The site is Best Healthy Snacks.  This is what it looked like when they bought it -

This is what it looks like now  -

A slight improvement?

My husband Charlie keeps asking Lynn & Lacey when they are going to add Reese Cups to their site – that is his favorite snack!  Um, maybe I need to send him over to learn about Healthy Snacks!

I would wish Lynn & Lacey (they are an awesome Mother & daughter team, by the way) good luck with their new site, but they won’t need it – they have BAM and the power of SiteBuildIt and they know as long as they follow the action guide, success is a given!

Ten years ago I had just turned 40, I was married to my college sweetheart – we were happily married and working on 20 years of marriage & had a 5 year old daughter. We were pursing the American dream – I had a high paying corporate job – I’m an RN & I worked for a health care corporation & was responsible for several states. It was suppose to be my dream job – the one I climbed & climbed that corporate ladder for – working tirelessly to advance my career – long hours, weekends in my home office …..

When I reached that “dream job” it turned out to be a nightmare. I hated it – all of it. I was always in the car or on a plane. I spent most of my time dealing with really nasty people who didn’t share my caring and compassion for employees, patients or anything else except the bottom line.

I decided to leave the job and take a little time off to spend time with my family before my daughter started to school. It was in the glory days of eBay – where you could list anything & sell it for top dollar. I had started collecting vintage Barbies and knew I could make enough money on eBay to take a little time off and regroup.

I did and I loved it. I realized that my greatest desire was and had always been the freedom of doing my own thing, working from home.

After I had been doing this for a few months, my husband had a massive stroke two days after his 42nd birthday. He was left totally disabled with severe disabilities. When he was finally able to leave the hospital they wanted to put him in a nursing home, they said I wouldn’t be able to take care of him at home, even though I am a Registered Nurse.

I told them there was no way they were going to put my 42 year old husband in a nursing home and I brought him home. For four months I slept on the floor in the living room to take care of him in his hospital bed. At first it took two people just to sit him on the side of the bed – one to hold him up and one to hold up his head. We had some wonderful home health care therapists and within a few months he was able to start learning how to walk again. The hardest part was that he also had aphasia, which means his ability to speak and communicate and process and understand communication was severely impaired.

I went back to work briefly – but mostly for four years I supported us by selling on eBay. It was hard, but I felt like I needed to be at home taking care of him. During this period I use to have dreams where I was just crying my eyes out and my family & friends were all around & not even noticing I was crying. I would wake up crying. No one knew or understood how difficult my life was and how utterly alone I felt. It did feel as if I had the entire weight of the world on my shoulders.

Finally I had to go back to work – he was doing so much better and the eBay income was becoming less and less. Fortunately I was able to get a great job – but I didn’t want to be there – I wanted to be at home!

Three months after I went back to work, my husband passed away, unexpectedly, almost 5 years to the day of his stroke.

Thank God for the job – it had provided a little life insurance on him and  I was able to make an easy and comfortable living while I went through the shock and grief.

He died in early November and I don’t even remember that Thanksgiving and Christmas. Early in the next year I found a new resolve to do whatever it took to be able to be self-employed, working from home, doing my own thing. I knew it wasn’t eBay – but I also knew it was possible to earn money from websites and I resolved to find out how. I knew if other people could do it I could too.

I started researching and found SBI. That was the day my life changed forever. I started my first site in March 2006. I knew right away that I had found what I had been looking for for a long time.

For the first couple of years I worked full time and worked on my sites on nights and weekends. I was thrilled with the success and loved having the extra money. Then everything changed again.

I never thought I would remarry, but I met the most wonderful man. He was so perfect for me, it was like I ordered him from a catalog. Fortunately he feels the same way about me. From the very beginning I called him my “Dream Man”.

For the first six months after we met I didn’t touch my websites and they doubled in traffic & income! He was three hours away, but we were together every possible moment. One month we talked on the phone for 15,000 minutes!! (Thank Goodness for the “friend & family” plan!)

In a little over six months we got married and he moved in with me.

I was renting a house and I wanted so bad to buy a home, but I felt like it needed to wait a few years to get all of our finances in order. However, after we had been married for a few months, the lady who owned the house called and said she needed to move back to it and gave use 60 days to move out. At first I was so upset – I felt like I was being “kicked out” of my home – but we decided to see if we could go ahead and buy a house. Not only could we, we bought my dream house.  By the time we closed on the house, my SBI income easily paid the mortgage.

So now I had my dream man and my dream house and life was goooood and I was so happy.

Then my employer went insane. After two years of working essentially unsupervised and achieving stellar results, the corporation underwent a huge change & I was back working with mean, nasty, micro-managing people.

My websites were doing good by then – but not enough to replace my income – what I was making would barely cover my bills. But I decided to take a leap of faith and quit my job to work on my websites full time.

That was just over a year ago. Today, 10 years since the beginning of my story, I just turned 50, I am married to my dream man, we live in my dream house and I have my dream job! In my first year I made more on my websites that I did the year before from my salary. I am now making a six-figure income from my websites and I have never been happier.

