WAHM Case Studies

 
We’d like to introduce you to some WAHMs who are making a success of their Websites, right now. We hope you’ll find these stories inspirational. We certainly did.
In this section of the Guide, read and enjoy these three case studies:

 
Rena Klingenberg: Read how Rena took her existing craft business, making and selling handmade jewelry, and took it online - with a twist. By providing unique information that other jewelry makers need, she now makes a full-time income.

 
Claire Kolarova: Starting an online business coincided with plans for a move abroad for Claire, a teacher from the UK. She sees building Websites as a job you can do anywhere, as long as there's an Internet connection.

Kari Anderson: Kari took her existing small business online. Now she makes money, not just by selling her product, but also by providing information about it. Oh, and she fits her site-building activities in around home-schooling her children.

We want to thank all of the moms who participated in our questionnaire. While we originally intended to include just a few select case studies in this Guide, we quickly discovered that the women we talked to came from a wide-range of backgrounds, education levels, work experience, nationalities, and more.

Every single one of them added value and shared helpful tips; so much so that we wanted to include all of them here. But with only so much space, what could we do?
The solution? Add another chapter, of course! That gives you more case studies for you to read, learn from, and more importantly, connect with! You’re sure to find one that makes you say “that’s me!”

Case Study #1 Jewelry Proves to be Big Business

Rena Klingenberg is a single mother of one son living in South Carolina, USA. Currently developing more Websites, Rena's first site, home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com, is not only in the Top 1% of Websites on the Internet, it also earns enough to support her family.

Rena, tell us about your Website. 

My first and most successful SBI! Website is

http://www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com 

which I started in October 2003. I was looking for ways to earn money by publishing information. I had been exploring the possibility of writing e-books when I came across SBI!. The SBI! organization seemed different - it had integrity - and the money-back guarantee helped me feel safer in giving it a try.

I’m also working on additional SBI! Websites in different niches.

 
What kind of education and work experience did you have before building your Website?

My “working for other people” experience includes secretarial jobs, followed by several years of editing and desktop publishing. I’ve also had a jewelry business for several years, making and selling handcrafted jewelry.

 
What was your motivation for starting an online business?

I’m a single mom with a son who has serious health issues, and it would be extremely hard to find an employer who would put up with all the work time I’d have to miss when my son is ill.

Although I had been doing well with my handcrafted jewelry business, reliable childcare was expensive and sometimes difficult to secure when I did jewelry shows.

Also, because my jewelry business involved making and selling tangible products, my income was limited by how much jewelry I was physically capable of producing and selling. The only way to earn more money in my jewelry business was to work longer hours.
 
But I wanted to work smarter, not harder.

So I thought about adding a second stream of income by writing and publishing e-books.

And then I began to wonder if instead of e-books, I could operate a profitable Website with my jewelry marketing tips and info available for free.

 
How did you come up with your idea for a Website? 

I had been selling my handcrafted jewelry for several years and had experimented with nearly every possible way of selling my work, and evolving and tweaking the methods that worked for me to make them more profitable.

Jewelry making is one of the most popular creative activities in the world, and everyone dreams of selling what they make.

 However, marketing and other business matters usually don’t come easily to jewelry artists.

So I was sure there was an audience for all the jewelry business success secrets I had learned through my own hard-won experiences.

 I looked around the web and couldn’t find any really comprehensive resource that detailed all the unique aspects of marketing handcrafted jewelry.

I also researched all the online jewelry making forums, and from the questions and problems addressed there I saw a huge need for information on how to market one’s work successfully in the crowded jewelry art field.
 
On the forums, jewelry artists were asking things like how to photograph their work, how to do home jewelry parties, how to display their jewelry, how to approach shops about carrying their work, how to get their business set up legally, how to find good shows, how to sell jewelry on eBay....

These were all questions I could answer, and many of the articles I add to my site are written to address the questions that pop up frequently on jewelry making forums.
 
I created Home Jewelry Business Success Tips with the intention of providing the information resource I would have loved to find when I was a struggling jewelry artist.


How many hours per week do you work on your site?

20 or 30 hours, and sometimes none at all - those are the times when I’m busy with other things. But it’s nice to be able to rely on a steady income from my sites, even when I totally ignore them for a week or more at a time.

 
How do you make money from your site? 

Hosting contextual advertising ads on my sites; affiliate programs; the sale of my own ebook.
 
