About 8 years ago (shortly after the birth of my twin daughters, Kaitie and Mandy), I realized that my free-wheeling adolesence was over. I had been in the United States Marine Corps for 6 years, married to my wonderful wife Alicia for 3 years, and had traveled the world as part of my Marine Corps duties.

Life was good. Alicia and I were DINKs (dual-income, no-kids), had plenty of money and free time, we were stationed in beautiful Japan (lots of sight-seeing!), but something wasn’t quite right. I had this nagging voice inside my head telling me that doom was approaching. We had done up a quick new budget once we found out we were pregnant, and although things would be a bit tight with formula, diapers, day care, etc, we knew that we could make ends meet. So where was this feeling of impending doom coming from?

I got the answer to that question one afternoon about 12 weeks into the pregnancy as the ultrasound tech gleefully informed us that Alicia was carrying twins. Being raised by a father who is an accounting professor, my mind immediately pulled up the new budget we had made out. The one that told us we’d be able to make ends meet and maybe have about a hundred bucks left over each month. After mentally doubling the amount of baby formula, diapers, baby food, clothing, bedding, and day care, the actual doom itself descended upon me. There was absolutely no way we’d be able to make ends meet. Not by a long shot. The year was 1998.

In late 2002, as part of a plan that Alicia and I had made out, I left the US Marine Corps after 11 years of service. Although I had had a couple of minor Internet Marketing successes, we were still $180,000 in debt (an $85,000 mortgage, a $35,000 minivan, a $20,000 car, and $40,000 in credit card bills), with no money in the bank, no investments, and another baby (my son Jacob) on the way.

Although I still maintained a part-time job as a contract programmer/analyst for the US Navy for a couple years after that, I had seen the power of internet marketing first hand, and I had dedicated the previous 5 years (since we found out that Kaitlin was actually going to be Kaitlin and Amanda) to the study of internet marketing, experimenting with various techniques, and making not a lot of money, but enough to make ends meet, get the bills paid, and still have enough left over for some fun things.

Since 2002, internet marketing has paid off our cars and our credit card debt, provided income for us after Hurricane Katrina ripped through our town and tried to destroy our lives, and allows me to be at home, with my family, each and every day. It allows me to work when I want to, take time off when I want to, provide nice things to my wife and children, and provides FAR more security to my family than a corporate job in today’s world of corporate scandals and downsizing.

I don’t depend on a company or manager for my livelihood. I don’t depend on someone else in the office screwing up in order to for me to get a raise or promotion. I don’t depend on the CEO of my company to NOT abscond with the pension fund. I answer only to myself, and directly to my customers. If I succeed, it’s because of my efforts. If I fail, it is solely my fault. I don’t work 60 hours a week to make someone else rich - I work 80 hours a week to make myself rich. It’s the American Dream, and I’m living it every day.

This blog is my personal American Dream journal. Here I discuss how to make the move from a corporate job, in debt, and in fear of the future, to owning and operating a network of successful, profitable online businesses. I’ve spent the last 9 years of my life studying internet marketing and ebusiness, practicing it, testing techinques, tracking results, doing joint ventures, making mistakes, and learning from them. It is my sincere hope that you will be able to learn from my mistakes, cut your learning curve, put my advice into practice, and start your online business. All the information here is free for you, because if you have the willingness to TAKE ACTION, you too can very soon be making your living exclusively online.