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Stephen's Work From Home Story
I've been self employed - on the Internet - since 1995. Despite all the various ups and downs, I'm still here. Finally, I think I'm beginning to work out what it's all about...This is a "quick" outline of my 12 years of being self employed, and using the Internet to try to make a living. Despite many times when I have to borrow from Peter to pay Paul, I feel I'm a lot better off (maybe not financially, but in lots of other ways) than if I was still in my "day job".
And the finances? Well... I'm still working on that... One certain thing from my experience online, is that you certainly can NOT get rich quick using the Internet!
Back in 1995, I left a 17-year career as a high school Careers Adviser to go online with a very innovative (at the time) web site called Careers OnLine. This site was to earn money by selling virtual "space" at an online Career Market. But back in the very early days of the Internet as we know it today, this was far too radical an idea to actually work... 
I turned to doing web design work for clients, and to promote myself and my clients established a variety of "local portal" web sites... In fact, my SydWest site (no longer operational because I moved away from Sydney's Western suburbs) was one of the first regional portals in the world!
Another niche portal site, the Small Business Support Network was established in 1997, and is still going strong today, providing lots of updated, realistic ideas, advice and ongoing support to help small business operators stay competitive on today's Internet.The biggest problem back then was that it WAS the early days of the Internet, so I had to educate LOTS of people about what even www. meant... and while the web design work flowed, it came ever so slowly as many were reluctant to jump into the big pond...
These bigger sites I had designed DID add to my credibility a lot when it came to chasing new small business clients, so somehow, I managed to scrape by until July 2003.
Then, Google released their Adsense program, which gave web site owners like myself the opportunity to start showing advertising on our sites, and get paid for it - believe me, I HAD tried to sell ad spots before, and THAT is a hard slog!And the results were astounding!
Google was my saviour in 2003, and in 2007 contributes over 70% of my current income.
I'm still doing web design work for clients - a job which has become more difficult because far too many people expect to pay peanuts to get a web site that actually WORKS for them.
But my focus over the past few years has been to develop even more web sites to place Adsense ads on - NOT the spammy type of site that offers no real value to people... These are sites that attract traffic through useful content, and grow over time, to produce a reasonable income from Adsense.
But were there TOO many eggs in the Google basket?
I thought I was relying too much on just one main source of income, so I looked for a Plan B or Plan C to supplement my income... and build something else that could eventually take over if (perish the thought) Google ever died (something which appears extremely unlikely now).
For some strange reason, I ventured back into the real world... and set up a real "bricks-and-mortar" business as an Internet Service Provider. After a little over two years in that business, it was starting to reach the point where it was almost profitable. And then my wholesale supplier decided to go belly-up... and left me and 80 other ISP's out of business!
So all I can really say about Plan B - my venture into the "real" world of small business (as opposed to the online world) - is that is was a very expensive lesson!
I have enormous respect for those that go into a bricks and mortar business and who can survive in that world with all the huge expenses like rent, electricity, public liability insurance, bank fees, etc. It seemed like everywhere I turned as a small business owner, SOMEONE had their hands out expecting money!!!
So I'm now back at working from home... and the time has been better spent working on a new Plan B... and being there as my newborn daughter grows into a 1 year old!
My New Plan B?
Now I'm looking at doing something with the TRAFFIC my web sites generate. I literally have over one million people every month coming to my various web sites, so I should be able to flog some stuff to them you'd think?
THIS site, the Work @ Home Business Toolbox is the first in a collection of niche "tool box" sites that I am now developing that will piggyback on some of that traffic.
Along with incorporating some best practices for affiliate marketing, promoting stuff with PLR (Private Label Rights), and including Adsense advertising, I can see my future is a little rosier than it has been lately.
While I really don't anticipate being an online millionaire - and the truth be told, I can't see how many of those people making those claims are telling the truth - I certainly will be better off financially and spiritually than I have been.
And that can only come from doing something that you love - working hard at it, and working from home!
More Information:
Stephen Spry has been designing web sites since 1995.
His first site Australia's Careers OnLine came from his high school teaching career. Other significant sites developed by Stephen include the Small Business Support Network (1997) and Come On Aussie Web Directory (2002).
For full details of Stephen's work, please visit this list of client sites.
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