How I built my website with Wealthy Affiliate – A Personal Review

During the last few months of 2016 my girlfriend Hillary and I decided we were ready to move out of the state of Indiana.

Indiana.

“Fly over country” as my Texan grandmother so often puts it.

Home of corn and soybeans. It just wasn’t for us. The winters are brutal and the summers are stifling. So when we came to Tennessee to visit some family and fell in love with the area, it just seemed like the natural next step. In February of 2017 we met with a realtor, put in an offer and waited. In March I put my notice in at work and began packing up our apartment. In April we closed on our place and made the move.

Although the mortgage process can be a grueling one, it all happened pretty quickly. When the stress subsided, the to-do lists were all checked off, and the boxes lay empty and broken down, I was posed with a new challenge.

What was I going to do for work?

Since Hillary has a job that sends her all over the country, even though we had moved she was still employed. Her income took the pressure off of me and my job hunt, and since her and I both have private insurance, I didn’t necessarily need a full time job with benefits. I was in a pretty good situation and could afford to go a few months or so without an income of my own.

But job or no job – I’m a workaholic.

I’ve worked since I was about ten years old. Starting with babysitting, mowing lawns, shoveling snow, you know – the usual odd jobs you do as a kid to make a quick buck. I’ve worked in childcare, the food industry, sales, and in retail. There was even a time when I was a phone solicitor (talk about depressing! Every premature hang-up felt like a jab to the heart. “Just hear me out!” Click). And for the past almost-decade I’ve worked as a care-giver in the disability field. After years of 80+ hour work weeks, now I suddenly had a whole lot of time on my hands.

It wasn’t easy for me to think about jumping right back into working for “The Man,” even though it was almost instinctual for me to do so. Hillary was working two time zones away which left me alone in our new house and our new city. I hadn’t made many new friends and with nothing obligatory to fill my days, all of my minutes were empty. The house was silent and still, and I was forced to re-evaluate my life. I needed to think about how valuable my time is, and who or what is worth spending it on.

After some self-reflection I hopped online like so many of us often do. I Googled things like, “Working from home” and “How to make money online.” I was feeling motivated and ambitious. I was more than ready for this new venture.

But along the way I fell for a few “get rich quick” schemes and in turn wasted a few weeks falling prey to companies like Work at Home Revenue with Michelle Robinson for example. And each time I felt a pang of disappointment and frustration. And it was a rather large pang.

But I didn’t give up. Instead I got my money back and kept searching.

Enter Wealthy Affiliate

Was I cautious? Yep.

Was I hesitant? Absofreakinlutely!

But then this bomb dropped inside my skull:

“If at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again… dust yourself off and try again, try again.”

I took a second to find it on YouTube and ended up having a mini jam sesh in my living room.  Any 90’s kids feel me?

 

 

Alright, alright. Back to the point.

So I’m on WealthyAffiliate.com and read that the first week is free and the first month is over half off. I knew it would be worth a few dollars as an investment if it meant that during this time next year I would be living the life I’ve only dreamed of. But just to cover all bases, I told myself that I could always get my money back. Next thing I know, I’m clicking the sign up button.

And I couldn’t be happier!

Well, when my website is making bank and I’m busy doing whatever I want I’ll be happier. But at this stage in the process, I’m seriously impressed. I had dabbled in having my own website a few years back, but the problem was I wasn’t tech savvy and only had basic computer skills.

It would literally take me an hour to figure out how to center my header, another to figure out what a “Gravatar” was and how to add one, and even more time trying to get my images to upload… which got me into pixels, jpegs and raws.  I became extremely frustrated and I gave up.

The great thing about WealthyAffiliate is everything you need is readily available to you on a single platform. You sign in to your WA account and from your dashboard you can:

Log in to your website.

Enter the Live Chat with the community.

Search for trainings, tutorials and blogs.

Private message other community members.

Check the stats of your website.

Ask for help with comments and feedback.

Send in a Site Support ticket if you have any questions you fail to find answers for.

And so much more!

(I just said that last part in a cheesy, “As Seen On TV”  spokesman voice. In case you were wondering)

Take a look for yourself!

There are lessons and courses that take you step by step through the process of building your own website. From the very basics of buying a domain and choosing a niche, to building up your social networking, how to build traffic, the importance of key words, how to increase revenue, and so on and so forth. The guys that are responsible for WealthyAffiliate, Kyle and Carson, are just one private message away. You’ll get to know Kyle pretty well through the training, he put the majority of it together. And pretty much every lesson has a video explaining the lesson content, which is fantastic for me since I’m such a visual learner.

What I’m saying here is that they equip you with ALL the tools you need to build your own potential from-home business. But don’t get me wrong, you’re going to have to put in the time.

You can choose how to approach your situation however you feel comfortable. For me, not having a full time job has left me pretty freed up to invest in my website. Many aren’t so lucky. So if you’re like the majority, who want to build a website and work from home but don’t have a whole lot of free time to invest  – That’s okay! You’ve got to understand that that’s where most folks start.

If it’s something that you’re truly interested in

Something maybe you’ve kicked around a bit in the past

Something that makes you feel excited

Start anyway! 

If you’ve made it this far, you probably have an interest. Take some time to figure out if this opportunity would better whatever situation you may be in. Think about how it makes you feel. Grab a paper and a pencil, or pull out your phone or laptop and use your notepad. Make a list of five things you want to accomplish in the next 1.5 – 2 years. It could be a trip you want to take, a material item you want to buy, fitness goals, etc. Now look at your list and ask yourself these two questions.

• Can I realistically reach these goals if I change nothing in my life?

• Would working from home help me obtain these things more easily, more quickly, and more practically?

My goals:

1. Travel on the road with Hillary when she goes off to work
2. Backpack abroad in the next 12 months
3. Pick up the violin again that’s sitting in my closet
4. Read one book a month
5. Volunteer three times a month

I’m working on them, and it feels great. I finally feel like I have the tools I need to begin working for myself, never having to use my alarm clock, wearing sweat pants all day, and having an afternoon beer. Another perk for me personally is that I get to work with my dog in my lap! Everyday in my office can be Bring Your Pup To Work Day!

My ultimate goal, of course, would be having the freedom to travel.

What would the perks be for you? I invite you to find out! If you’re ready to take the next step and give it a shot, or maybe you’re just wanting a little more information,  Click Here. Think the way I thought – You can always get your money back. Want to read a bit more about my progress? Click here for my first 5 weeks at WA review or check out my First 3 months at WA review here. For my most recent review, check out my 5 Months, new theme and first sale post here!

This may just be the first step towards changing the rest of your life.