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Why I Write About Great Gear To Get You To Nowhere... Reliably.
How many times have you had someone ask you why you like to camp? If you're like me, you might have thought, that's kind of a goofy question. It's about beauty, peace and being a part of nature. It's about getting back to our roots, and ok, smores. ;-) Well maybe it's not completely about smores, but they help. But seriously there's something about waking up to the sunlight filtering through the trees without an alarm clock blaring in your ear. Food tastes better when you actually take the time to taste it before you swallow because you have the time to enjoy it, even if it's the same thing you usually eat at home. There's the people you meet that may be total strangers at first but are probably some of the friendliest and most generous you'll come across. Then there's the campfire... There's something primal and seductive about staring into the red embers of a campfire that seems to have a life of its own. I've always liked to camp, hike and travel. I think it all started back when my mom and dad would save up their vacation time over the course of the year so that our family could all go on a 2-3 week vacation during the summer. I consider myself extremely fortunate because I was able to see a good portion of the fifty states as well as some other countries. So you could say camping, hiking and traveling have been a part of me since I was a grade schooler. Over the years I started to learn an appreciation for quality things that "worked right" and "peeved" at things that... well, let's be honest, were junk. Great things are intuitive, easy-to-use, and possess a quality feel that makes it hard to think about being without them. Where junk is the opposite, and much easier to consider disposable or as "make-due" gear. Investing in good camping and/or hiking gear is like meeting someone that seems familiar, and then quickly becomes a great friend. Whereas wasting money on poor quality gear is more like wearing scratchy wool underwear to a toga party... you're not comfortable or happy with them, but removing them isn't exactly a great idea either. ;-) Quality gear keeps you coming back. Like my Gore-tex Head jacket, which they don't make anymore, that I bought 10 years ago and hasn't let me down (although one snap did pop off) and is one of my favorite pieces of outdoor wear. Someone with a lot of experience put so much thought into that jacket that it's almost perfect. From the pre-bent elbows, to the pockets that are ideally located where my hands fall to rest at my sides, to durable material and zippers that keep zipping. The jacket just works and works well. As quality is important to me, I tend to apply this philosophy to most areas in life. After having 5 mediocre cars over the span of 4 years I finally bought a used Honda CRX Si with 67,000 miles on the odometer. I drove that car for 10 years and sold it with some emotional difficulty at 225,000 miles, and that was only because rust was becoming an issue. Even though the CRX wasn't as comfortable to sleep in as a tent, I found out during a torrential rainstorm that left 3 inches of standing water inside my previous "bargain" tent, that it was definitely drier. Just for reference, this isn't a good way to impress a certain girl you may happen to be dating at the time. Don't ask how I know this... While the girl and I may have gone our separate ways, I did learn something from the experience... only date women that don't mind getting wet, cough, cough... I mean quality equipment can more than pay for itself in satisfaction alone. ;-) So along the way, right or wrong, I started to expect gear and almost anything I invested money in to meet or exceed my standards, as I think most people do. Otherwise quality wouldn't even be an issue and we'd still be sleeping in our covered wagons under the stars. Freedom... I loved college, it gave me a sense of freedom I hadn't known before. Although I had classes and commitments, I still felt free to pretty much enjoy life as I pleased. Even though I'd always been a hard worker and had been known to hold two jobs at once while attending two colleges at the same time, the jobs I had had previously were always flexible to my schedule. So you can imagine what going from that sense of freedom to graduating and getting a "real" job was like. One or two weeks vacation a year seemed short after having whole summers off (from school at least). My schedule was rigidly set for me. I realized I wanted to take control of my future and set my own hours, decide how much I made, and have enough flexibility to take two months off at a time to travel, camp and hike if I wanted to... I wanted freedom. Well in order to do that I needed to find something I could do to earn some money that was flexible and could pay me no matter where I wanted to live, so that I wouldn't be tied down to a certain area. Since working a standard job didn't allow that I started to think outside the box a bit. "You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want." What I learned... Obviously, what I needed was something flexible. I wanted the flexibility to be able to live anywhere. I wanted something where I determined how much I would get paid. I also wanted to be able to set my own hours and schedule. Well you probably guessed by now, one of the ways I decided I could live that lifestyle was by starting a website. So I started my first