My Story

Hi, I'm Shirley Ray.

My story is the result of 35+ years in the work force. The advice I offer has been distilled from my in the trenches 360 degree view of the job getting / employee hiring process.

This expertise stems not only from corporate recruiting (where my hiring experience began) but also from a successful career as a professional recruiter and then staffing agency owner.

During my 17 years in hiring I've worked closely with hiring managers and executives at all levels in companies of all sizes placing hundreds of deserving candidates into great jobs. As a corporate manager and a business owner I've also hired people to work directly for me.

On the flip side I've been an entry level candidate; a relocated sales rep who also happened to be an at-home-mom returning to work; a laid-off middle manager looking for her next position; and a bought out entrepreneur looking for her next opportunity.

Every role I've had has added to the experiential platform from which I've launched the next adventure.

As you may have guessed, I'm also a risk taker by nature. Everyone who knows me has heard me say more than once...

How I ended up as an infopreneur on the internet is a demonstration of the truth in that statement.

My Story

Our friends thought we were crazy to start a new business. (At the time the economy was recovering from the devastating 9/11 attacks.)

Even though Jane was a little nervous; I had no doubt we would be successful. (Never underestimate the power of positive thinking!)

Financial backing was obtained and we opened our doors in August of 2002. At first Jane and I both focused on sales and had a few wins that got us going. Then in November we were invited to bid on a big piece of business.

The local branch of a national telecommunications company had a push on to add upwards of 100 sales and contract maintenance positions. We were chosen on December 6th as the exclusive provider of new talent for that company's big push.

The catch was this: the company executives wanted to achieve their hiring goals within 4 months. The first wave of new employees was slated to start right after the first of the year. That was four weeks away with the holidays in there to boot.

The good news? Our business was so new we were able to devote almost 100% of our resources to helping that company achieve its hiring goals.

The bad news? Our company manpower consisted of only Jane, me and one internal employee.

It took long hours and hard work to push that snow ball uphill. But we exceeded our commitments to the client, reached profitability that January and never looked back. Over the next 3 years we continued to grow and prosper.

Then flies started buzzing around the ointment.

During the company's fourth and into the fifth year Jane's goals for the business and my goals began to diverge. I was committed to the original plan of growing big enough to become a takeover target. Jane wanted the company to stay just big enough to support the both of us and our employees.

I'll spare you the details. Suffice it to say that in the end I agreed to be bought out. After investing so much of myself in that business walking away was one of the the hardest things I've ever had to do.

"What do I do now?"

1. I needed an income. I was too young to retire.

2. I wanted to be self employed. Being self directed was important to me. And I didn't want to be a slave to the clock.

3. I didn't want to be tied to a bricks and mortar business. The idea of no employee hassels was extremely appealing. My husband and I also love to travel on our motorcycle. So being able to pick up and go when the mood struck made this a biggie.

4. I wanted to work from home if at all possible. Who wouldn't want no commute and comfy clothes?

What I didn't know was how I could create an income stream while accomplishing all my other objectives. I didn't worry though because, Things tend to work out the way they're supposed to.

Instead I took action. I started investigating possibilities.

First I looked at trading stocks. Maybe I could create an income stream using the capital I received from the sale of my interest in the staffing agency. (I told you I was a risk taker.:-)

The only problem was...I didn't know squat about the stock market! So I took a few courses to learn how to trade successfully. I also learned that while statistically it's possible to make a living stock trading; the reality is you have to be able to weather the inevitable losses to make money.

I eventually figured out that I needed a much bigger nest egg to make trading a viable option for creating an income stream. (I still thank heaven I was out of the market before it went south in a big way in 2008.)

There was something else too. I discovered that stock trading didn't fulfill a need I hadn't considered; a connection to other people.

I had been intimately involved in helping companies hire great talent for a long time. It was hard to imagine more rewarding work and I missed interacting with people. But I couldn't see how to keep that connection and still meet all my other criteria.