Although I don’t include any outside advertising in my newsletters, I do get a huge income boost every time I publish a newsletter issue, due to the volume of people following the article links in my newsletter (and clicking on all the latest ads and affiliate links while they’re visiting!).

SBI!’s tools make getting subscribers and publishing newsletters a piece of cake.


How long was it before you found success? And please define what “success” means to you.

I made my first $7 commission a few weeks after my first article went live. That was a big moment for me - when I really knew that information publishing could be a path to financial independence.

I worked really hard and less than two months after Home Jewelry Business Success Tips was online, it made SBI!’s list of sites in the top 3% of the web. And within six months of starting, the site was providing a growing full-time income for us.

My Websites have given me the time and flexibility to be the mom I need to be - while I earn a wonderful living in a most enjoyable way.

Building my Websites never feels like work. It’s something I really love doing, and it’s a great feeling to look over the sites I’ve created and think, “Wow! I did that!” And to earn money from them is icing on the cake.

It’s very rewarding to know that the information I publish in my Website and newsletter is helping my fellow jewelry artists achieve their own dreams. Being able to help people make a positive difference in their lives makes this more rewarding than any “real” job I’ve ever had.
 

What convinced you to purchase SBI!?

The factor that tipped the scales for me was the triangle-shaped diagram showing the high percentage of SBI! sites that make it into the top 1 to 2 per cent of the web.

The comprehensive suite of tools that are all under one roof at SBI! was another factor. I didn’t want to have to cobble together a collection of software and services from different providers and fiddle with getting them to work together.

I wanted to concentrate on writing useful content and getting visitors to my site.

I know I could probably do much of the technical stuff myself if I had to, but why spend my time on it? And all those fiddly separate parts would cost about as much as I spend on an all-under-one-roof SBI! site anyway - which is less than a dollar per day.

As an online entrepreneur the most profitable use of my time is to build my sites’ original content and incoming links, so I’m glad to let SBI! take on the technical stuff for me.

And I can’t think of anything I would change about SBI! - it works very well for me, and they’re constantly adding new features to make our web businesses better and better.

If you could go back, what would you do differently with your Website(s)?

I would start my second, third, and fourth SBI! Websites sooner than I did. Once you’ve got a handle on using the SBI! tools for the basics of building good content and incoming links, it’s not at all difficult to balance multiple Websites.

In fact, when you come up with a great new niche, it’s nice to have different topics to write about.


Rena, how do you “do it all”?

I work on my sites while my son’s at school during the day, or playing with his friends, or in the evening after he goes to bed. I don’t have set hours for working, and I love having the freedom to arrange each day to suit the other things going on in my life.

I’m a big fan of voluntary simplicity. I love the scaled-down lifestyle of working for myself at home.

For current details, visit…

http://www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com/about-rena.html

Case Study #2:
Online Opportunities Not Hindered by a Move Abroad

Claire Kolarova is a British national, living in Bulgaria with her husband and son (at the time of this interview).

 With one successful site and two more in the works, Claire finds that working online offers her that flexibility a family living abroad needs.

Tell us about your Websites, Claire.

My first was www.littlekidsgamesonline.com , in September 2004.

 Since then, I’ve started up other sites such as

 www.how-to-choose-baby-names.com,  and

www.casualgamestime.com 


What kind of education and work experience did you have before building your Website?

Degree in French, post graduate teaching qualification. Foreign languages teacher in the UK, teacher of English as a Foreign Language abroad.

What was your motivation for starting an online business?

Most of the WAHM opportunities I knew about seemed to involve door-to-door selling, which did not appeal to me at all.

 I love using the Internet - it’s an unbeatable way of going to work! Once I saw that it was possible to work online and use my skills there, it seemed the totally obvious choice.

How did you come up with your idea for a Website?

The kids’ games site seemed an obvious choice - once I thought of it! I did go round in circles a lot with other themes.

 Then it suddenly occurred to me - Claire, you know about online games for small children and kids’ games from school and so on - so there it was!

For the baby names site… I love words and meanings, and first names are a fascinating subject. It was a theme I’d considered for my first site, but I thought it would be too much work... and maybe I was right!

 Experience from my first site told me that I had to angle it and write content that nobody else offered. So that’s what I’m trying to do.

How many hours per week do you work on your site?

Very difficult to say as there are days or even weeks when I do very little due to our move abroad to a house that is still being built.

Maybe around 20 hours a week.

How do you make money from your first site?

Contextual advertising and affiliate programs.

