How I Decided to Work at Home

Hi, I am Sharon. Thank you for visiting my website.

I would like to share with you what inspired me to work at home, and build a website about expats living with no HTML, graphic design, or any other technical knowledge.

Ever Since I remember myself I was fascinated with far away countries. I couldn't stop reading books about kid's adventures in other countries; Pipi Longstocking, Anne of Green Gables, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and many more…

I used to imagine myself living in their countries, eating their food, dressing like them, and experiencing their adventures.

So, imagine how thrilled I was when my parents told us that we will be expatriating to the U.S.A due to my dad's work. For me that was the best childhood experience I had. The time our family spent in the U.S.A was a magical time – I learned to read and speak in English, traveled around the U.S.A, gained new friends, and for the first time in my life saw snow (there is no snow in my country).

I was so engaged with the new adventures, that I couldn't believe how fast time went by, and we already had to go back home.

I was a very happy Third Culture Kid. I know I was lucky because not every Third Culture Kid has a positive experience.

As an adult my passion and curiosity about other countries and their cultures kept growing – I took courses in Anthropology at the University. I started working at an International freight forwarding company, so I could have a daily contact with people from other countries, and learn more about their cultures.

Therefore when my spouse asked me how I would feel if he becomes a diplomat and joins the foreign affairs ministry, I immediately said – go ahead.

Of course I was making a decision based on my experience and memories as an expat child. However for an adult expat, and especially for a trailing spouse the reality is a little different...

Our Expatriate Journey Begins

Our first posting was to Venezuela – We arrived to Venezuela on a rainy July, a family of four. The next day my husband went to work, and I was left alone at the hotel room with two kids – A four years old and a one year old baby.

I had no job, no friends, no family, little Spanish knowledge, and strict instructions from the security guys at the Embassy not to leave the hotel without protection. (Only a week before we arrived, a diplomat was murdered at another South American country, so security instructions at that time were tough).

Oh, Boy - Was that a wake up call !!!

This wasn't how I remembered it from our posting to the U.S.A when I was a little girl. This time my spouse and I were the responsible adults. We had to do it all - find a suitable house, search for a proper education system for our kids, learn to navigate in Caracas (a huge city – there were no GPS at that time), find a family doctor, shop for groceries and other stuff – very hard when you do not speak the language, and the list goes on and on…..

The learning process was quite exhausting, lots of trials and errors. It was the mid 90'; the internet was just a baby, so googling for information was not an option.

Other than that I had to deal with my own personal issues, which I didn't see coming when I agreed to become a diplomat spouse - I lost my identity. I was no longer feeling an independent, professional, and self-sufficient woman. Actually, I was becoming a trailing spouse.

What were my options as a trailing spouse in Venezuela?

Well, due to my little Spanish knowledge, and because my country did not have reciprocal agreement with Venezuela which allows diplomat's spouses to work in Venezuela, I was left with two options:

I could be a SAHM (stay at home mom) or I could work at the Embassy.

We needed the extra income, so I accepted a part time job at the Embassy.

Not a great idea – My job at the embassy was boring, and I was always referred to as the spouse of…

Six months after our arrival to Venezuela, things got much better (excluding my job part). It was all magic again, like when I was an expat child; I enjoyed so much our life in Venezuela, the country and it's warm and wonderful people.

By the end of our posting - We learned enough Spanish, traveled a lot, made new friends, and I even gave birth to our third son.

Repatriating was not easy. Eventhough I was back at home, I found myself facing a similar situation to the one I had in Venezuela. My husband went to work, and I was again alone in the house with 3 little boys this time.

Strangely, I felt like an immigrant in my own country; everything seemed different from what I remembered. It took a while to settle back and to arrange the 2 oldest kids in schools.

When all was done it was time to search for a job. Well, I thought to myself, this shouldn't be a problem. But, as a matter of fact it turned out to be quite challenging; Especially because of the salaries I was offered and the amount of hours I was asked to work. After deducting all fees I needed to pay for others to take care of my kids while I am at work, I was almost left with nothing.

I felt trapped. What should I do?

The thought of paying most of my salary to caregivers, and not being able to be there for my kids when they need me was unbearable.

Other than that I knew we were about to go on a new posting in a few years, therefore developing a career in my own country was not realistic.

So, Instead of going to work I decided to go back to university for graduate studies. I managed to arrange my classes' schedule, so I could be with my kids and wouldn't have to pay for childcare.

Few years later we were posted to Canada.

