About me retiring in Hawaii...
... and how I made a website about Windows XP
The following information is about me.
Everything about me is not what it seems. For example, my name is Flynn Wood and I was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. Although I have a haole (caucasian) name, you can see I'm of Hawaiian descent.
After being away in the mainland for the past 30 years, my wife and I retired on the island of Kauai where my mother was born and raised.
I started my career ...
working with computers by accident in 1960 when there were not many computers yet.
I was looking for a way to support my family while getting a college education by finding a job on the swing shift.
A friend suggested I go to Sawyers School of Business in Los Angeles, CA. where I was living at the time and enroll in their I.B.M. Tab Operators course.
Little did I know this was going to be my career because I enjoyed it so much.
After finishing college at Long Beach State College with an accounting degree, I decided to remain in the computer industy.
I was getting ready to transfer from the computer operations department to the programming department at Blue Cross when a company called Amfac in Hawaii hired me to move home.
After six years, I moved back to the mainland and continued to work on mainframes as a programmer analyst and systems analyst at Fortune 500 companies.
Personal Computer early years
A few years after moving back to Southern California, personal computers were starting to appear on the scene in 1977.
I opened a computer store called Computerland in San Bernardino and got my feet wet as an entrepreneur and learned a lot about how to deal with people in the retail environment.
I started selling IBM Personal Computers and Apple II computers to homes for personal use, businesses and school districts.
I sold the computer store after 3 years and went back to work in the computer industry but this time using personal computers with mainframes.
I started using databases that ran on personal computers as well as mainframes such as the Oracle database and Microsoft SQL Server database.
Starting at Microsoft
I moved from California to Seattle, WA. and started working for Microsoft at Redmond, WA. in 1995.
The Windows operating system was just beginning to take off and becoming popular as a high end mainframe operating system.
At the same time, Microsoft was introducing Windows 95 as their new operating system for home use and it took off.
After working at Microsoft for eight years, I worked with all the Windows operating systems from Windows 3.0, to Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.
Needless to say I learned a lot about the Windows operating system as well as the other Microsoft products like Microsoft Office, etc.
Retiring in Hawaii
My mother passed away in 2003 so I came home to handle the funeral arrangements. An opportunity came up so that I could retire on Kauai and move back home.
Upon retiring, I needed to supplement my social security retirement because it just wasn't enough of an income for my wife and I to pay all our expenses as well as handle emergencies and eat out once in a while.
I knew I wanted to work with my computer since I have many years of experience and enjoy working with computers.
Since the internet is worldwide and you don't have to invest a lot of money to get started then it seemed to be the most logical way to get started earning income.
Although I worked in the computer industry for many years I never built a web site and I had no clue how to get started.
So I started doing research on the internet to see if there was anything I could find to help me get started in learning how to build a business on the internet.
The Solution...
... is so simple. I wonder why it took me so long to figure this out: Retire at what you love! I'll show you how I'm doing it.
As you can tell my passion is computers, but you can do what I'm doing with any passion, hobby, skill, area of expertise... whatever it is that makes you happy. And you can do it in your spare time!
In my research, I stumbled across SBI which stands for Site Build It! It helps you to turn any hobby, passion or skill into a viable online business.
You probably don't even realize that almost any topic can make money with a website.
Build a website? Exactly. You might think since I know computers that it would be easier for me. Well, I have to break that bubble.
The key is not your computer knowledge that's important but your passion, hobby, skill, area of expertise or whatever makes you happy.
You need no programming skills or web design knowledge, no business and no product to sell. Just bring your brain and motivaton.
SBI has all the tools you need, and they take you by the hand and teach you step by step how to use everything.
They help you find the perfect topic for your site, to build it, to get traffic to it, and then they even teach you to make money with it, no matter what it is about.
Have a look at the Video Tour to get an idea of how it works (or the Quick Tour if you're on dial up).
And have a look at this: hundreds of successful SBI websites, built by normal people like you and me. All these sites are in the top 1% of the most successful sites on the web.
You can also see that there is a staggering variety of topics that people have turned into profitable websites with SBI.
I started the very website you are on right now in January 2008 and it started earning money later that year. And all the time I'm just writing about something I love and I am genuinely helping people. How much better can it get?
Yes, in the beginning it is a lot of work. But keep in mind that doing something you love never feels like work. And you can do it in your spare time. YOU set the pace.
The main thing is, it's totally risk free. SBI has a full money back guarantee. They're happy for you to try it out to see how you like it.
How do I make money? At the moment, mostly with advertising. You probably saw the links throughout the site that say "Ads by Google". Every time someone is interested and clicks on one I make money.
There are countless other ways to make money with a website: create your own egoods to sell, sell other people's products for a commiission, get paid for leads and referrals and more. SBI shows you how to do all that.
This is such a popular question that I thought I'd show you how I built this website.
You can get some more ideas from what other SBIers are doing. Just have a look at the case studies.
People wish they could do something like that: escape the 9 to 5 drudgery, travel to Oz or see the world, do what they have always been dreaming of...
Well, you can, so what are you waiting for?
Try SBI - because if I can do this, you can!
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