Who Am I & What Am I doing Here?

A Brief Biography

 

Who Am I and What Am I Doing Here? Well, pretty near a bunch of people have been asking me that for so long, I thought I’d write it down for you!

I’ve led an interesting life, so far. You know the old Chinese adage that states the worst curse you can bestow upon another human being is to wish on them an “interesting life”!

And so far, I think the Chinese weren’t too far off. My life has been seemingly chaotic as well as quixotic, but it has been fun, none the less. It has also been broken down into mainly three branches:

Photography

Real Estate and

Internet Marketing

I realize this seems a strange mix, unless you know my experiences, so let me explain. I started out in high school, in Hot Springs, Arkansas in 1962 (my junior year) as an apprentice photographer for our local town’s studio photographer.

It seemed easy enough, at the time and really all I did was act as the hey boy to Mr. Eckert, a wonderfully funny man, that also happened to be a semi-big name (regionally) photographer that had started out in his career with Olan Mills (in seperate studios, in Shrevesport, Louisiana) and was good friends with him.

Now was Mr. Eckert’s career, dessert days and he had happily settled in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he had family living.

He showed me all around the dark room and even allowed me to under-study him in taking the studio portraits. I soaked up everything he told me. He was a smart, artful photographer, that knew all the tricks of his trade and was happy to share them with a fresh kid like me.

That was my introduction to photography and through these many years, as much as I’ve strayed from the older teachings of my mentor, it would seem the more I cling to his teachings as an adult approaching my dessert days.

I moved from that eclectic beginning on to a much more hectic and spurious career, in photography. First, the U.S. Air Force called me and took me through their training in photography, in Denver, Colorado, then on to their reconnaissance photography squadron, at Barksdale Air Force Base, in Bossier City, Louisiana. I stayed there long enough to learn the techniques of the new darkroom, with all the bells and whistles.

After that photography schooling I went on to Tan Son Nhut, AFB, Republic of Vietnam (now known as Ho Chi Mihn City), spending about five years there, during 1967-68, including the Tet of 1968, as a member of the 460th RECON TECH SQUADRON, again learning the intricacies of the darkroom and Combat News Photography, I gained a new insight into why I wanted a more sedate life and when I left the Air Force, on my return to the states, I went about the quickest way to obtain it, a life of the road as a portrait and commercial photographer, working for a company out of Chicago, Illinois.

It was an exciting life for about twenty seven years, however, it did have it’s drawbacks, such as chaotic paychecks and rigorous national travel. After that many years on the road I yearned for the still life.

That experience finally led me to take a retreat with some old friends in south Florida, I hurried there as fast as my tired old legs would allow me to travel.

We three, close friends purchased a portrait and wedding studio, in Fort Lauderdale, on the Galt Ocean Mile. And settled into to shooting local fare, such as weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvah’s, Quinceañeras, etc., also we established quite an audience for our private and commercial executive portraits.

This was a good place to do this type of work as there were a lot of companies to select from. And finally, we did a lot of commercial photography, such as modeling portfolios and advertising work. It was again very exciting and a wonderful life, but after several years, it too began to give away it’s excitement and glamour.

For the most part models have terrible personalities and corporations tend to be very tough task masters, our end came sooner than I wished, however, because my two partners had been offered a better (for them) opportunity, near their home, around Chicago and after much discussion, they decided to accept the offer!

Offering their apologies and explainations, we all understood and they left and with the studio, being more than I could handle alone and not wanting other partners, or employees, I acquiesced and sold what was left to a local rival that had made me a good enough offer. It was time to move on and then, as always, something else came my way, real estate.

For several reasons, it made perfect sense, just by seeing some of my customers from our studio that appeared very prosperous and seemed to always have a lot of time and money on their hands. I saw this as something that fit right into my two long suits; wanting a lot of time of my own and plenty of money to help me afford the time. BOY WAS I WRONG! What cinched the deal, though, was my friend, that was very successful thought it so good an idea, he thought both of us should go into this endeavor.

The classes were easy and were made easier by having my good friend to participate with me. We took classes together, studied together and took the state exams together and even through the salesman’s and broker’s course, both made almost perfect scores on all the tests; we were made for this career.
 
My problem came in the practice of the career, my first job was with an independent broker that was just at the end of his career and more interested in where he was going to retire and spend his money than in teaching me how to make a living in real estate. I spent my days collecting rents from foreign indigents that frequented his apartments and houses to collecting rents from the swells that rented the snow bird apartments and condos that he owned. He made lots of money, but I found out the collector of the rents, doesn’t necessarily make as much as the owner.

I moved on to a brokerage that sold nothing but FHA and VA foreclosed homes and properties. This was during the heyday of foreclosures with all the savings and loans that went bust. The Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) was our friend and I finally found a way to make a living with real estate, there were only two problems with this method , first, with the volume you had to sell, to make a living, you didn’t have much time for a life and two, there were only so many properties to sell and when the economy started improving there went all the inventory.

Real Estate and circumstance were both telling me, it was time for a change and I agreed!

Combining the enviornment of Florida waning on me with a yearning to return to my home state , I picked up roots and moved back to Arkansas. All was right with the world, I was again in my home state, my parents and relatives close by and a sense of normalcy was again starting to take root.

The real estate business was starting to flourish again, I was beginning a keen interest in computers and the internet and making money from that resource and it’s help in getting me more real estate customers and I found a good, friendly broker. LIFE IS GOOD!

But, I found another key to having more steady successes, in this game of making money, using the marketing of real estate and photography, you need something else to help stabilize your income and that thing I found was Internet Marketing.

It started as a lark, with my inherent interest in computers and the internet, about 1998 or 1999, I discovered internet marketing, first I started selling a few things here and there, just to catch on to what made it tick. Then I thought man this is simple, put up a website with goods to sell, somebody buys it. A REAL MONEY MACHINE!

Reality finally settled in whenever the next attempts at marketing left me almost as broke as a goose. Maybe this wasn’t the cash cow I first imagined it might be. I studied, I swore, I tried to find other marketers that would share good advice. All I found was there wasn’t any good way to accomplish this goal, until it occurred to me.

Look at all these successful people on the internet, and they’re sending me all these emails, maybe they have an answer. For the next four or five years, I bought every e-book and course, known to man. I did them all, then it dawned on me, they didn’t know any more than me, they just had more money (most of it mine, by now) to spend.

It taught me two valuable lessons:

1. Not everyone out there claiming to want to help you can, and

2. Just because you pay good money for something, doesn’t make it worthwhile!

There are many great lessons out there to learn and I’ve learned my fair share, over the years. The overall lesson that applies to marketing, in general and the internet, in particular is that it is a true art form and very little science.

You can quite easily spend $10,000. and receive nothing as you can spend $10. and break the bank with your success! Like all success, it is mainly based around hard work, perserverence and a great deal of luck, as the saying goes, the harder you work, the luckier you become!

It has been an interesting life, so far and I look forward to many more eventfull years

In any case, should you need any of my marketing skills, I am easily reached at my email address, even for questions, at windywinmore@yahoo.com .

Thanks for listening to my ramblings and don’t forget to email me if I can be of service to you…….

Ray Morgan