My Little Country Music Adventure
... and how I'm building a thriving online business from this adventure
My name is George Appiah, and I'm the one responsible for everything on this website ... all the stuff you've told me you love! I'm also called Kwabenah, because I was born on a Tuesday.
I live in Accra, the capital of Ghana... a tropical paradise in West Africa.
Down here in Accra you're drenched everyday... either by the scorching sun, or by the unpredictable rains.
And it's certainly not the place you'd associate with country music... right? Yet, all the sun and rain couldn't dim my ever-present burning love for country music!
To say I love country music is actually a huge understatement. It's my passion: I eat it. I drink it. I live it. Every moment of everyday. And I started this website to share my passion and to connect with other country music lovers around the world.
But how did I fall in love? If you've got a moment to spare, here's the gist...
In The Beginning There Was Noise
I grew up on a little cocoa farm tucked far, far away somewhere in the Western Region of Ghana. The closest village to our farm was called Wantram, but don't even try Googling it... it's so remote I can't even find it on any map of Ghana.
Back then on the farm, there was no electricity, no television, and certainly no computers or Internet. Our only contact with the outside world was Dad's little transistor radio which he proudly carried over his right shoulder wherever he went.
During this time, Ghana's airwaves had not been "liberalized" yet. That is to say, private entities were not allowed to run radio stations. In fact, there were only two radio stations in the whole of Ghana -- Radio 1 & Radio 2 -- both of them running on Short Wave frequency, and both owned and operated by the government.
And because we were so far away, most of the time Dad's little transistor radio, which was tuned permanently to Radio 1, spewed out nothing but noise! Yet Dad seemed to love the noise so much, as he always carried the radio wherever he went. And no kid ever dared to touch it!
And Then Something Magical Happened
Then one day something strange happened: Dad travelled to Wantram to "town", but he left the radio behind. Dad left his beloved radio behind!
There was an uneasy silence among we the kids that day. We all knew where the talking machine was, but would anyone dare to touch it? Sure, I fell for the temptation! But for some reason, the thing was not talking. Dad must have asked it not to talk to anyone or something.
That evening when Dad returned home from "town" beaming with smiles. This usually meant one of two things: either he had lost all his money (to tricksters) on the way, or he had met some distant relation (and given the person all the money on him).
This time though it turned out Dad had bought a new radio. Actually, it was a radio cassette player! He also bought a couple of cassettes, and strangely enough, all were country music -- stuff like Jim Reeves, Don Williams, Skeeter Davis, Allan Jackson, Willie Nelson -- names that I'm sure he had never even heard before.
Obviously Dad didn't buy this new machine for his own use, which also explains why he continued to carry his old and bulky transistor radio with him wherever he went.
Hence began my adventure into the world of country music (and my expensive hobby of hacking new gadgets and gizmos).
From Passion to a Thriving Online Business
After all these years, I've collected a whole lot of information about my favorite country music singers and their works.
I've accumulated a whole lot of country music albums, lyrics, artist profiles, newspaper clippings, and many other goodies.
What if I could share all these stuff and my passion with like-minded people around the world?
Could I make a business out of sharing my knowledge?
A website world be a great way to do this, I reasoned. But how do I go about it? How do I find out what people are really interested in, build the website, do the hosting... and more importantly, how do I get people interested in country music to visit the website?
Luckily for me, it didn't take that much Googling to discover SBI. SBI stands for Site Build It! and it helps you to turn any hobby, passion or skill into a viable online business. Yep, no matter what your hobby, passion or skill is... you can make money with a website that works!
And that's exactly what I'm doing with Hit-Country-Music-Cafe.com -- building a website about my passion. Currently I don't have the US$299 to purchase SBI, but that isn't deterring me. SiteSell, the company that makes SBI, has been generous to produce several Internet business guides and given these out for free.
I'm following these free guides by the letter as I build this site. But I must confess without SBI, this is a laborious and time-consuming work. And without the keyword brainstorming tools that SBI provides, I feel like I'm shooting in the dark.
But I'm saving, and soon I will be able to move this site over to SBI.
What about you, dear friend? Do you have a passion, a hobby, a special skill? Do have special knowledge about something or some place that might be of interest to others? Find out how SBI can help you convert your passion / hobby / skill into a thriving online business.
If you'd like to get in touch me, you'll find all my contact information on this page.
