My SBI Review and Best Kept Business Secret

How I've Earned an Honest Income from Home Doing What I Love Since 2001

I know, you are probably thinking that my SBI review is an advertisement for some kind of a "get rich quick" scheme ...

I don't blame you for thinking that, as you've probably seen a million of these.

It's really too bad that an honest person who needs to work from home has to wade through so much craziness!

Thrown Into The Deep End

Dear reader, my SBI review starts with the year 1999 when a major life crisis had just wiped out my one best way of supporting myself.

The work I most loved to do had suddenly become literally impossible for me to continue.

I had been the main breadwinner in our family at that time, and I was in a panic ...

Once the shock had passed, I frantically looked took stock of what I could still do ...

I could sit at home at my computer and type.
I could think and learn and talk on the phone.
I could learn new things.

Hmmm, let's see... where do I find job listings for ...

Home based customer service agents? Data entry operators? Typists?

All of these jobs were terribly boring to me and vastly underutilized my skills, but I was desperate and willling to do them!

The problem was, in those days, there were none that I could find that were legitimate, real jobs!

Nowadays in the 21st century there are many telecommuting opportunities, but back then, there were no companies that I found that were actually hiring.

My First Encounter With
Deceptive Job Listings

I looked, and looked, and looked ... it was the early days of the internet, and that's when I encountered my first big dose of ...

Well, I'll just say it ... it was the "Get Rick Quick" schemes, cleverly disguised as home based job opportunities.

Some of these seemed believable, and the websites looked beautiful, but I felt a really sleazy and creepy kind of feeling from the people who represented these businesses.

I am lucky dear reader, that I have a good intuition. I had such a bad feeling about these "pretend jobs" that I could not bring myself to even inquire about them.

I spent almost two years literally banging my head against my computer, (not really, just metaphorically!!) trying to find some kind of work solution that was honest and real, that would use my skills and interests, and would fit my unique circumstances.

Right about now some total despair set in ....

My SBI Review - A Lucky Break in 2001

By this time, I had given up on trying to find a job, and realized I'd somehow have to somehow become my own employer. So, I reluctantly set about learning about internet based business.

I wasn't really interested in business, as my life purpose is about helping others, healing and being of service.

All my training and experience was in human services and the helping professions. Even the word "profit" felt foreign to me...

The whole concept of making lots of money wasn't really that motivating to me, but I did NEED to find a way to make ends meet!

So ... I was desperately trying to learn about internet business.

I ended up on a really hilarious website that offered free search engine submissions and lots of helpful information about internet based business.

For my SBI review, I wish I could remember the name of this website and the owner, as it was delightfully written, with humorous illustrations, and I felt that the writer was trustworthy.

In fact, wish I could find him today and thank him, because he is the one that told me about SBI, or Solo Build It. (Back in that day they called it Site Build It.)

So ... I trusted the recommendation of my new and funny internet friend, and I clicked over to the SBI website to learn about Solo Build It.

I already had my guard up, as so many internet business tools or opportunities I'd looked at were, well, you know ... a bit sleazy!

My SBI Review - Something Different

When I first landed on the Solo Build It website, I was pretty skeptical.

After two years of total frustration, I wasn't expecting anything at all ... except perhaps more disappointment.

But then as I read the site, I noticed two things right away ...

First, there were no grandiose claims, and no fast talking sales pitches. The information actually made sense.

In fact, I actually got the feeling that they were actually being honest with me!

There was no "sleazy" feeling ... I actually felt something quite different ...

What was it? Something seemed quite refreshing to me! I looked around and read the biography of the founder of the company, Ken Evoy.

Hmmm, his background was quite unique ... he was an emergency room doctor, and later moved into to the field of business.

It was clear to me that he likes to help people too.

Ahhhh ... that's what I felt ... what a relief!! it was:

Integrity!

I could tell even back in 2001 that these folks had integrity and heart, Now, after more than 16 years I have only felt more impressed and grateful to have found such a company.

They care about their customers and are absolutely committed to helping ordinary people to succeed.

