Interview: Grandma Debbi finds the Internet

Who is Debbi? Former Financial Manager working for the US Government. She’s a collector of memorabilia. She keeps ribbons, bows, dried flowers and the next logical step for her was Scrapbooking online! She has always had a love for photography and still remembers having one of those old Brownie cameras and using flash cubes.

For anyone who doesn’t know what flash cubes are, here is an image.

Note from Loes: I can still see my children hopping around Grandpa, “can I see, let me see, grandpa? So used to watch the picture just made of them. But grandpa had an SLR camera with photo roll and a flash cube on top. Very sophisticated, instead of one flashlight this cube turned around 4 times. After that, you could throw it away.

I have sent a list of 25 questions to Debbi and asked her to pick out 10, these are her answers 🙂

62. Although my profile says I joined in 2011, I really didn’t jump in until after I retired in late 2013.

I’m working on several which isn’t necessarily a good thing because every moment you spend away from your site(s) is time/money lost. One of the things I’m working on is children’s books teaching geography and tolerance for others that are different than you. Of course, the pressure from my daughter regarding scrapbooks for my grandbabies (3 of hers) is always ongoing. Click on the banner to visit Debbi’s scrapbook.

After the normal bills that everyone else has, I’d say, I spend on others
(both humans and animals). I have a weakness for abused children and animals. So many needs out there, you just have to do the best you can. I try to think – if I can make a difference to just ONE child/animal……. I’m also dangerous near craft or bookstores, though.

My (ex) mother in law is 88 and still at her computer. She’s my role model. In 25 years, I’ll be 89 and I want to still be at my computer, hiking, kayaking, and reading. I can’t imagine sitting and just watching the clouds for any length of time. Besides, it drives people nuts when I watch the clouds too long. I’m always “seeing” formations that no one else seems to see. I prefer to think it’s creativity vs insanity. LOL

Yes, back in Jan 2014. I was SO excited. It was with WA. I knew how to spell blog but had never done one until it was a “task” in one of the beginning lessons. Preparing presentations for Generals seemed like nothing compared to a blog. YIKES! It was going to live on in cyberspace forever and I couldn’t wait to tell my kids what I did. Whenever I told anyone that knew me and what I did for a living, they thought a blog should comparatively be nothing and laughed at me 🙂 Hey, Generals forget what your briefing was about, blogs live forever.

The hardest part for me is reining in all my thoughts. At any given moment, I have a million thoughts and ideas going through my head. To get all of them together and written down in a logical, cohesive, understandable way is another thing. I have notes everywhere – on my desk, by my bed, in my car, in my purse…… It’s the focusing in on one thought at a time and getting it written down that’s difficult.

I’d tell them to just BE REAL. Use your own voice. Everyone is unique and that is a good thing. Sometimes people can hear a lesson from 5 different sources and only 1 will make it through their internal filters. You can be that ONE.

Another thing is that I often see people come on board at WA and immediately want to know why they haven’t made money yet. You must give the process time. It doesn’t happen overnight. I know everyone wants instant gratification these days, but all things of value take time.

I like it quiet so I can hear my thoughts. As a child, there wasn’t a lot of ruckus with siblings or many distractions. The only time there was a lot of noise is when I was misbehaving. Well, now that I think about it, that was pretty often. 🙂 I still like it quiet.

Not being serious about college when I was very young. I did go to college right out of high school but it wasn’t to study. Can you spell freedom??? LOL. I told you I was a “challenging” child. Only when I became a single mother of 3 did I realize that I needed a degree. It was the only way to make a better life for myself and my kids. I was already working a full time and part time job. I had to sign up for 2 classes in order to get a grant (which I needed). That meant that one – my oldest son had to grow up faster than he should have because I needed his help and two- I wasn’t able to devote enough time (in my eyes) to my kids. I didn’t sleep much but we all survived and we’re all close.

I get angry when I see my hard earned tax dollars going to people that are fully capable of working for a living but CHOOSE not to. Some people are truly disabled and I have NO problem helping people when they are down and need a hand up. We’ve all been there but don’t come to the store with your Gucci bag buying steak and pay with MY tax dollars while I’m carrying a Wal-Mart handbag and buying hamburger because it’s all I can afford. Yep, touched a nerve there. Of course, Gucci isn’t my style anyway……. 🙂

You are never too old to start something new. A lot of our members are starting a second career. They go back into the school banks to learn online marketing. Our training is specially developed for starters. However, advanced internet marketers can also benefit from it, they only go faster through the material. Click here to read more about the content of the training.