I’m here simply because I never gave up. I’ve made just about every mistake you can make, but I never gave up. I’ve had Google drop just about every site and I have had lots of things not get the results I was hoping for, but I never gave up. When I look back at all of the mistakes I have made and what I knew when I started versus what I know now I wonder how I ever had any success at all – but thanks to the awesomeness of SBI I did.

So what have I learned about my journey?

First it is absolutely true that the only way to fail is to quit trying. I think the main reason I have been successful is that I have found so many ways to fail. So many things I have tried that didn’t work – but every once in a while I’ll find something that does and sometimes it will work in a BIG way – like a page that earns $800/month!

One of my favorite quotes is by Albert Einstein – “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Which means not only that you have to keep trying, but that if you aren’t getting the results you want you have to try something else! When you are new at this you will probably have to try A LOT of different things. That is why the forums are such a blessing – they give you unlimited access to other people who are trying different things too. You get ideas. Eventually you will get your own ideas.

The reason I am where I am now and how I not only survived the tough times but grew and flourished is simply that I kept putting one foot in front of the other. There were times when I didn’t think I could take it anymore and there were times I didn’t know where to turn or what to do, but there is always a “next logical step” towards where you want to go. Most people aren’t going to go from A to Z in one step. But if you are always on the lookout for the next logical step to get you there, you will arrive much fasted than the person who spends all of their time looking for the magic pill to get them there without taking the actual steps.

I can so relate to being tired of being broke and depressed because you can’t see a light at the end of the tunnel – but it’s there – just keep moving forward and before you know it you will be basking in it!

So that is the story of my last ten years – if you are still reading I hope you will find hope and inspiration!

Blessings -

Suzanne

I am amazed at how fast the year passed and also by how much I have grown and learned.   I have done so many new things this year just for the sake of learning how to do them and I have continuously worked on building my websites, always working to make them better and better.

I am so excited when I realized that in the last 12 months my traffic and income has more than doubled and I am now earning a solid six figure income! Yes – from my websites! Yes – working from home! It is the biggest dream of my life – freedom – has come true. Now I have personal freedoms and financial freedom as well! I am so grateful for my success.

One thing I didn’t except to happen is that I have gotten fairly involved in helping other people create their own websites. They are so inspired by my success and I feel blessed to be able to “give back” and share what I have learned.

Everyday I become more and more impressed and so grateful to Site Build It. It is the reason I was able to make my dreams come true. If you aren’t living your dream and it involves personal or financial freedom or both, I encourage you to check it out for yourself.
Here are my favorite links:
Sitesell Results – Lists a mind blowing number and variety of the top Site Build It sites – including two of mine!!
SBI Video Tour
SBI Summary Site – Includes information on the newly released SBI 2.0
Affiliate Sign Up – Become a Site Build It Affilate and earn commissions while you learn about SBI

Please feel free to email me if I can ever help you – I love to share my dream!

Technorati Tags: Best Business Tools, Business Building, Site Build It!

I earn my living now 100% through Affiliate Marketing, which has replaced my executive salary and continues to grow every month. Here is a free eBook that is where I learned everything I needed to know to accomplish this.

Click here to start reading your free Affiliate Masters Course today. If you want to print a copy and review the e-book offline, right-click to download it.

Technorati Tags: Best Business Tools, Business Building, Free eBooks, Site Build It!

"…most bloggers simply never develop much traffic, even though they may write a lot of content.   Why? Wrong process. No tools. No guidance. It’s a shame that they quit though."

"Abandoned blogs are epidemic. Millions and millions of them, inactive."

"Is your blog failing? Low traffic? Low income? Frustrated and thinking of letting it go? Don’t!

Never quit a project just because you’re frustrated. Hares get frustrated and flit from one thing to the next. But tortoises find one solid road and just keep moving ahead, one step at a time.

Switch to SBI!, a proven road that leads to business success. After all, you didn’t fail. The inherent flaws in the process doomed you."

Read more at For Most Small Business People… "Blogging" Is the Wrong Choice To Build a Business

I have a an SBI website that I started in March 2006 and a stand-alone blog that I started in April 2006.  The website currently receives over 1100 visitor per day and makes a very nice income.  The blog gets maybe 40 visitors a day and makes around $25/month in income.  (I honestly don’t know why I keep going with the blog – I keep thinking about "letting it go" and I probably should.)

As I have written before, SBI is the answer for many who want to build an online business, which includes a website that generates passive income.

Technorati Tags: Best Business Tools

Best Work-At-Home Solution

You are in constant motion as a stay-at-home mom… loving, nurturing, helping, guiding, playing, comforting, organizing, mediating, laughing, managing, healing, giving. Family comes first and you are loving it!

There is no other place that you would rather be than with your kids. But, at the same time, you would also like/need to contribute financially to the family.
So… if you stay at home, why not Work At Home , Mom (WAHM)?

WAHM-IT!, The Masters Course will show you how. Four Work-At-Home Moms (WAHMs), the course’s authors, will introduce you to a work solution that "fits" naturally with your family needs and yet is rewarding, exciting and soul-satisfying for you.

Just like they are doing, you too can create an information-rich Web site that is based on something you know and love. No technical knowledge or prior experience is necessary. You too can build a real, long-term business on the Net.