The Answer

Then my daughter introduced me to SBI a/k/a Site Build It.

Site Build It showed me a way to reach out to job seekers while at the same time turning my knowledge into a web based business.

The great Zig Ziglar once said,

"You can have anything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want."

(Ken Envoy of Site Build It knows the truth of this too. That's why SBI offers such an affordable comprehensive vehicle that drives the success of others.)

Now, I'm not a computer whiz. Far from it. Outside of certain company specific data bases everything I know about computers came from the hunt and peck school of computing. Over the years when I needed to accomplish a computer related task I would look up the help and figure out how to do it.

Beyond finding a company to host it I didn't have a clue about the nuts and bolts of building a web-site. I certainly didn't know anything about search engine optimization (SEO) or building traffic to my site. And I had no idea how to "monetize" a web-site to make money.

I learned that with SBI success didn't depend on having any technical knowledge. Many of the other people who've been successful using Site Build It didn't have that know how either.

As I researched my options, blogging came to my attention as a possibility. Creating a blog was much quicker than building a web site. If I could get up and running a lot faster wouldn't that be better?

But I did my homework and after looking at this comparison there was no question about which way I should go. Blogging was too close to trading time for money to suit me.

A web site could be a lasting business that would grow as I continued to add focused content. All I needed to bring to the table was my desire to share my hard earned knowledge; an ability to get my thoughts onto paper; and the determination to succeed. SBI takes care of all the technical nuts and bolts stuff.

SBI provided a self study course on building a top 3% web site that included a step-by-step Action Guide along with a block by block site building tool. I didn't have to know any HTML software or html coding. (But if I had known, SBI would still work beautifully!)

My minimal investment in SBI provided me with every tool I could possibly need. With the "when the student is ready, the teacher appears" learning delivery system I had (still do have) access to over 70 individual learning modules and I got directed to what I needed at the time in the process that I needed it.

There's only one problem with SBI...It's too good to be true. People have a hard time believing that so much is offered for so little. But I'm here to tell you that every word here is absolutely true. And so is SBI.

SBI Sincerely Wants Me to Succeed.

Want to know why?

Because it's good business. Under-promise and over-deliver is the philosophy we built the staffing agency around. It's the premise upon which this web site is built. And it's also the mantra of Site Build It.

Besides walking me through every step of building my web site SBI provides access to a robust members' forum where help is available for every aspect of my business. And that is literally just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to tools and help.

The View From Here

Granted it's not a view of the beach. But it's my little corner of the world. And it beats heck out of four walls and a window that won't open. SBI has given me this freedom.

Don't misunderstand. I'm disciplined about my work week. Being a creature of habit I get up with my husband and have breakfast. Then I do a short 20-30 minute workout and spend some time pickin' up and puttin' up (as my mother used to say).

After I have my shower it's usually 9:30 or 10:00 by the time I sit down with my computer. I work for two or three hours before taking a break to stretch my legs and get some lunch. Then I'll work another 2 or 3 hours with a short break in there somewhere.

At first I pushed myself harder. Working to get that snow ball up the hill. Once I reached the point where the snow ball had some momentum of it's own I backed off a bit.

I'm mostly at it Monday through Friday because that's when my husband, Mike, is busy with his business. I take off a few times a month to have lunch with my girl friends or have my hair or nails done.

And of course when the urge hits to take flight on our motorcycle, we're out'ta here.

Mike and I have been known to take off for up to 3 weeks at a time. We'd stay gone longer but we have to get back for Mike's business. As for my business...this web site is making money whether I'm working or not.

That said, there are times when I'm inspired with a great idea for the site and work from after dinner until bed time. (Truth be told sometimes through dinner and past bedtime too.)

Having the freedom to make my own schedule is a joy. And being able to follow my passion is priceless.

Deciding to build a business with SBI's help and guidance is the best decision I ever made.

Life is Bella! thanks in large part to SBI. My only regret is that I didn't do this sooner. But then again...