SBI Review - My First Years
With Solo Build It

After a ton of research and also prayer, (I always bring my business decisions to God) I purchased an SBI subscription, and set about learning everything I could about how to build a real, honest business online.

There was an instruction manual called the Action Guide, and I was so desperate to learn that I stayed up late every night reading, studying and working.

I was rather obsessive about it, and even when I slept, I was dreaming about my websites. I found myself even writing pages in my sleep!!

I built my first website by the end of 2001, and within a year I began to generate income from affiliate partnerships.

Eventually as my traffic built, I added other income streams and by 2004 that income grew to a solid five figure income, equivalent to my previous part time job.

Online Business for the Long Term

All the while, the internet was changing really, really rapidly. There was no way I could keep up with all of that!

Thankfully, I was able to keep building my business, because the SBI team was hard at work, keeping up with all the changes so I could focus on my work.

My life continued to be pretty intense during all this time. I moved back and forth across the country several times. My business did not lose any momentum, as I could work from wherever I was.

All the while, the traffic on my websites kept increasing, and I eventually started several other websites.

I began hiring help around 2009, which enabled me to focus more on the parts of my business that I am best at.

There were several periods of time when I couldn't work at all, due to surgery or health challenges.

Amazingly, my business simply kept growing even when I couldn't work.

By 2013 I was earning a full time income from my websites, which enabled my husband and I to support ourselves during another major life transition when my husband was not working.

At this point in my SBI review I wish I could say that we rode off into the sunset, happily ever after ... but instead I discovered ...

Yet Another Life Challenge!

Just when my business had grown to the level I'd been working towards, there were two major life events that once again changed everything!

In May of 2013 I was bitten by a deer tick. It was only attached for less than a day, however the next day after I removed it, I felt deathly ill.

I felt something terribly wrong in my body, and I knew I needed help.

We were still getting settled in a new home, and unbelievably, my new doctor refused to give me antibiotics. I spent days terrified, feeling as though my body was turning to stone.

Thankfully, I was able to find another doctor in the next state over who was willing to treat me, however I am still, to this day, dealing with the after effects of this experience.

The second event that happened was that there was a major change to internet search engines and how they delivered search results.

This created a change in the traffic patterns to my websites, which required some work on my part to adapt to ... but I was too sick to work.

As a result, I had to deal with a huge drop in my income.

SBI Review - The Silver Lining

The amazing thing is, that even though my income dropped, it did not stop! Through that long period of inactivity, I still managed to earn some residual income, even without working at all.

Even MORE amazing than that, is how well SBI adapted to these changes. They analyzed what was happening with the internet search algorithms and built tools to help us to continue to grow our businesses for the long term.

Now that I am finally back to work, I am so grateful that I made the choice to use Solo Build It.

The other two internet companies that were around in those days, offering to help me build a business online, are both out of business now.

SBI is still here and I am so grateful for this company, and for the heartfelt integrity, commitment to excellence, and for their outstanding tools which I've never found anywhere else.

SBI Review - What I Have Learned So Far in my 16 Years With Solo Build It

One of the humble shocks that I've discovered, is that the excellent training I received from the SBI Action Guide actually trained me better than many of the search engine optimization specialists I've come across.

I don't really want to spend my time doing search engine optimization, but when I talk to other business people, I feel so lucky to have been trained the smart way to build a business online.

These are skills that I continue to use every day, and they help me to adapt to the constantly changing state of internet business.

Most people put up a website and think that's the way to build a business on the internet.

What I learned from SBI is that this way does not work! Instead, like a good offline business, you do some market research.

You discover what areas on the web are under served, and where there is a lot of demand without a lot of other websites filling that need.

Of course, that kind of research would take you years if you did it all yourself, however SBI has the most phenomenal tool ever created, to help you to discover these under served niches.

SBI Review - Their Most Amazing Feature

SBI has a tool called the Brainstormer, and it was absolutely fantastic and amazing to me in 2001 and it has continued to be upgraded over the years.

It will show you exactly those areas on the internet where your gifts and talents can actually have a chance to get seen in the search engines.

