The Bill Benson Introduction

[billbenson]

I think this is the first time I actually posted in an introductions thread??

Anyway, a brief background.

I received a BS in Electronics engineering in 1980. That makes me old. I spent 10 year as a domestic salesman selling telecom switching equipment (high dollar sort of stuff - a deal was $1M or more) on the eastern seaboard of the US. I then spent 10 years selling the same type of equipment in Latin America. I'm now 95% bilingual - hard to be truly bilingual if you didn't grow up with it.

End of 1999 was the dot com crash for me. I found myself stranded living in a foreign country and no income or career. The way business was done was being changed by the internet, market saturation, and other factors. I was middle aged, no career (other than generic sales), and in a job recession.

In the beginning of 2000 I took a job with a company that primarily sold over the internet. They did and still do very well and effectively only sell via the internet. I didn't fit in, but I could see that the internet was one of the avenues into the future. I only lasted 3 months at that job.

So I bought some books, talked my way into a job with an ex boss as a web designer, and have been doing web stuff ever since.

Today I only write websites for myself. I don't design for others. I sell b2b high dollar products via web sites I have written. I'm good (not great) at most aspects of web design and marketing. I stink at the artistic side.

So dat's my story.

Oh, and if anyone wants travel advice in Latin America or the Caribbean - let me know. I've been everywhere:

Best romantic spot: Bonaire
Best Deal (definately 3rd world but I like it): Dominican Republic
Hate: Jamaica (and one of my best friends is Jamaican)
Central America: It's beautiful and I lived there for year but its to dangerous now.
South America is a different world:
Argentina: Expinsive and a Latin New York IMO
Chile: First world country that mimics California
Peru: Interesting place. A lot to do.
etc.

OK. thats it for tonight

[Paul Elliott]

Thanks for the insights, Bill, and good to "see" you again.

Paul

[cbscreative]

Bill, I'm glad you were able to log in and finally join us successfully. Welcome to the group. We're growing a great community that is becoming even better than the old SBF. I'm going to stop saying this soon I hope, I'm just thrilled that so many of the old gang are joining us here to create what we lost due to mismanagement at our old gathering place.

[vangogh]

Welcome Bill. About time you showed up. We've been waiting you know. Sorry about the issues registering, but glad you're finally able to get in.

I think we just learned more about you in this one thread than we have in all the time we've been chatting with you. Quite a story too. Must have some very interesting stories to tell about your time abroad.

Glad you finally were able to get in. Sorry again.

[Coach Morse]

Hi Bill,
Welcome to SBF!