Imagine what you can share on a website. You can share photos, stories, I bet you have a lot of those. You can share your knowledge and your expertise. Blogs are forever! You can also build your own business on a website. Anything is possible and we have exactly the right course for you to start.

Comments

Interview: Grandma Debbi finds the Internet — 10 Comments

swangirl on October 28, 2018 at 12:19 pm said:

I love Debbie’s fun, multi-faceted personality coming through. It is clear she has lots of varied interests. That is the beauty of affiliate marketing, we can build a business based on any of our interests. If we decide to try something new, we can start a new website using the knowledge we have already gained, and quickly be up and running in an entirely different niche. Everyone from students to grandparents can start a business online with the right training. Debbie is a good example of this. She can take her personal interests and create a website to share those with the world.

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- Loes on October 28, 2018 at 1:28 pm said:
  
  Thanks Jessica, I love Debbi’s positive attitude too 🙂 Yes, I you are right! However, I got carried away a bit, with 8 websites.
  
  Loes
  
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Zayn Hiew on October 28, 2018 at 9:52 am said:

Hey Loes,

Debbi is the living legend in the blogging world, and the interview has further inspired me to become a better blogger and as a person. Her advises are practical and down to earth.

No doubt, Blogs are forever, and you live with it. But if you ask what l would do after 25 years, l would have to start thinking about it now.

Thank you for sharing this wonderful interview with us.

Best wishes.

Zayn

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- Loes on October 28, 2018 at 10:44 am said:
  
  My pleasure Zayn, 25 years from now would made me 83. I have people among my internet friends who started their blogging career at that age.
  
  Loes
  
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Jim on October 28, 2018 at 9:45 am said:

Hi Loes. I must admit I was slightly confused at first. I didn’t really know where your blog was going. But that was probably my fault for reading it on my mobile and not the PC. I seem to lose a lot of information on the mobile. But I get it now. What a fantastic person Debbie is. Starting an online business in your sixties is never easy, I know because I decided to try. I can’t wait to read more of your ‘intetviewd’. What a fantastic way to utilize a web site. I can_t wait to get my online business going. Thanks for your fun article. Jim

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- Loes on October 28, 2018 at 10:48 am said:
  
  Thanks Jim, I was a bit earlier, I started at 54. Debbi has for sure a powerful personality and I am very glad our paths crossed a few years back. You can follow all published interviews on this page.
  
  Loes
  
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Rika on October 28, 2018 at 9:44 am said:

Hi Loes,

It does not matter what age you are, you can become successful online. Even if you don’t want to be successful online you can still have a ton of fun on the internet. I love your interview with Debbi. It seems like she is having a ball with all her online projects.

Old age can be a very lonely time for some. You retire and suddenly you have all this time on your hands. At first it is fun but as the years pass you starting to get bored. Most people don’t have the financial resources to explore the world when they retire. Some can barely survive.

I can think of nothing more rewarding than starting an online project even if it is just a hobby. It is also important to connect with an online community like Wealthy Affiliate. The yearly subscription is a bargain and even better if you can get it as a Black Friday deal. There are even means inside Wealthy Affiliate that will pay for your yearly subscription.

Thanks again for a great post!

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- Loes on October 28, 2018 at 11:03 am said:
  
  I love the opportunities on the Wealthy Affiliate platform that you are able to earn your monthly fee, this makes the hosting, developing, and monetizing a website even more attractive than ever. I believe too that Debbi has a lot of fun online:) Thanks Rika.
  
  Loes
  
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Sukumar Thingom on October 28, 2018 at 9:36 am said:

Can’t agree more with Debbi when she says the most difficult part of the writing process is getting all the thoughts going inside the head down on paper (or computer screen) in a logical, understandable way. All the thoughts and ideas crisscrossing and often times in total contradiction of one another, I have always found it challenging to organise them to create a post. But therein lies the thrill too. I have too fertile an imagination that I can fly off the trajectory and get myself all muddled up. On the brighter side, during the process of creating a post, I sometimes get ideas for potential blog topics completely different from the one I was writing. I also love when Debbi says to be real and to use our own voice in writing. As beginners, we often tend to get lost in the noise and assume a confused voice that does not entirely agree with our personality. Personally, it has always been a quest to find my own voice in my writing. Thanks for a lovely interview, Loes.

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- Loes on October 28, 2018 at 10:42 am said:
  
  Thanks you Sukumar, this is really an impressive interview, and an eyeopener to the writing part of a blog. Have you read the other interviews too? You can find them here.
  
  Loes
  
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