About Me and Finlandinsider

Suomi-Finland...What is that?

Suomi means 'Finland' in 'Finnish.'

My name is Jefferson. Yes, you heard right, like Thomas Jefferson (the third President of the United States). And that makes me an American living in a tiny country village in Vesilahti, Finland.

I think I have it real good. Why? Everything is so clean around me. Country air, E.L.N.L. (Extreme Low Noise Level), and according to annual surveys by the Berlin-based organization Transparency International, Finland is top-ranked among least corrupt countries in the world.

Left to right:
Jeff, Tomi, Aura and Rosa(covering her eyes).

Enter Reality

For me, as a foreigner, I have significant obstacles to overcome. Language, culture, and, hey...like any average person, I need a livelihood and means of income. Overcoming these is what I will tell you about in the following story.

So read on...

After selling our small row-house, I purchased an empty lot and decided together with Aura to...

...Build a house like our Finnish neighbors!

Every family needs a home, so, might as well build a house. (With help of the bank)

All our neighbors are either school teachers or builders by profession. A joke of course! Aura is a school teacher. She teaches kindergarten through 5th grades at a local school here in Vesilahti.

Our triple storey house in 2009

Everyone builds their own house in Finland! Why? Labor costs for professionals in Finland are expensive. Take, for instance, a professional plumber's hourly rate starts at 40 euros/hour.

With the help of friends, supportive relatives, and a local retired carpenter, we built the foundation for our house. !!Phew!! The top half (Where the grey blocks end) is a ready-built or pre-fab part. Our bottom floor is an apartment.

Life is great and it only gets...

But life is supposed to be a smooth sea, C'mon?

Back in 2004, I was politely terminated from my 9-5 job as an Test Engineer in a large electronics firm. With a B.S. in Engineering, and years of previous work experience in that field.

Then... it came to my mind... "Jeff...Do you want to have to trust only in that 9 to 5 job for income. To maybe find out in a few years you get the termination notice? Who does?"

"Or, do you want that 9 to 5 job to consume all your time and energy and have no energy left for your children at the end of the day?"

Being the determined person that I am, I looked for "on-line" opportunities. Some on-line businesses looked appealing, so I joined this and that. Pretty soon, I had the credit card limit at maximum.

Made hundreds, even thousands of "virtual" dollars, and then...sadly...lost all my money in the end.

However...most of us learn through experience. Experience is our most powerful teacher.

My brain was learning the whole time during (it seemed like) endless searching for that right "on-line" or "work-from-home" business opportunity.

So it was back to school for me...Educating my way toward a different future.

Then I found a solution...

First of all, this is what I wanted: To spend time with my family and have income, and not be controlled by the boss.

In 2004, I came across an inspirational e-book guiding me in writing web-pages that work. It was an easy read. The book inspired me to start with 'Myself' so-to-speak, and helped me realize that I have valuable information which others can benefit from.

After the read, I decided to start an 'off-line' business in the yard/landscape service sector, and offer to grind out tree-stumps with a small stump grinder.

I thought: "I'll do something I love, like working outdoors in Finland among trees. That would be fun! Plus, I get to travel around and see sights." Yes, I love that combination. So it never feels like a job.

So I purchased a stump grinder, an ax and chainsaw and started a yard business. I decided to find customers by creating my first yard service website jepp.fi.

To make this web-site really attract searchers, I followed the useful information from the inspirational e-book carefully; then began writing content for my yard service web-site jepp.fi.

Me, being a non-native with limited Finnish writing skill, with the help of my wonderful wife, Aura, translated the English text of my web-pages into Finnish.

...think type..think, type...type...type! Edit, re-edit. Phew!!

Success!!!...

Wait!...

Slow down!

Getting ready-to-buy customers to my jepp.fi web-site was not instant. Creating web-pages with quality information took time. In my case, it took five weeks, or 20 pages.

The end result: Traffic to my pages, plus, I did not have to chase after people trying to get-a-sale, People contacted me for work. Ahh, isn't that what we all would like in our small businesses. Better, yet, I did not pay for expensive yellow-page adds.

The 20 or so pages that I originally wrote in 2004 still score very well with the search engines in 2010. 

Hey, this is working! Life is great, I am getting online orders, making money, and off to work I go! 

"This is easy", I thought...Life can only get better...until...

...Another setback follows!

In 2006, while working my yard service business, I had an accident. After a long day of hard strenuous work, the last tree was to be felled. It was only a small tree, but requiring a special cut to fell it properly.

Saw Saw,,,crackkkk Uh Oh!--The tree went the wrong way and hit a high power line.

Like in 007, explosions and fire! Wow, what a scene! I was standing under the tree at the time. Personally, I suffered no immediate injuries, but my eyes took a beating and the "strain-of-the-moment" encouraged the onsetting of a disease called Retinoschisis affecting the nerve tissue in the eye.

At the doctor's office.

"Am I going blind", I asked the doctor? Doctors in Finland are quite educated, and right up-to-par with current medical technology. I got a simple answer from him. Here are the Doc's words of wisdom: "Just keep on doing what you like."  -In other words...Just go back to work.

The Doctor also did mention to stay away from lifting heavy objects. So, it is time to re-think my future, and think up of an occupation on the lighter side of things.

I thought: "What would I do if it were my last day to live on earth?" Like...if I only had one chance to live again, what would "I" do?

Answer: Something I really like doing -- while spending time with my family.

If I start doing my yard business part-time, what am I going to do with the other half?  Plus...now that I am injured...

Ever had the feeling that you are trapped in your own way of thinking? Ok, that's me.

I had seen success before with my yard service web-site jepp.fi. (read my little Internet Success Story.) So, I could repeat what I already have learnt from building my jepp.fi site. Why not start another web-site and repeat that success.

The idea is...If you see success in one area of life, you can repeat whatever it is you were doing and have the same success again. In theory, at least.

Now I need a fresh idea, to start a new online business. Back to the books again! Of, course I will return to the book that helped show me the path to my previous success.

In January 2008 I came up with a theme for a new web-site. Something I could do with my family, and that I know I would enjoy.

First I subscribed to the full 'Site Build It' program. Here is why? Some of these reasons are my very own personal reasons.

• I can focus on building a successful online business without having to pay webmasters 30 - 69 Euros/hour for technical support.
  
  
• No need to worry about changing Internet Service Providers from year to year. I did that once with jepp.fi! Ugh!! A waste of time.
  
  
• SBI Site Build It seems to care for her customers' success.
  
  
• I wanted a "All-in-One" system which would train me at knowing what my customers wants/needs are. A complete business solution.
  
  
• An online "Guide/Mentor"...who has experienced success already, willingly whispering in your ears, what he has done -- in order that you can succeed at your online business.
  
  

The 'Site Build It' program offers what I was looking for. And it really does help 'You' to do what you love and make money from what you know. All you need is the mind, or "brains", and the "determination" to go forward with your plan.

Everything in life takes action, and work to get there, but ohhh, is it worth it. See what I made with my jepp.fi by updating one page in 2010.

A new project and future. About finlandinsider.com?

With Finlandinsider I would like to show what Finland looks like from the inside.

Finland is to those 'living outside' of the country perhaps cold, mysterious, unknown...

...for those living 'Inside Finland' an idea of what to try...like the best pizza in Vesilahti...and I really mean that...

...or how get the best sauna experience while going to Tampere's 'Rauhaniemi' sauna. This "Doing the Sauna thing" the Expert Way, takes work, but sooo worth it! Plus, you get a fantastic feeling at the end of the sauna routine.

Go from this page: "About Me" to Finlandinsider "Main Page."