Obviously, you’d want to know a little something about me – why else would you have clicked on to the about-me page, huh?

Well, let’s have at it, shall we. The good, the bad & the ugly…

The Failures

First and foremost, this is a blog about marketing and making a living online. Which means, whatever I do when I’m not marketing and being “productive” online fades somewhat into the background. So, if that’s what you’re interested in – please look towards the end of this page.

Now, let’s look our most positive and optimistic… or something.

Or rather, let’s not – because my journey online has not been a dance on roses, as we say in Denmark. Or perhaps it has been a dance on roses, with a particular focus on hitting all the thorns?

For years and years, I’ve sought some kind of success doing this internet marketing thing everyone and his dog is talking about.

I’ve done this, I’ve done that, then I’ve done something else, and yet another thing. With the caveat, that in hindsight, I’ve really not “done” anything – I’ve tried. And each and every time things got a little hard, took a little effort, took some patience, investment of time… Each of such occurrences resulted in me catching eye of yet another shiny object, yet another miracle cure, yet another used car made up to look like a million dollars.

I was prey… easy prey. And I achieved absolutely nothing. Oh, I received well-aimed, well-meant advice along the way, and I’m sad to say, I took none of it to heart.

I was the quintessential online failure. You could write a book about me, and you would have written every book about every failed onliner.

And, having been a Star Wars fan most of my life (I’m old enough to have seen A New Hope in the cinema upon its release), I never once saw, that what I’d become was a central part of The Empire Strikes back. That iconic scene in the Dagobah system with Luke and Yoda.

Yoda could have been talking about a future me, when he muttered “All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. What he was doing.”

I should have taken to heart the central part of that scene, where Yoda admonishes Luke: “No. Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.”

Or the even more important conclusion to that scene. Where Luke scoffs “You want the impossible”, then turns his back while Yoda DOES the impossible. And Luke exclaims “I don’t believe it” and Yoda returns “That is why you fail.”

The Road Towards Success

So, you might ask, after all this failure, what has changed.

Long story short, it took a plummet into the depths of depression. It took losing my job at a time where there was little chance of getting another one after I was somewhat over the depression. And it took a lot of deep, hard looks into myself, and what I had done wrong previously.

It took seeing some success with a couple of things I had tried my hands on before – but this time with a more focused approach, hanging in there.

Not that I’m making a living online – but I’m at least making some cash each month, that makes things less severe in this family.

And, to push things on, it took a leap of faith. Deciding to become involved with John Thornhill’s Partnership To Success program. Which brings us to where we are right now. This blog. This page. Both things are integral parts to John’s program – and integral parts of why his program has such an impressive, proven track record. Because it focuses on the important stuff, not the shiny stuff.

For me, this brings into play the final, important bit of what Yoda teaches us in that scene I mentioned above. “You must unlearn what you have learned”.

Because, even though I went into this program with the intention of “humbling down”, sticking with the program and nothing but the program, when it came to simply installing and setting up the WordPress blog – I found myself getting “smart” and doing a lot of different stuff, that was not a part of what John teaches. But luckily I caught myself, deleted the blog and started all over again.

Which is where I am right now.

And this blog will be a testament to the process I’m going through, and all I’m learning. And it will be the place where both you and I can watch the journey I’m on, and look upon what I am becoming. From this point on, all I will do is Do. Nothing more, nothing less.

What I do when I’m not Doing

But of course, there’s more to me, more to life, than just this new profession I’ve embarked upon.

There’s all the stuff I do simply for my enjoyment, or for the happiness of those around me.

For instance, I’m a lifelong music-lover and music-nerd. I have an intense passion for the deep emotion music can bring, when it is well-written and well-performed. Music from all over the place, music from various genres from classical through pop and rock all the way to extreme metal and avantgarde electronics, from Pink Floyd to Mayhem, from Kraftwerk to Lingua Ignota. I think it’s safe to say, without music, I probably wouldn’t even be here today. And this love is something I can see in my 3 children also (not that it comes from me alone – my wife possesses an immense love of music also).

When I’m not obsessing over new releases and deep cuts from musical history, I’m an avid cook, recently turned green and vegan. My best ideas normally surface when I’m busy in the kitchen, cooking up some stew, kneeding dough or stir-frying vegetables.

And, just in case there is some time left of my day – a good book on political philosophy or a fantasy/sci-fi novel would be where I would turn. And I would then put on a suitable record to let the music blend into the written word and create its own kind of coherency, possibly even inspiring an email I’m going to write to my list in a day or two.

Life can be good, and it is. Let me at it!