How long was it before you found success? And please define what “success” means to you.

I’ll talk about the kids’ games site.

It took two months before I had any traffic at all.

It took seven months before I was getting a regular 100 visitors or more a day.

Since then traffic has steadily grown to around three to four hundred-plus visitors a day, including around ten percent returning visitors.

I started monetizing a year after I began using SBI! and began earning immediately.
 
This is success for me; I don’t know when that success could be said to have started, but now I am in profit and things are taking on their own momentum.


I think that now, having established the site, I can say that I do in fact know what I am doing - which makes things easier! - and so I feel more confident about what I do.

What I mean to say here is that it’s not just the site that gets established - your position as a mother at home running her own small business also starts to establish itself.

 That certainly gives you a feeling of accomplishment. However, I hope my success so far is only the beginning. There’s a lot more to do!

What convinced you to purchase SBI!?

The sample sites featured on the SBI! pages inspired me; I knew I could “build a site like that.” I could see that there was enough information, real meat, for me to learn what I needed to know and do it.

How did you convince your significant other that an online business was a smart move?

When I decided to build my first site, we had just decided to sell our house and move abroad.

I was teaching a little as well as being an almost-stay-at-home-mum and organizing the move. I had no plans to work once we had moved, and saw my SBI! site as a long-term project and interest that would keep me busy during the months of chaos ahead!

I didn’t feel that for me it was a situation that needed anybody to be convinced about anything - I just went ahead and did it!

If you could go back, what would you do differently with your Website(s)?

My kids’ games site has too broad a theme; I could have done a site just about online games or only party games, for example.



Claire, how do you “do it all”?

I do most of my work when my son is at school. Everything’s pretty basic at the moment, so I don’t have a big house to clean, nor do I bother much with ironing or cooking cordon bleu meals!

I currently don’t need to do it all, and we live in a fairly quiet coastal town where we walk to school and there are no huge shopping centers to distract me!


Do you have more pearls of wisdom to share with other mothers?

The great thing for me working online is that it doesn’t matter where I am. We’ve lived in four different houses the year that I started my online business and so long as I have a connection to the Internet I can carry on building my sites.

For most of that time I’ve worked on a coffee table in the lounge with all the activity of the household going on around me.

Nor does it matter which country I’m in - my sites, at least, remain where they are, and have become my homes in cyberspace!

For current details…

 http://www.littlekidsgamesonline.com/little-kids-games-online-about.html 



Case Study# 3
How To Do It All

Kari Anderson hails from Iowa, USA. As a mother to seven (yes, seven!) children, she understands the importance of finding that balance between being “Mom” and being “business owner”, www.karipearls.com.

Kari, tell us about your Website.

www.karipearls.com  (is) an SBI! site which I started over 4 years ago.


What kind of education and work experience did you have before building your Website?

I’ve done tons of volunteering (I’m a pastor’s wife…it comes with the territory.)

I also attempted some substitute teaching. I’ve traveled to several different countries for missions work. For over 20 years I’ve home schooled our children up until college. I’m home schooling our last two children right now.

I have a BS degree in child development from the U(niversity) of Arkansas, an elementary teaching degree from U(niversity) of Iowa.


What was your motivation for starting an online business?


I sort of stumbled onto it. I’d started a pearl business (I also stumbled on that) and was advised by the businessmen from SCORE to make a Website.

How did you come up with your idea for a Website?

I had already started a small pearl jewelry business from my home, so that actually came first. It was a toss up about domain name, but just decided to choose a brand (my own name) instead of a generic domain name.

I haven’t regretted that decision.


How many hours per week do you work on your site?

I’d say 20 hours minimum to 40 hours maximum.


How do you make money from your site?

My two main methods are Google AdSense and selling my own pearls. I even offer gift certificates!

How long was it before you found success? And please define what “success” means to you.

I’m very, very slow (tortoise, you know), and I really had no idea what I was doing.

The whole “content concept” took me a while to grasp and I got really hung up on keywords… so, it was about 10 months before I saw any real traffic or income.

Success can mean different things for various situations, but my goal for this site was to make an income. Once the checks from Google started coming, they continued and are gradually increasing in amount.

What convinced you to purchase SBI!?

The comparison with other programs.

Also lots of WAHMs I talk to have this concept that they need to be selling something.

They totally miss the beauty of the possibility of making an income at home simply by supplying information about their favorite topic. It just seems so foreign and maybe too simple. They look at me and then say, “But you’re selling something.”