This time we knew what to expect, we learned from our first posting and made sure to prepare in advance. But still Canada is not Venezuela – the culture, the people, and the way of doing things was different. So to some extent it was like a first posting. We needed to learn so many things from scratch.

As regards to my employment options:

Well, again I found myself working at the embassy. This time I worked at the consular department; assisting people with visas, passports, notarization of documents, birth certificates, and helping out with many other issues that expats and immigrants are facing in a new country.

To my surprise I enjoyed it; my own expatriate experience enabled me to understand better the difficulties that other expats and immigrants were encountering, and to be in a position to actually help others gave me a great sense of satisfaction.

Other than that, the hours were flexible, and I was able to pick up the kids from school every day.

To sum it up - Our four years in Canada were great. Again we managed to travel a lot, met new friends, improved our English and…. no new babies this posting.

Repatriating was much harder this time around -

I found a full time job (no more need to pay for child care). But I was miserable. I hated my job, couldn't stand the long hours, and hated being an employee.

Moreover my kids, although they were older, still needed me. Their life as Third Culture Kids was more challenging than mine. They spent most of their young life out of their home country, and in 2 different foreign countries. So, their adjustment to life back home was quite difficult.

And, because my spouse is a diplomat, a new posting in a few years was just around the corner. Developing a meaningful career in my own country was again not realistic.

I needed to do some serious thinking.

I love our expatriate life, I enjoy exploring and living in foreign countries, but I couldn't keep on inventing my life according to our posting schedule. This was wearing me out.

There must be a solution out there. I just needed to find it.

I started deliberating with myself, and came up with the understanding that the answer to my problem must include the following:

• I have to be able to do it from everywhere. So I won’t need to search for a new job when repatriating, or work at the embassy when we are in posting.
• I must love doing it, so I will have the passion to keep it going from anywhere in the world.
• It must be something I have knowledge about.
• I can earn living from it, and pay the bills.

Suddenly, it hit me – I love exploring new countries, learning new languages, and being an expat. I know a lot about expatriate life, and I enjoy assisting new and vetran expats.

That answers the passion and the knowledge issues.

But, how can I do it from everywhere? And how can I earn living by doing it?

I immediately went to the internet. This is always what I do when I need an answer to something. No matter in what country I am living or what I am looking for I always search the web.

Wait, Did I just say that I am searching the web from everywhere?

Great, I just answered my third problem - I can work from any country in the world by using the Internet.

So, this left me with one big problem – How can I earn living by helping expats around the world through the Internet?

I went back to the internet, and I was lucky, as I right away stumbled across SBI which stands for Site Build It!

What SBI does?

It helps you to turn any passion, skill or hobby into a viable online business.

How?

It helps you build a website that works. A businesses that delivers ever growing profits and freedom for the rest of your life.

Me build a website?

I can surf the net, look for information, and send e-mails, but I have no HTML, CSS, or graphic design knowledge. So, how could I build a website?

There is no way I can do it.

I saw how my dreams of working at home from everywhere in the world becoming impossible.

But nevertheless I kept reading. And guess what I found out:

Everyone can build a website.

SBI gives you all the tools - They help you find the perfect topic for your site, to build it, to get traffic to it, and then they even teach you how to make money with it, no matter what it is about!

I couldn't believe it. So I took the video tour that SBI offers to get a better idea how it works.

It started making sense, and then I read the case studies of real people who use SBI. Their passion about SBI, their real stories about ups and downs, and their proven success has captured me.

I even contacted some of them directly to ask more questions. Their enthusiasm with SBI and their belief in the product amazed me, and made me believe I can do it.

Moreover SBI! has a no-risk, 30-day money back guarantee, and you can even order SBI with a monthly payment option. So I had nothing to lose.

I ordered SBI in August 2007, and never looked back.

This was my first step towards building a business that will enable me to work at home from any place in the world.

I did not quit my day job right a way. I wanted to make sure that this is really it, and that I can do it.

16 Months later I decided to quit my job. I wanted to focus solely on my site and, things started to go in the right direction. I even started to make some profit, especially from google adsense.

Did I mention that everyone can build a website?

Yes, with SBI you can do it too - if you dream to work at home and have a passion, skill or hobby, that you want to turn into a viable online business. You can easily make it come true with SBI.

However you have to keep in mind that SBI is not a "get rich quick" scheme. Building a Site with SBI involves lots of work, brain and motivation. But it pays off, as you end up with a business that delivers profits and freedom.