About me... and how my passion for wine pays my way through University

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when I visit websites that I like, I WANT to know about the person behind the site - and how they got interested in their topic. And that's my intention with this page.

I live in Bavaria, Germany - in front of the beautiful Alps together with my girlfriend Anita. I am studying commercial information technology at the University in Munich.

Many of my student-collegues don't understand why I don't have to frizzle burgers to earn money, pay for my car, vacations etc. When I tell them that I am building websites to earn money...well, most of them laugh. I think most of them simply can't understand how to do it correctly.

Was it easy? No. There were humps just like in life. But I got over them and solved the problems, and you can do it too. How? Read my story...

How I became a wine lover...

I discovered my passion for wine and vineyards in 2006 when Anita and I visited her grandfather in Croatia. He has several vineyards and makes his own wine which he then sells.

Anita and I on Munich's famous Oktoberfest

Am I a wine expert? NO way. I don't know the hundreds (or thousands) of different wine grapes. I have also no idea that a special Pinot Noir had it's most delicious year in say 1956 or so. Heck, I was born in 1984! I just love wine. It's my passion and I love to write about it.

Then, when I am no wine expert… am I a professional writer or what? English is not my first language and this website is in no means free of typos or grammer mistakes (although I have most of the pages proofed by someone who has English as his native tongue). By the way, this page is not proofed. I want this page to be 100% ME :-)

O.K. back to my story about how I turned my passion into a business... (I already own two successful e-businesses, but more about that later).

I really loved the job! I solved network problems, configured network devices and maintained servers in a multi million dollar, hightech data center. I was very proud of my job. And then...

I was fired... Hell or blessing?

Wow!

The following month (unemployed now) really were a bit depressing in my life. It might sound strange but for me it meant the end of the world. To speak from today's point of view - losing my job wasn't the end. It was the beginning of something new… (bigger and better than I ever thought possible).

After around 2 month I recovered a bit, cleaned my mind and decided to move forward instead of burying my head in the sand. And so I decided to go to University (to be honest, I never ever wanted to go to University…but life always has some suprises, right?)

From lost and depressed to my first successful website

Why Croatia? I chose it because my girfriend has ties to the country and we are there every year. We traveled to a lot of beautiful places in Croatia and because of that I have thousands of photos to show and many more travel tips to share.

Click here to have a look onto my first successful site: www.croatia-travel-guide.net

The site has grown bigger than I intended and it is now also generating more income than I ever thought possible (at least from a student point of view).

The site receives several hundred unique visitors every day - currently from around 90 countries. What I find very funny is that I get E-Mails from people who are at the other side of the planet. The Internet still amazes me!

Starting my 2nd site...

With all the knowledge I gained from the Croatia site I was now able to get the Wine Club website up and running successful 10 times faster. It's really so much fun from here!

At first I worked very very hard on the sites until they started to gain in momentum (it's like a snowball rolling downhill and gaining in size). At first the site(s) started to pay for my cell phone, then my car, tuition fees and my vacations. For many people this is not much. But for my current student-life it means everything to me!

How far will the sites bring me?

I have many plans for the future and for new sites. Indeed, I have a third site on planning stage and will start it in spring 2010 - which will also add some more "income streams".

If I look back - I still can't believe what happend since I lost my job. Today I think "So what?" I now have a future to gain, many more topics to write about and a dozens more websites to build.

Is it enough to not need a normal 9-5 job after Univesity? No… not yet. But I am more confident than ever that it is indeed possible to get back control over your time, your finances…your life!

Why YOU should have a website, too?

Where are you standing in your life?

• Are you happy?
• Do you have enough time for your loved ones?
• Are you truly independent?

I know from personal experience that everything is possible. Don't believe me? I can really understand you. In 2007 I was at such a point too. Since then my life has turned litterally 180 degrees. From totally lost to personally fulfilled with a bright future :-)

Do you have a hobby, a passion or experience that others would want? Then you can just do as well...if not better! If you've ever thought about building an online business, but think you don't have the technical ability, well, read my second part.

You really don't need to have any programming skills, web design knowledge or what else. You don't even need to have a product...sounds crazy? I have no product to sell (although I am thinking of writing an e-book about travelling the croatian coast). I just provide information!

I owe it all to this company: Site Build It! It's allowed me to bloom my passion for Croatia and for wine into e-businesses which pay my way through University - all part time.

Click here for my background story how I actually built these sites (and will build even more sites in the future).