Yes, I am selling something, but most of my income up until now comes from the information I provide, not by selling.

Being a “business-person” is scary for some WAHMs, but sharing their hearts, researching, and becoming an expert on a topic, etc., comes naturally. Because my children can all “tie their own shoes”, I’m ready to become a “business-person.”

Raising children and running a home is the best training for success anyone can have. People just don’t realize how complex and all-encompassing this time in life is.

Nurturing children and managing a home makes one develop in incredible ways as a person and makes us mothers totally capable for just about anything.

That may seem like an exaggeration, but, as you know, it takes tremendous stamina, wisdom, and self-denial to raise children. Those character traits can see anyone onto success.

We mothers not only raise our children, but they “raise” us… to new levels of refinement and strength.

WAHMs need to see their value and that’s what most women struggle with… having value. We love our families and home, but feel sort of “stuck there”, and need outlets.

Expressing ourselves and our knowledge via the Internet is a great outlet, although it will never take the place of human relationships and contact. In all reality, women who are smart enough to want to stay home are pretty smart.


How did you convince your significant other that an online business was a smart move?

After being married for 35 years, a couple knows one another pretty well, and I’d already tripled my initial investment in pearls more than once, so my husband knew, for a fact, that there was potential in my business.

When I found SBI!, I was looking for a Website program for my business. SBI!, of course, has opened up a whole unknown world for me on the Internet and I’m very grateful to them for that.

My husband, was totally behind me in this venture.

I also paid for SBI! from my own pearl business earnings… that was very important for me. I wanted it to be a real long-term commitment on my part, not just a fling.

Also, when my husband saw my first Google AdSense check which was for over $400, guess what? He started his own SBI! Website: www.grassfedrecipes.com, a winter project for him. He’s also a busy pastor and sheep farmer.

How does he support you in your ventures?

For one thing, my husband makes breakfast every morning. That gives me more “quality morning time” to work on my site. I’m fortunate to have a supportive husband.

I think he’s seen that God has used my efforts in the past and will continue to do so.

The best way to get your husband’s support is to get your priorities in order, simplify life, and give him enough of your time to make him feel special. After all, if he feels he’s going to be squeezed even more out of his wife’s life, he won’t be interested in her starting a Website.


Are your children involved with your business?

I’m sure those Google AdSense checks are mostly what inspired my second son to start his own site. We also have another site that involves all nine of us (http://www.globehoppers.com/).

We thought an SBI! site would be a great way to share about our family’s global ministry. The kids write pages about their travels and experiences. It’s been a great motivator for them, knowing their writing will be “published”.

If you could go back, what would you do differently with your Website(s)?

I won’t get so hung up on keywords and would rely more on my common sense and an outline. Also, I wouldn’t be so afraid.

The whole thing was very scary to me. I’d discipline myself to writing at least a page everyday first thing and not spend so much time checking things like stats and email.

I’d NEVER offer a free item without charging at least a minimal shipping and handling fee…. big lesson learned.

I have two words printed out and taped to the top of my computer: “Consistent” and “Persistent”.

I would have been more of both of those from the beginning. Most of all, I’d work harder at keeping my priorities right.

Kari, how do you “do it all”?

I have lots of tips. Here are a few that have especially helped me.

1. De-clutter.
2. Simplify clothing.
3. Simplify meals.
4. Simplify lifestyle.
5. Stay out or get out of debt.
6. Tithe.
7. Establish priorities.
8. Wash something, clean something, and bake something every day.
9. Delegate.
10. Encourage yourself.

Do you have more pearls of wisdom to share with other mothers?

Even though my kids are older I still try and work when they’re not around or sleeping. It was a big point of frustration for them when I started my Website and I was “always” (it seemed to them) on the computer.

I think they were right about that. I learn a lot from my children’s insights. One of my children summed it up one day this way. “Mom, don’t get sucked in. Remember, we need a mother!”

What was happening was exactly what I didn’t want. Yes, I was home with my kids, but at the same time often ignoring them. That’s something to keep a handle on. The computer can do that…. “suck you in.”

That’s when I started getting up early and I’m not a morning person. But it’s restored peace to my home and my relationship with my family. Some afternoons I also squeeze some more time in, but only if there is time.

For current details, visit… http://www.karipearls.com/website.html
Wow! Three remarkable moms who are also WAHMs!

You just heard their stories. Now it’s time for you to discover the story behind the stories…

The Background Story