Although he has no plans to give up his career, and lose his accrued pension rights, Internet provides a very useful top-up to his regular income, and is preparing way for a lucrative and exciting future.

BizE-zine: Jim, when did you first get involved with Internet?

JW: About 1994 I got into old Bulletin Boards. In 1995, through AOL, I got hooked on meeting people and chatting. Sharing emails with family and friends became a daily event.

It wasn't until 1997 that I realized, since I love being online so much, I might be able to make money online.

BizE-zine: How did your online business come to be?

JW: In 1999 I discovered EBay(TM). Around that same time I met a man called Leo Richardson, a well established EBay(TM) seller. I emailed him and asked about his products. Luckily for me, he answered and we became friends.

Leo literally taught me everything I know about marketing on EBay(TM). He left Ebay(TM) in early 2000 to work for a software company, but I had caught bug! I kept learning from everywhere I could - to enhance my skills as a salesman and a webmaster.

I have come to conclusion that you literally never stop learning in life. Whether in my 'regular job' or online, I am always finding out new things. It keeps it interesting. Now I can help other folks out by answering their questions, like Leo did for me. As my credibility grows, so do my sales - it is a win-win situation!

BizE-zine: What % of your income now comes from Internet?

JW: About 25%. And that's only part time. I post ads on EBay(TM) when I want to, and search for products to sell when I have time. All told I put about 20 hours per week into my online business. Many of my online endeavors are now fully on "auto pilot". I simply place a couple of ads and they do all of work for me.

Every time I check my email there is another sale from one of my sites. I think that this is mark that I must be doing something right.

Not all that long ago I wasn't making all that many sales. I could have easily given up, but this online thing is something I truly love. I have met so many great people doing this, when I really think about it, I would have never given it up. I would miss it and them too much. Making money is like icing on a very sweet cake!

BizE-zine: How long did it take you to start making a profit?

JW: Now this is really going to surprise some people. I made a huge profit my second month on EBay(TM). I found some software that was collectable and in demand. I bought 200 of them at $6.00 each. I sold all of them in only about 3 months and going rate was about $60.00 each! The title was, "The Neverhood". I was able to send those wonderful proggies all over world.

This one experience gave me a lot of knowledge. I had to deal with one stolen credit card, a couple of bad checks, sending through customs, and trying all while to find other things to sell.

Finding those was a VERY lucky break but I did it. And if I can find something of value like that, anyone else can too. Since then there have been some lean months (those in which I was really getting frustrated because as much as I thought I knew, I was still learning things) and there were some incredible months.

In end I made money, kept learning, kept expanding on what I sold, and constantly tried to think of new things to sell, new services to provide, and tried to find new suppliers.

BizE-zine: Have you bought any ebooks or courses on online marketing, and if so, which was best for you?

JW: In years I have been doing this I have read so many Ebooks and have such a large number on my HDD, it's pathetic. There are a couple that end up sticking out as ones I still, to this day, pull out and re-read in order to make sense of things. One great one is Robbin Tungett's "Auction Profits". She really hit a homer with that one.

Another hidden jewel is titled "65 Instant Web Answers" by a lady called Milana Nastetskaya. She tells people exactly how they can build a winning web site on their own without paying someone else thousands to do it for them. In my opinion, it's a must read.

My favorite is Allen Say's "Instant Cash Machines". To this day I go to Internet Warrior's site and open this one to get ideas and to refresh my memory.

I want to add that I also subscribe to several great e-zines from which I also learn a great deal. I would urge people that, as you are searching net for this and that, if you come across a site that really catches your attention, chances are that webmaster knows what they are doing. Subscribing to their e-zine is like allowing them to teach you.

BizE-zine: What has been your most successful tactic for generating traffic?

JW: E-zine ads, by far. A good e-zine ad will really go a long way. By good, I mean an ad for a product with mass appeal in an e-zine with large true optin subscriber numbers that brings lots of quality visitors to your site.

It is a fair bet that Spencer's business will continue to develop and grow as he devotes more and more of his energies to it.

Let's see what he has to say.

BizE-zine: Have you ben involved in any other business or jobs, online or off?

SU: No, I jumped right in to Internet. I haven't had any other jobs. I see this as a full-time occupation.

BizE-zine: How did it all start?

SU: When I was about 14, my Dad worked for Woods Cross City. They needed a web site and at that time very few people knew anything about Internet. I volunteered to build it for them, and although I didn't know much myself, it was a great learning experience.

I ran that site for them, on a voluntary basis, for two or three years, learning new things all time. Eventually, I became too busy to run it unpaid, and they found someone else to do it.

When I started, I hadn't even read a book - I just jumped on in and learned on job.

I was just looking over some old files other day, and in some of them were old design. Yikes! Frankly, I was a bit embarrassed. This was before I learned that web sites were tools. Before I found out important idea that web sites are a means to an end, not an end in themselves.

Given time I made it, it probably wasn't fully as bad as I thought it to be (this was around 1996 or so), but it was still very amateur. I'm just glad its still not around for everyone to see! It just shows you how fast thing have changed.

BizE-zine: How did you move from that early experience to idea that you could support yourself with an online business?

SU: My first successful ventures were creating entertainment sites and selling advertising on them. Greeting Cards, fun pages, jokes, etc.. They were a mish-mash of general audience content and debatable value. But, there was a good deal of money involved, and it got me started.

As ad market started to crash, I realized that I needed to add new streams of revenue as any site that is fully reliant on advertising for money is going to be subject to market conditions - something I am a bit uncomfortable with.

I used my experience as a webmaster to create new tools for webmasters like myself. AdvertisingResults.Net was first service I created, and I have since created several products to sell, and I've also branched out into running my own newsletter.

BizE-zine: Lots of people try to run newsletters online. Tell us a bit about your experiences.

SU: The Uresk Internet Marketing Journal (http://www.uresk.net/imjournal.html) is my newest newsletter. It has been a bit of a struggle to get subscribers (I am used to entertainment industry where we get them buy tens of thousands!) and also determine where they are and what they are looking for. I've found that they are usually all over - some are complete novices, some are just into MLM schemes, some are further along than I am and so forth. Its a bit of a challenge to write your articles (and pick syndicated articles) that can help as many of those people as possible.

One of most rewarding things so far has been feedback I get. When I sent out my first newsletter (with under 200 subscribers), I got about half a dozen replies - all thanking me for sending them newsletter and telling me they can't wait to get next issue. Now I can't wait to SEND next issue! >From a sales standpoint, newsletter fell on its face. I didn't get a single sale. But, fact that several people read newsletter, and benefited enough to warrant letting me know makes me feel good. It also shows that down road, any of these people could become a customer because they trust me and find me generally knowledgeable about what I am doing.

BizE-zine: So what is your long-term advice for would- be newsletter publishers?

SU: Don't go straight for money. Newsletters can be quite lucrative, but if you go into it with mindset of making as much money as possible as quickly as possible, you'll fail. Newsletters take time to grow, and also for your readers to trust and become acquainted with you. Give it time!

BizE-zine: How long did it take your online business to start making a profit?

SU: I didn't buy much to start with! After my first few months, I was profitable and haven't looked back since.

BizE-zine: Have you bought any ebooks or courses on online marketing, and if so, which was best for you?