, so I quickly found another business opportunity in 1998 which turned out to be a rip-off that cost me about $3,000. Back to work I guess.

From 1998 on, I had a series of jobs that I was over-qualified for. I decided that management had too many politics for me and I just wanted low-key work as a developer. In between those jobs though, I decided to start my first Internet business.

To make a long story shorter, I had a bad idea from the start. I’m not a game-developer, but I succeeded in creating the most boring game ever (I can laugh about this now), and worked furiously to sell it on the net. I sold about 30 copies for $10 or $15 dollars, but it wasn’t nearly enough to recoup the $3,000 or so that I had sunk into the business. However, there was a silver lining…

On the way to losing another three grand, I learned about several ways to advertise that did not work. I did find one way of advertising that is the key to my business success today. I also discovered that anyone can use affiliate programs to supplement their website and their income. I basically slapped a few advertising banners onto the game website and lo and behold I made a few affiliate sales! $75 of income for doing almost nothing. Unfortunately, my mental state wasn’t right at the time. I saw myself as a three-time failure because my game (the original thrust of this business) didn’t sell well. I dropped everything, website, advertising… everything. I figured I was finished in business. Big mistake on my part. This haunted me for about 3 ½ years.

I focused on jobs that were going nowhere and decided that maybe my lot in life wasn’t so bad. If you had asked me on May 23rd of 2002, “Tony, why don’t you start a business?”, I would have basically given an answer that would have meant “I can’t. I’m a three-time business failure. I have no chance.” But I didn’t realize that beneath that layer of loser-dom, the fire was still burning and I had acquired all the knowledge I needed from the last business experience. I just needed the right attitude and “the spark”…

On May 24th of 2002, I got that spark.

A new manager had come into my company a few weeks earlier, and I had to report to him. Basically, he took a condescending attitude towards me from day one and also gave me grade-school level assignments to complete that were so far beneath my abilities that it was a joke. This burned inside of me for a few weeks and on May 24th, he caused me to have to re-do 4 hours of redundant work from scratch, and also delayed the start of my Memorial Day holiday by dragging his rear end when he needed to sign off on my work. As I left the office, I vowed that I was going to do something about this. But what?

On the way home, I realized that changing companies wasn’t the answer. I was bored in the last 3 jobs I had. I realized that being a manager wasn’t the answer. I hated the politics and the abuse that managers had to take by being expected to work many extra hours without being paid for it. I only had one choice. I had to become my own boss and create a business that would airlift me out of these jobs. As I told several people, “I don’t care if it’s selling stuffed teddy bears at a flea market!”

After buying a Home Business magazine and going through it all weekend, I scratched off all the things that required a large capital investment. I had about $1,000 I could commit. That was it. Of the few things that were left, there were some Internet opportunities. What bothered me about all of them was that they expected you to “put all your eggs in one basket”, meaning that if whatever they had didn’t sell, you were stuck. I wanted flexibility. I started thinking about the affiliate marketing I had done 3 ½ years earlier. I had a small amount of success then, but I never followed through. I decided to create a mailing list website, join other companies free programs, and market other products through it. It took about a month to fully setup everything.

The mailing list sales topped out at about $30 per day, which was OK, but in only 4 months, I made $25 more per day by marketing other companies’ products. Next month it was $40 per day. I re-dedicated the business and two months later it was $110 per day. Eventually, I averaged more than $300 per day. The amazing thing I noticed early was that the associated company handles support, shipping, product development, etc. All I was doing was referring people to a website in search engines. Once this was setup, I didn’t have much work to do. I’d wake up in the morning around 10:00, without an alarm clock, check my sales for the day, and check my advertising, which took about an hour. I was done working until maybe 7:00 PM when I’d do it all over again for another hour. This gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted during the rest of the day.

I moved out of the crummy little apartment I had in April, and moved into a townhouse in a secluded part of Delray, 2 miles from the beach. The beach is actually pretty empty on most weekdays, which is when I go, while most people are working. To maintain this lifestyle, I have to work for a total of 2 hours per day. Does this sound too good to be true? Sometimes, I myself can’t believe it. I guess the only proof can be offered by my friends or anyone that hangs around me and knows that this is all true.

I don't consider myself "an expert" at Internet marketing. There many areas that I haven't gotten into yet, and some areas that I've tried and have had no success with. I don't think someone has to be an expert to make money on the Internet. I've found that if you learn how to do 2 or 3 things decently, the sales will definitely start coming in. The hardest thing I've ever done on the Internet is GETTING STARTED, which many people deep down are afraid to do.

I decided to build this website because people are always asking me how I did it and what can they do. This way, I can answer everyone's questions more efficiently and benefit from referrals as I will show you how to do this further into this website. This site can provide you with a skeleton for a successful internet business. It is up to you to provide the flesh and blood of your own initiatives and ideas.

Your lifestyle can be whatever you want if you decide to first believe it, then take action.