“Quit your job and make a living on the net? It’s not just hype — real people are actually doing it.”
Hi, I’m Jim Daniels, founder of bizweb2000.com…
I’ve been making my living online since 1996. That was the year that I bought my first computer, thanks to a modest $300 tax refund.
I couldn’t afford a new one so a friend of mine hooked me up with a used 386 computer with a 40 mb (yep, that’s megabytes!) hard drive.
I had a regular job as a telephone man in Boston. The Internet was just becoming popular and I decided to look into it as a way to make money.
Every night after my 1 hour commute I’d fire up my new PC and research different ways to make money online. To make a long story short, six months later I was earning enough to quit my day job.
I’ve averaged six figures per year in income ever since.
I’ve been featured in numerous publications over the years, online and offline, including these two issues of Entrepreneur Magazine and Opportunity Magazine…
You may also have seen me in these other publications…
– SmartComputing
– Six Figure Income
– Inc.’s 301 Marketing Ideas
– Wealth Building
– Home Business Magazine
– Complete Idiot’s Guide To Starting An Online Business
I’ve been fortunate enough to grow a large, loyal following, and I attribute that to my tell it like it is style.
After all, I’m just an ordinary guy who happens to make a living from the web.
Actually, I’ve always been a private person. To a fault really.
But I’ve been making an effort to open up more. And for some reason, whenever I do share some personal stuff with my readers, they seem to enjoy it.
I don’t know why that is really. What I consider to be boring details of my life, usually generates lots of nice emails from my readers. Many I haven’t heard from in years, or have never heard from.
And that makes it worthwhile. Because online business in about connecting with people. In fact, life is about connecting with people.
So since this is my “About” page I want to open up a little more. I apologize in advance if you could care less about this stuff. Because as you’ll see, my life is relatively boring.
(If this starts putting you to sleep, you’re welcome to click away at any time. I don’t mind, really.)
OK, here goes…
1. I’m gonna be 57 this year. There. I said it. I’m getting old. Well, relatively speaking. I hear from lots of my subscribers who are in their 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s so I have a way to go. And getting older is not so bad really. In fact, the current me always seems much wiser than younger versions of me. And that makes me feel like I’m getting somewhere. But I’m sure I’ll feel that way 10 years from now too.
2. I live for my family. My wife Beth and I have been married 25 years. We have a son in college and a daughter who’s 24 and designing blogs for my clients.
3. I have bills and credit card debt. For some reason some of my subscribers think I’m filthy rich, but I’m not. I have bills like everyone else. Sure, I’ve made a lot of money online but like lots of other people I’ve also made some questionable financial decisions — including some poorly timed real estate investments just before the market crash of ’08. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not broke or anything. I consider myself financially independent, but I’m certainly far from the 1%!
As a result I feel great most of the time despite my age creeping up on me. I take probiotics for my sketchy, lactose intolerant stomach. I take glucosamine and chodroitin to keep my knees and other joints pain-free (old sports related issues). I take high doses of vitamin C with Lysine and Proline to keep my arteries clear. (I learned that trick from a book written by one of my subscribers.) And I take orange peel extract when my occasional heartburn flares up.
5. My favorite hobbies are golf and kayaking. My wife and I usually go hiking and kayaking at least twice a week in the Spring, Summer and Fall. As far as golf, I am totally addicted. I play 2-3 times a week from April to November. And during winter I play indoors 1-2 times a month on a simulator. My long-term goal is to get my handicap down from my current 8 to about 4, then maybe get certified to teach in my spare time. I just can’t get enough golf for some reason.
6. I was in the Air Force and then worked as a telephone man before I started my online career. Yikes. It’s hard to believe I’ve been earning my living online since 1996. When I started out everyone had dial up Internet access on AOL or Compuserve. The big search engines were Yahoo, Lycos, Ask Jeeves and Webcrawler. (If you remember those you’re probably as old as me!)
7. I love technology. I spend a couple hours a day on my laptop. I use my Samsung Galaxy smart phone way too much. I watch golf videos on it. I use it to check stocks. I use it to shop on amazon and ebay. I take memos when things pop into my head..
8. I never went to college. In fact, I hated school. I couldn’t stand the thought of college and had no way to pay for it anyway. So I went into the Air Force instead. And I really liked it. But as far as education goes, high school was as far as I made it.
9. I’m kinda lazy when it comes to work. I’d rather be doing something fun. During the summer months I work as little as 10 hours a week. I can buckle down when I need to, but I’ll admit, I’m lazier than the average guy. Lucky for me, I’ve perfected my Buyer’s List Method over the years. It allows me to work very little in the summer and keep the income rolling in, then 30 hours a week in the winter when I can’t do much outside anyway.
There. Pretty run of the mill stuff. I know.
But it’s my life and I wouldn’t trade it with anyone.
And I mean that.
Jim Daniels
BizWeb eGazette
If you would like to contact me, you can email me at Jim@bizweb2000.com or reach me by mail at:
JDD Publishing
PO Box 25
Oneco, CT 06373