website... Well let's just say that although my first site eventually saw some traffic, it wasn't enough to write home about. "You miss 100% of the shots you never take." So I went the usual route and bought course after course about "How To Make Money Online". Well as you probably know most of those courses fall far short of what they promise. After a few years I hadn't made much of anything. So I got a job. I started working 12 hour days, throw in 2 hours of drive time to and from work, a rotating night/day schedule depending on the week, working alternate weekends, and then add in overtime and I was exhausted. So I found another job... My pay went up but guess what, with drive time I was still working 50+ hours a week, better but I still only got 2 weeks off per year. At least I'd saved some money. I did some more homework... Talking with and researching successful people taught me something. Nothing is ever impossible... Unless someone believes it is. And that only makes it impossible for them because of their belief system. 80% of success is belief and persistence. The other 20% is applying proven strategies, and improving those strategies, until you get what you want. After all if there's something you want to achieve, chances are there are other people who have done it before you. Why not save the time and frustration of trying to reinvent the wheel when you can learn it from them. I assure you, you can do it. The trick is finding the right person to teach you... "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." I knew of a program that had started a few years previously, but at the time I was burned out on the internet so I hadn't considered it seriously. As time passed I kept hearing better and better things about this program. So good in fact, that when 1,000 of the websites built with this system were randomly selected from the whole group, 62% of the websites scored positions in the top 3% for traffic of all the websites online. Since I'd known of the owner since 1997 and had even talked to him on the phone twice before I knew he was legit. And I thought I'd give it go. This website would have to be something I loved. After all what would be the point in doing something I didn't like when it was easier to create, follow-through with, and become good at something I did like. "No. Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try." Honestly if you're looking for some "get-rich-quick" type of scheme, this isn't it. It takes hard work and it can take some time. But if you don't mind putting in the time to follow a more-than-proven-system this is the best thing I've found yet. My website currently ranks in the top 2% online. Not a bad start. Here's a couple of comments people have sent me. "I thought this site was outstanding and very informative. There was more information here than in many books I've seen. Thanks!" "outstanding site. spent more time reading than I planned on, but learned ALOT Thanks for putting all this together." So I must be on the right track. SBI! sites are serious sites created by people who love the subject their site is about. They have a passion for it, it's in their blood so to speak, and it shows. They create extraordinary content, which naturally attracts traffic and the money follows. Although I haven't replaced my income yet, I've made more than enough to pay for Ken's program with just one of his monetization techniques, which is much more than I ever did with my last website. So I'm already ahead of where I was before. Ken has more integrity and commitment to others success than I've seen from almost anyone anywhere. His system is called "Site Build It!" (SBI!). It's proven, affordable, and guaranteed to boot. If you've been wanting to get out of the rat race for years but weren't sure how, Ken will show you. It doesn't matter if you don't know much about computers because he takes care of that for you. I'm no programmer, but I'm off to a good start. If you're nervous about abilities or would like some help there are also certified webmasters that can help you. "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." At first SBI! seemed like more than I wanted to invest. Then I looked over everything Ken offers with his system. I quickly realized how reasonable he really is. If I had bought everything he offers through other providers it would have cost me over $5,000... more than I paid for my (CRX replacement) Civic! When I did the math it broke down to less than a cup of coffee, or about 82 cents a day. And that's only part of the system, you also get a step-by-step manual on how to build an effective website. He also offers ALOT of free information too, like the free Affiliate Masters Course. As you'll see if you download it, Ken doesn't promise overnight wealth. Instead he offers honest information on how to make money longterm into the future year after year. "The great aim of education is not knowledge but action." He explains what to do in a straight-forward and easy to understand way. Although I do think he works a little more than he should, his results speak for themselves. But what should I expect from a former doctor that's used to working 24-36 hour stints in the Emergency Room. "The thousand-mile journey starts with one step." So I found the system, the only 'catch' was that I had to be willing to work at it. But as the case studies prove, it works. I've never heard of, or come across any other company that gets the results SBI! does. And I for sure have