They just released a new version in 2017 that has literally floored me with its ability to help me to "see" into the internet in a whole new way, in order to learn how I can help people even better.

SBI has helped me to develop a business that lasts, and that has so much potential for the future!

I'm not the only one, you can see a large number of success SBI web businesses, each unique and serving a particular niche.

My SBI Review of the Solo Build It Team

Ken Evoy is the founder of Solo Build It, and I've known him since 2001. In the early days I would call their offices if I needed help with something, and always had a great response from their team.

In 2004 they brought the SBI Forums online, a place for fellow Solo Built It owners to meet each other and help each other. What a great support this is!

The SBI forums contain some of the most excellent and thought provoking discussions on internet business that you will find anywhere.

The forums were incredibly helpful for me to be able to share and learn from other entrepreneurs. This absolutely shortened my learning curve!

Another incredible bonus on the SBI Forums was the opportunity to communicate directly with Ken Evoy.

Ken deeply and passionately cares about helping solopreneurs and small business owners to succeed. He absolutely loves doing this, and it shows.

He has helped so many of us over the years with his caring, his internet business knowedge, and his well researched information about internet and business trends.

Ken also has a huge heart and will take the time to respond to those of us that may find ourselves in difficulty, or facing life challenges.

Ken has navigated us through all kinds of huge ups and downs in the internet business world. He .has always exceeded my expectations, finding a way to meet even challenges that seem daunting with integrity and grace AND a good dose of common sense and reality.

Ken even waived the Solo Build It subscription fee for a period of time in the very early days of SBI, because there was a delay in the refinements to one of the important brainstormer features, and he wanted to get everything just right.

There is another thing that you might not find in a lot of places... in fact many business don't even know how do this, but this comes naturally to Ken Evoy and the SBI team.

Caring really isn't something that you can fake, and Ken's genuine appreciation and interest in the people that he serves, has created a company culture of excellence.

I know when I contact the SBI support team that I'll get a genuine and caring real person who will listen and help me.

I can't tell you how important that is, especially nowadays! I have so little time available, and I so am deeply, deeply grateful to the SBI team that they have standards of excellence and that they ALWAYS do a great job.

One of the great testaments to SBI is that it is STILL around after all these years! All the other companies that I had found in 2001 were offering help to create an internet based business have all long since closed.

In fact I've become quite spoiled as an SBI user. Everything my business needs is in one place, and SBI does not have outages like most web hosts. In 16 years I don't remember even one time!

A Happy Ending and Beginning

After the tick bite experience, I was hit with yet another series of multiple and simultaneous life challenges in 204 and 2015.

Nowadays the word "extreme" is the new normal that we all are living with in one form or another.

For me it was several mysterious health situations that developed following the tick bite, that left me unable to sit at the computer, or talk or think clearly.

I wasn't able to live indoors and even and had to sleep outside, due to multiple chemical sensitivity and EMF sensitivity.

My websites needed a little extra attention during this time, as we were still dealing with the major changes to the internet from the year before, but I was unable to work at all.

My income dropped during this time, however even at the lowest days of that dark period, I always earned enough to keep the business going.

Through it all, the incredible team at SBI kept working on helping us to succeed, by bringing on board more Solo Build It features, and helping us to adapt to the changes.

My SBI Review - Today

Fast forwarding to 2017 ... it is because of SBI that I have a business to return to, even after almost 4 years of health challenges.

Although I'm not fully recovered yet, I am on my way and I know one day I will be well.

It is because of SBI that I, a non-technically oriented, time challenged person, who only wants to help people, has been able to create an honest business that lasts.

I've had very little opportunity to do all that I'd like to do for my business, but because of SBI I've learned how to do the right things, instead of wasting my precious time going in the wrong direction.

I hope that you find what you need, dear reader, to fulfill your life purpose and to create the life that most resonates with your heart and soul. I hope my story has been helpful to you!

And please, if you or anyone you love is in need of a new way to make a living doing what you love, visit my friends over at Solo Build It!