About UsI often get asked how I ended up in Australia and writing this website so here goes..... I'm Jo and that's my daughter Scarlett. She was just 3 weeks old when that picture was taken..so tiny and vulnerable. She's now 10 months old I can't believe how quickly she's grown. The time has just flown by. 
My husband, Mike, Scarlett and I all live here in Sydney Australia. We live 5 minutes from Bronte Beach and we think we are the luckiest people in the world. We get to have all that a big city has to offer AND have all that beach living brings - sunshine, beautiful coastal walks, daily swims in the ocean and plenty of fresh air.So how did two 30 something Brits end up here on the other side of the world? Back in 2004, Mike and I were living together in London, we had good jobs and had just turned 30. We knew we were destined to be together forever but knew we weren't quite ready for the whole marriage and kids thing. We just felt there had to be more to life than the usual 9-5 job. We were sick of the long commute and living in expensive shoe boxes. We hatched a plan to give up our lives and jobs in London and head to Sydney, Australia for A YEAR. The idea itself came to us on the last day of our annual holiday in Sardinia Italy. It took a further 3 months however to convince ourselves to do it. Giving up your entire life and everything you know is a big thing and it felt quite scary - we had a great life back in London - did we really want to give it all up? We'd never been to Australia - it was a total unknown 
After 9 months we knew a year just wouldn't be long enough, but our money was starting to run out. So we opted for getting more permanent work in Sydney so that we could travel at weekends. We managed to find a company to sponsor us on a 457 business visa. We still travelled lots - nearly every weekend.5 years on and we are now married and still here in Sydney. We still travel but its less frequent these days, due to the birth of our lovely daughter. If you are thinking about doing something totally different and want to live in another country - I can't recommend it enough. Yes, we miss our friends and family back in the UK but we make sure we visit regularly and they come out to visit lots too. What about the website?If you have ever had a child, you'll know that adjusting to motherhood, after years of independence and being able to do what you want when you want, is really difficult. I found the first couple of months very hard. I felt like my life was pretty much over!But once I got used to being a Mum and understanding what Scarlett needed, I LOVED it. By about 6 months I was totally in the swing of my new life but my brain needed some activity - there's only so much gooing and gaaing you can do. I'd always had a passion for travel and had loved our travel around Australia. We've had so many visitors over from the UK and I'd helped write itineraries for their holidays in Australia. I really enjoyed it and got lots of positive feedback. I started to think about what I could do to keep my travel alive and keep my brain active. I wanted a way that I could contribute to the household income but work from home so that I could spend the time with my daughter. That's when it happened. Whist searching the net, I stumbled on a website called SBI. SBI stands for Site Build It! and it helps you turn any hobby, passion or skill into a viable online business. Any topic can actually make money with a website. Now I'm no genius when it comes to anything to do with computers or websites. Before I started, I could use a computer, I could search the net and write emails but that really was about it. You need no prior knowledge of building a website, no particular software, you don't even need a product to sell. SBI will take you step by step through an easy process for building your very own website. Write?? Don't worry about that either. There's lots of hints and tips available to help you find your own voice and a way to write. Topic? SBI will even help you choose the right topic and then teach you how to make money from it. I took The Video Tour to understand a bit more about it. I'm so glad I did! You can take the Quick Tour if you are short of time. Here's some successful SBI websites too for you to have a look at. These sites are in the top 1% of the most successful sites on the web. Whilst travel websites are popular, there are so many other different topics, all making great profits. How do you make money?It's mainly through advertising. Did you see the goooogle ads throughout my website? Every time someone clicks on one of those, I make money. There are other ways too, but that's the main source of income.How long does it take to make money?I started this site in March 2009. After 3 months of hard work, I have a website that is up and running and starting to make some money. My site is getting found in the search engines and traffic is building every week.It takes time for your website to become established and make serious money. In the beginning you don't make much. You have to wait about 2 years to be making the big bucks. I had a good day job and if I wanted to earn as much as that, I'd only need 2 websites.
How much work is it?It is hard work and the bulk of the work is at the beginning when you need to build the pages. It is very time consuming and I have spent most evenings, weekends and a couple of hours in the day working on my site for the last 3 months.You don't have to work that many hours though if you don't want to. You can choose to spend just a few hours a week on it. You just need to be realistic on how quickly your site will bring in the big money if you take this approach. Once your website is established though, it's not a lot of work to maintain it - maybe 3-6 hours a week. This is perfect for me as it will allow me to be a stay at home Mum. If you had told me that in just 3 months I'd have my very own travel website AND be able to look after my lovely daughter, I would have thought you were joking.
Working from home
is just so liberating.
YOU MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK and SEIZE THE DAY So, if you have a passion for something, or you are a stay at home Mum looking to earn some extra cash, try SBI - What are you waiting for? |
Thankfully we took the plunge and it is one of the best decisions I think we have ever made. We came out here on a working holiday visa with the plan of working and traveling our way around Australia. 
www.stayz.com.au Gives you access to the best holiday rentals in Australia.
Go Do for great Australian Ativities .
offers hundreds of hotels and great prices.
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Ayers Rock Australia
Whitsundays Australia