never seen a page like this anywhere else. What you probably noticed if you clicked on the last link was the amazing variety of topics and niche sites. Who would have thought someone could make money with a site about juggling, cool kids birthday parties, how to plan a baby shower, recipes, radio controlled cars, asphalt, speeding tickets, power washers, Anguilla beaches, or the hundreds of other niche sites on that page? I know it seemed questionable to me at first, so I did some more research... "Some people see things as they are and ask why, I dream about things that never were and ask why not." And what I found shocked me. Even though some of these sites seemed simple, some were making hundreds to thousands of dollars per month. I even talked to one person who had been doing this for awhile and had four sites. When he told me he was making $20,000 per month I almost fell out of my chair. No it wasn't easy, he said he spent many a late night working into the wee hours while making the transition from his 60+ hour a week business to working his website. But now he has a second home in the tropics that he and his family live in 6 months out of the year because he can do his business from anywhere with internet access. "There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself." Just like the freedom I feel when I go camping and hiking, I've started on my way toward another type of freedom. The freedom to live a life I love, doing what I enjoy, and helping others in the process. It's truly Win-Win. I've yet to become financially free, but I've done the hardest part... I've begun. "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream." The support I've received and information I've learned in the members forum area alone makes my investment more than justified. Never online have I met such caring people dedicated to helping one another as I have with fellow SBIers. As I've mentioned above SBI! hasn't made me rich overnight, and I didn't expect it to. I, just like many other SBIers, have started to grow a nice additional income. But all good things start out small. In the beginning it may give you a few extra bucks to get that new pair of hiking boots you've wanted or maybe even a camping tent. And that's a great start... Heck, I like the package so well I gave one as a gift. It might take you several months, or if you have very little time, maybe even a year or two depending on the amount of effort you can invest. But with persistence you, like many other SBIers, can quit your day job. And maybe SBI! isn't for you. If you love your job, that's great. If every one of us did what we loved for a living this world couldn't help but be a better place. At first look this may seem like it's about making money and that's partly true. What it's really about though is freedom, real freedom... Have a look at the special free(dom) prize that comes inside every package of SBI! I'm looking forward to month long camping trips in Canada, the U.S., Europe, Australia and wherever else that sounds good. (Please e-mail me and let me know if you have any suggestions about things to see or do, I might even post them here unless it's a secluded area you'd rather I kept to myself. Let me know that too.) Financial freedom offers true freedom. The freedom to do what you want, when you want, without having to get permission from someone else to enjoy your own life. Freedom from a predefined schedule, freedom of time, flexibility, the freedom to work with people I like and spend time with people I love, and also the most important freedom of all... The freedom to be myself. "A year from now you may wish you had started today." If you only had five years to live... how would you live them? What would you do? Where would you do it? And who would you spend them with? I recently heard about a woman who is in Hospice because of Parkinsons disease. Now this may not seem that unusual until you hear that she is only 18 years old, and up until a few months ago this same young woman was making her plans to attend college. I'm sure you'll agree that it doesn't seem fair... Not one of us knows how much time we have. Live each day as a gift you're given and not as something you're trying to get through. Take time to do what it is you love, and enjoy each moment of your life as much as you can. If there's an area(s) of your life you aren't happy with, improve it until you're satisfied. Small changes here and there add up quickly. I hope you love whatever it is you do. If you don't, have a look around. While I find the web fascinating, I know it isn't for everyone, and that's OK. Do whatever it is that brings you joy and sincerely live your life to the fullest, because you never know when the show will end. Enjoy life and live it with passion. Even if you live to be 100 years old, lifes still too short to waste time being unhappy. "You may have success in life, but then just think of it what kind of life was it? What good was it (if) you've never done the thing you wanted to in all your life? I always tell my students, go where your body and soul want to go. When you have the feeling, then stay with it, and don't let anyone throw you off. Follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be." May you live a life you love, Marc Wiltse P.S. If you have any questions about SBI! you can
ask them.
If you'd like to ask me a question about my personal experience with the system please feel free to
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