“It is never too late and you are never too old to start something new！” says Englishtown1Ellen Rema.Ellen began to learn English at the age of 50，and in just a few years，she has made2progress!

          Ellen chose to study at Englishtown because no evening classes were3in the German countryside where she lives.At Englishtown，she joins4classes online and speaks with live native English­speaking teachers.

          “Englishtown is a wonderful place to5.” she says.“My son always says，mom，you are a bit6.He cannot understand why I spend so many hours studying，7love it.I do it for myself.”

          In 2001，Ellen began with the first level of Englishtown and quickly8.“I spent hours and hours studying，”she said.“Maybe I wanted too much in a short time.I finished all my9after 2 years，but noticed I still had10difficulties.”

Instead of11 ， she chose to press on.After four years at Englishtown，she's still studying in the online classroom，but now to perfect her already12English，she has set new13for herself and14understanding grammar points.

          “Studying online is never15 ， but you need self­discipline，self­motivation and staying power，”she says.“If you really want to learn，never quit even when you notice difficulties or when you think there is no16.Practice，practice，practice！”

Ellen says studying English isn't all about hard work.It should also be17！ “I really like the online conversation classrooms，”she says.“I have learned so much about other cultures and traditions.I'm open for all 18.”

Ellen has been able to 19her English to use by visiting England five times! “I'm very thankful to Englishtown because most of the English I know now was learned here，” Ellen says.“My life has 20with Englishtown.”

 —Oh.            .  Nothing seriously.

    Rome wasn't built in a day, and the Internet didn't come out of a golden egg. Many of today's creations were not born of people who had creative ideas, but who did not stop at simply having an idea. They took one brick of capital (资本), another brick of knowledge, perhaps a brick or two of family and friends, and built their empires (帝国) brick by brick.

    If you want to build an online empire, you cannot settle for simply having a website full of articles, or a website full of pictures—there are already thousands of sites like that, so you need to come up with something new and creative.

    So if you are starting to build something up, ask yourself: what do you really want to do, and what are you really good at? Believe it or not, you can make money at something that you are an expert in, and you need to know what that is.

    Remember, having an online empire does not mean that you have to do it alone. You can take your friends along with you. Having a friend advertise your services online is a good way to attract more visitors to your empire.

    Building an online empire, you will have to be prepared to not only come up with creative ideas, but to carry your ideas through. Talk to people who have already succeeded in building their own empires. Talk to people who are struggling. Join a mailing list that will help you get through your struggle to achieve your goal.

    As you move forward, you will find that you can help other people, and you will have a good many stories to tell—not to mention a lot of money in the bank.

    If you learn the real secrets of creating a long term stable (稳定的) online business then you will have enough money to retire on.