Learn from the experiences and advice of Elizabeth, Cate, Jennifer and Erin (and several other successful WAHMs) in WAHM-IT!, The Masters Course. They are busy moms just like you and they know what it’s like.

So they have taken the time to tell you everything, from reviewing all your options and organizing properly. And they progress all the way to the final desired outcome, including the nitty-gritty of how to actually build a substantial income online, illustrating with well-explained case studies.

An online business is affordable, flexible, and convenient. You can work at your Web site and business when you like, at the speed that suits you, and still put the all-important needs of your family first. In other words, you can take your family to work with you!

Click here to download WAHM- IT!, The Masters Course" e-book. 1.33 MB – Windows and MacOs You are about to download a zipped file ("wahm-masters.zip"). Save it to your desktop. After you have downloaded, unzip it.

• Windows users need WinZip — free trial
• Mac users need Stuffit Expander (v5.5 or greater) — free software

This will unzip a folder called "WAHM-IT" on your desktop (if you do not change the default location). The folder contains four files…

1) ReadMeFirst.txt — This file will get you off to a flying start. Begin here!

2) wahm-guide.pdf — "WAHM-IT!, The Masters Course" provides all the how-to information you need to successfully build a real business on the Net.

3) wahm-case-studies.pdf — The "Case Studies" volume shares the inspiring stories of real-life SBI! WAHMs and their Web sites.

4) wahm-get-organized.pdf — "Get Organized to Work at Home" offers tips on managing your household and family successfully while you work.

Technorati Tags: Best Business Tools, Free eBooks

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Since I made the decision and resigned from my full-time job, for the most part I have felt wonderful about it.  I have a deep feeling of peace and calm and a great sense of relief that I am giving up the struggle of remaining in a job I no longer enjoy.  However, I have allowed myself some negative thinking (too much to be honest) – I won’t give them any more power by repeating them here, but I do recognize the importance of letting them go.

Today I realized that all of my dreams have come true in the last year.  I met and married THE man of my dreams (I had a list – it was like I ordered him from a catalog!).  Together we bought our dream home – it is wonderful and we both love it very much.  And now, I get to come home to work on my own business.  Those are my big 3 dreams.  I have been working on these dreams for years and years and years.  I had pieces and parts of these in my life – but now I have it all.

So tonight here I am, flying high with joy and appreciation to be sitting here realizing that my dreams have come true.   The contrast between these wonderful feelings and the negative ones is huge.  I decided to live in this wonderful place, the place where my dreams came true and I am living the live of my dreams, that I created though my intentions and focus and faith.  I am dropping the "what ifs" – I am changing my thinking and therefore changing my life.  Now, I need some new dreams………

Technorati Tags: Personal Thoughts

I am a strong believer in always maintaining a positive attitude and I know that I have the ability to create whatever I desire in my life.  I have been unhappy in my job for a while now and I tried so hard to maintain a positive attitude and make the best of things.  I finally decided that all of the drama and negativity I was experiencing was a great big SIGN that it was time to go!  Because I have worked so many years at remaining positive and happy, drama and negativity are not things that I normally have to experience.  I think that they are such a big difference from where I try to live, that it really bothered me.  I kept thinking that if I could just remain positive and happy everything would be fine.  I think it was a sign – or a kick in the you-know-what to just do what I want to do already.  You know what?  Ever since I made the decision, I have had total peace and I am so happy and excited.  Here is my other sign – since I have resigned from my job – my web site earnings have been more than my take home pay from my job!

So in these uncertain economic times, I am thriving and I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off of my shoulders.  Now I will have the freedom I crave to live my life on my own terms and I will have the time to do what I really want to do – which is work on my sites.   I am so grateful to have my growing and thriving online businesses to become my life’s work.  I am also grateful that because I chose nursing as my first career, I can always get a decent job – which makes it much easier to take this leap of faith!

Wish me luck!  I am working out a 4 week notice and have 3 weeks left!  My last day is on my birthday.

Technorati Tags: Business Building

After a complete review of the sites, I came to the conclusion that it is a miracle (and a complete testament to Site Build It! (SBI!) and long-tail keywords) that each site is currently receiving around 100 visitors a day!  They aren’t breaking any records, but they are at least paying for themselves.

I started analyzing each site by looking at the keywords.  (One of the great things about SBI! is that all of the keyword tools are built in – you don’t have to go searching all over for them or trying to figure them out for yourself.)  It is so funny to me now that with each site I had the exact same initial reaction – that it was hopeless – there was nothing I could do and I should just forget about the sites.  On each site, I came back the next day, used one of my favorite free tools (FreeMind – free mind mapping software ) and ended up with an awesome plan that I am really excited about!

The first site I did was my Trendy Plus Size Clothes site.  I have begun to excute my plan by adding more pages and in just a month my traffic has gone from around 100/day to up to 143/day.

My point?  One of the most wonderful things about having an online business is that it really is never too late to start over.  No matter how good or how poor your site may be doing you can always step back, regroup and move forward.  If you are using a great tool like SBI! (and following the directions!) you will never get so far off course that you can’t get back on track.

Technorati Tags: Best Business Tools, Business Building