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My name is Helen. I live near the beach in Cape Town, the most beautiful part of South Africa, and I stay home with my three gorgeous girls - all day - every day.

After my first precious miracle entered this world, kicking and screaming at the top of her little lungs, I fell so completely in love that I knew I could never return to the work place and leave her in someone else's care.

So now, while others fight the morning traffic, we cuddle up and read a book...

While others suffer through a hectic lunch hour, we take a picnic down to the beach...

Financially it hasn't been easy. There have been setbacks and we've had our share of problems. But we overcame them and now we manage to live pretty well even though I'm at home, and so can you.

How? Read my story...

A Huge Mistake - Or A Blessing In Disguise?

I've always loved to create. Whether it was decorating or learning new crafts, I've always been into something. I've dabbled in everything from photography to decoupage - I just love art! I haven't found a creative project yet that I didn't enjoy!

But when it came time to choose a career...

I studied to be a Chartered Accountant. What was I thinking? How much less creative a job could I have thought of?

My practical side thought it was a good idea, but no surprise...

Huge mistake!

When I started working, I hated it! And I mean really hated it! Life was passing me by while I sat couped up in an office.

I saw so many moms I worked with going away with great excitement to have their babies. I wanted it to be me...

I wanted to escape!

But then when they returned a few months later so that they could pay the bills, I saw their despair at being separated from their little ones. I saw their hearts breaking while they wasted away the days, and I vowed that I would never let that happen to me. The day I left the accounting office it would have to be for good.

So I waited, and waited and waited...

Desperation Began To Set In

We had been married ten years and I really wanted a baby!

But I stubbornly refused to bring our first child into this world until I knew we could afford for me to stay home.

Then, out of the blue - a miracle. My hubby was offered a new job with a huge promotion and a salary increase to match. It was still only just enough to cover our bills without my salary, but we knew that I would be able to stay home for at least the first year or two before going back to work.

After all the years of waiting, a year or two seemed like an eternity! The waiting was finally over - Samantha was conceived two months later!

Nothing could have prepared me for the emotions I experienced when this precious baby entered my life in June 2000. My world turned upside down. My heart left my body and joined with hers. My love affair with everything baby had begun!


Baby smells, baby toes, precious baby smiles - I just adore everything about them. And it's not just my babies that I love. Just ask my friends - I'm known as the local baby-holic! You can always count on me to babysit!

But The Finances!

Staying home and living on one income has not been easy. Scraping through from month to month we've been taken for a ride numerous times over the years trying out all sorts of money-making schemes to try to bolster the family finances. All of them ended in disaster and tears. But we kept trying anyway.

By 2007 we had three really good reasons to keep up the fight to stay at home. But those three little mouths also meant an ever-increasing pressure on the budget.

It was inevitable...

If I didn't find a way to bring in some extra money, sooner or later I would have to go back to work.

Then I had an idea...


It's so simple, I wish I'd thought of it earlier while we were scraping together to pay the bills each month: Make a living doing what you love! You can - I'll show you how I'm doing it.

For me doing what I love had to involve babies. I thought about opening a creche but that was going to be a lot of work for not much money and we would need a bigger house with an extra room.

My next thought was to open a nursery design business. I love doing that. Ever since I've been at home with my girls I have used any excuse I can find to decorate. My friends all know they can count on me to produce a special space for their new born bundles. It's come to be known as my unique baby shower gift!

Decorating baby nurseries is the perfect way to blend two of my three great loves in life. Babies and art. (My third is the beach - we do plenty of that too!)

However, as much fun as a nursery design business would have been, it still meant too much time away from my children on consultations and presentations.

Then a friend of mine introduced me to SBI! She was using it to build a homeschooling site but she said almost any topic could make money with a website, including nursery design.

Build a website?! Was she insane? I barely knew how to download my e-mail!

But she said that was no problem. I didn't need programming skills or website design knowledge. No business or product to sell. Just my brain and the motivation to succeed. She took me on this video tour that explains all about Sitesell and how SBI includes everything one needs to build a website. All the tools and support are there every step of the way. (Take the quick tour if you're on dial up.)

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Now you don't have to worry about how you will build your site. Sitesell has introduced a new option called elearning.

In the past two years, Sitesell has offered the Building A Successful Business Using The Internet course in educational institutions in Australia, Canada and America. Now, by using technology, you can take the SBI! elearning course in your own home!

Just sign up for SBI! elearning and you will graduate after 12 weeks with an income earning business. You'll be coached and guided through each step.

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It was interesting but I didn't think I would have the time - raising and homeschooling three girls is no picnic!

But I found out that I could do it all in my spare time. I set the pace. No pressure - no deadlines! (After the accounting office I've seen enough deadlines to last a lifetime!)

Still, I was skeptical about spending the money. I'd been down this road so many times before and I really couldn't afford to take another chance. Hubby wasn't too keen either!

But SBI does come with a full money back guarantee! and 62% of all SBI websites make it to the top 3% of the millions of websites on the net!

That was pretty tough to argue with. What did I have to lose? It was either that or trudge back to the workplace. So, after much debating and to-ing and fro-ing...


I joined the ranks of SBI work at home moms. And I'm so glad I did. Thank goodness I found SBI. I doubt that I would still be at home with my girls if I hadn't.

I am really blessed to have the best of both worlds. Not only do I get to spend my days with my girls, I also have a fulfilling creative outlet. I've built every single page of this site myself and I love doing it!

And far beyond my wildest expectations, my little website not only provides pocket money for me to spend on my girls, it's also well on the way to providing me with a decent salary!

You can do what I'm doing with any passion, hobby, skill or area of expertise. Whatever it is that makes you happy. Look at the staggering variety of topics that people have turned into successful websites using SBI!

And if you don't have any ideas, don't worry. SBI helps you to figure that out too. Thanks to SBI I have so many ideas for other sites; I doubt I'll ever get to them all!

You may be wondering how I make money. At the moment mostly with advertising. You probably saw the links throughout the site that say "Ads by Goooogle". Every time someone is interested and clicks on one I make money.

(This is such a popular question that I wrote an update with more details about my income and answers to other common questions.)

But there are countless other ways to make money with a website: create your own egoods to sell, sell other people's products for a commission, get paid for leads and referrals and more. SBI shows you how to do all that.

You can get some more ideas from what other SBIers are doing. Just have a look at these case studies.

So - Do You Want To Stay Home With Your Little One?

Well, you can, so what are you waiting for? Don't let the incredible opportunity of being there to raise your baby pass you by.

P.S...

I've had so many e-mails from moms and moms-to-be asking for more information about the nitty-gritty of how I built the site and how I earn an income from it. So I decided to write a work from home update with details of my SBI journey so far and the answers to your most common questions.