About Me - How SiteBuildIt! is a part of making a dream into a reality....About me scrapbooking with Site Build It! as my partner. It is about turning my hobby into my own business and how others have done so too! Crafting to scrapbooking... Hi. My name is Sharon. All my life I have used my hands in some type of work or other activity. From my teen years on I became interested in crafts. I started with latch-hook and graduated to cross-stitch, crochet, and needlework. I visited the H & H Craft Store where my little sister worked often then. Scrapbooking would come along later. Part-time work and the computer.. Most of my work experience has been in part-time employment. As such, I was always trying to find a way to bring in a secondary income. For awhile I even wrote verses on t-shirts with scribbler paints. Many people loved it and I took orders accordingly. These things, fun that they were, proved less than I'd hoped for in trying to pull away from my first employer and into other things. Soon I was on the path again to school this time learning how to operate a computer. A year later, I was a church secretary and one of my assignments was putting together a monthly newsletter. I enjoyed this. Two years after that I went to work for yet another church where I had a bit of a learning curve to overcome. It was during this time I discovered the art of scrapbooking, putting pictures and memorabilia into an album, and threw myself into it, with not a lot of knowledge in regard to what was safe to use and what was not. I knew a few things, though. Mostly I concentrated on organizing pictures of my nieces and nephews, as well as family events throughout the year. This particular hobbie would hold special importance to me as a way to document my life and my families lives. Scrapbooking continued to hold my focus even through a layoff where it would be several months before I would find my next job. My first business... In 2006, the year following mine and my husbands wedding, I started my first business. Joli File', french for 'pretty yarn,' involved me crocheting blankets, stuffed animals, bags, hats, and so on. I also started thinking about going after my bachelor's degree and looked into various schools locally. As I was more focused because of my business, a business emphasis is what I placed on it. Through a casual conversation with my grandfather, started with a birthday card, we came around to talking about my future. He offered to help me with school when I was ready. In the fall of that same year I had been contacted by someone who worked with people helping to build businesses. These people took a long time getting back to me and in the meantime, I found a college of interest. Halloween 2006 I started my first online course through the University of Phoenix. I have learned a few things in this manner, including my learning from fellow students who were where I was considering. In early 2008 I would officially close my business. I was disgusted. I had a hard time keeping up with it by myself because of issues with carpal tunnel but also because I was not selling my product successfully to anyone seeing the same value in my work as I did. Little did I know that my love of scrapbooking would soon come into the picture. Chasing rabbits... After having let go of Joli File', I concentrated on my school work. In between classes I tried out a program where you try out different products from people and get paid for it. Sounds easier than it is. This one I became involved with was part of a list of three. Funny, but SiteBuildIt! was one of the recommendations someone listed, but, I didn't think I could afford it at the time. Silly me! While chasing various rabbits, I did find a couple new friends. I continue to converse with them outside that arena. One of them introduced me to SiteBuildIt! There's that name again. What I found was that among all the rabbits I was chasing, SiteBuildIt! or SBI! was not one of them. No, SBI! would be the tortoise showing me how to connect my love of scrapbooking with a way to make a business out of it. By the way, I am not knocking education. In fact, SiteBuildIt! is used in several colleges, both community and universities. So I am finishing school, but SiteBuildIt! is helping me take a dream and make it my reality.
Update.....May 2009 I am just finishing my last class and graduation is only two weeks away as of this update. I have been through re-creating my blueprint and can hardly wait to concentrate more fully on building my site. When I started my classes I wanted to be my own business woman. While my medium has changed, the dream of being in charge of my business and my life has not. Back in January a male reader, (http://www.courierpostonline.com), who is also into scrapbooking, submitted an article on the recession and scrapbooking. In a time where money is tighter than ever and the days don't seem to end, families are turning back to the things that matter most to them. Scrapguy's own advice in bringing the family together is to build a scrapbook. Like this writer, I too wonder sometimes when I look at old photos that lack journaling with the pictures "Who am I looking at?" I have done a lot of writing in my academic classes. But nothing is quite like the art of journaling and so that we do not have to wonder what that picture was about later on, that too will be addressed as a part of scrapbooking. Oh by the way...I have another niece on the way. Her name will be Penelope and she is coming in October. August 2009..... It has been a couple months since my graduation. I am up to 19 pages presently. About to go on vacation. I do plan on attending to my site some more over the next couple weeks. Below you will find a photo of me in my cap and gown outside the Citizen's Bank Arena where the ceremony took place.
I have reached beyond my 30 pages and have put it through a review process with my SBI! peers in the forums. I am telling you this because I want you to undertand that this is not just about me scrapbooking with some sitebuilder, but that SBI! is about a process with a massive set of tools which lead to a successful business. April 2010 Update.... We grow as our business grows and vice versa: It seems like it has been almost two years since I made a commitment to this site and the building of it. I have always thought of it as my baby. Well, my baby is growing into another stage right along with me. The twists and turns that have helped make this site what it is today and what it can be tomorrow are as ingrained in my own growth as well. Advice is a good thing, when tempered with understanding that you must be who you are as well as understanding what you want your site to say to people, what you want it to do. My advice to someone contemplating putting their own site up, whether through SBI! or with another platform, know what your goals are and how you will achieve them...as well as being able to change directions if necessary. There have been times so frustrating I wanted to quit...but not really. I would be upset, but I knew I didn't want to throw in the towel just because I was having a difficult moment. The best piece of advice I have heard as far as why you should not give up is that the business of business is not about how smart you are or how many degrees you have, but about persevering. If you can't persevere, it doesn't matter what you may know. That is what I have learned. July 2010 Update.... I recently reached 50 pages. My site is starting to bring in a little income, but will be awhile before it is anything substantial. I have much going on in my life, it seems at the moment. Much going on in the world. Just like to say that not all sites make it in just a few months, but that doesn't mean your site is a bust. Everyone is different. Keep at it. Keep perservering. Return from About Me Scrapbooking to Homepage
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