How the 1920's changed my life. . .

. . . despite the fact I wasn't born until 1976.

Dear 1920's Fan,

My name is Jesse.

Hi, I'm Jesse. This is the history of this website.

Maybe you're wondering how a guy in his early 30's, living in North Idaho, came to build a website all about the fashion and music of the 1920's.

Well I guess I've always loved jazz. It was a love given to me by my grandpa, Lewis Bliss.

Like most kids my little brother Nick and I would visit our grandparents every summer.

Every morning at 6AM sharp Grandpa Lew would wake us up blasting jazz tunes through his High-Fi stereo.

Sure, it was a little annoying.

But by the age of 6 my brother and I could name Miles Davis by the subtle vibrato of his trumpet, or John Coltrane by the power of his sax.

My grandpa taught me to revere the discipline of musicians.

And as I learned more about the history of jazz, I became intrigued by the 1920's as the turning point of modern music. . .

. . . but most of all, I came to love the 1920's because of it's sense of individuality and style (speaking of style. . . that's my Grandpa Lew as a young man on the right).

Lewis E. Bliss ~ 1944 Van Nuys, CA

I guess I've always admired people who stand up for what they believe in, face danger head on, and pursue their dreams in spite of fear.

People like Coco Chanel, Henry Ford, Louise Brooks, Charlie Chaplin, and Al Capone hold a special spot in my heart because they lived by their own creed and pursued their passion despite the risk.

Since I was a little kid, I've always had a passion, reading and writing. I got my degree in literature from a small liberal arts school on the coast of northern California.

When I graduated, my small family and I headed out to make it on our own. . . to Idaho of all places.

I had intended to pursue my PhD in literature and become a college professor, but necessity has a way of changing plans.

I ended up taking a career leadership position on a wildland fire crew in Coeur d'Alene.

My career, while lucrative, consumed me, my time, my energy, my time, my passions, my life.

Jesse Boland July, 2003 Idaho

I returned home after a particularly long and grueling fire to find the house dark. . . and my wife and 7 year old son gone.

The note read that they couldn't take me being gone so much. 7 years had passed like nothing and I found myself alone, in Idaho.

It's hard to say it now, but I really believe. . . that's the day the light finally went off in my head.

I knew I had to figure out a way I could get my passion for life back. I needed to figure out how to restore relationship with my family. And I knew I had to change what I was doing for a living.

I didn't really know what else I was qualified to do.

I had to figure out a way I could pursue my passion for writing and turn it into an escape plan from my career. A career I had allowed to take over my life, and drive a massive wedge between me and my family.

I started looking and studying ways other people had made it on their own. I read a lot about people like Babe Ruth, Charlie Chaplin, Al Capone, and Coco Chanel.

There was a common thread that ran through all of their stories. . .

They were people who never settled for less than what they were capable of. They pursued their passions with unstoppable force, and ironically, they all got their big breaks in the 1920's.

So there had to be something kinda special about the Roaring Twenties right?

I think every decade has it's share of folks who really define their time in history, the 1920's just seems to be ripe with people who really made their mark on the history books.

Because of those jazz history lessons my Grandpa Lew gave me when I was a kid, the 1920's held a special place in my heart.

Grandpa Lewis Over Hawaii ~ 1947

He had taught me to pursue my dreams. . .

. . . he too was a dreamer after all, that's Grandpa Lew flying his plane over Hawaii during World War II.

After the war, he went on to become a pilot for TWA, and flew 747 jets all over the world.

I decided I needed to figure out a way to turn my love of writing into a living that would eventually allow me to quit my career as a firefighter.

That's when I began searching for a solution. . .

I knew what my goals were:

• I wanted a career that would allow me to work from the comfort of my own house.
• To wake up every day feeling excited and passionate about what I was doing that day.
• To earn enough money to pay the bills, and enough money left over to spend at least 3 months out of the year with my son.
• A flexible lifestyle that would bring me happiness and allow me to finally reach my potential.

Those were my goals.

Now the easy part ;-)

I just had to find a real way to turn my dream into a reality. I started browsing the Internet looking for freelance writing careers I could do from home. Obviously, that turned out to be totally fruitless.

Then, late one night, I ran across an advertisement for something called Site Build It!. . . SBI! for short.

They said I could actually build a website that would pay me for writing about my passions, skills, or hobbies.

I didn't understand, a website that will pay me to write about stuff I like?

It sounded cool, but it just didn't make sense.

I knew less than nothing about building websites and I had absolutely no clue how the Internet worked, but I decided to look deeper because I was intrigued and it seemed like exactly what I was looking for.

They said the SBI! program would help me find the exact topic I should build my website about. . . and exactly how to make money with my website once I began building it.

I have to admit, at first I was mostly intrigued by the fact I could make money at home from a website, but the concept about writing about a subject I really love excited me.

SBI! explained that making money was a natural result of generating traffic to your website.