Cath Andrews - UK and Italy
Online Business Owner
www.explore italian culture.com

Cath Andrews lives for part of the year near Liverpool, UK, and part in the old farmhouse she shares with her husband, two dogs, several hens and the odd goat in the heart of rural Italy.

This will be Cath's fourth SBI conference and her second in the U.S. She previously Chaired the Barcelona conference, jointly planned and Chaired the Edinburgh conference, and at the Chicago conference had the important role of leading the group in their rendition of "YMCA" and helping American and Canadian colleagues understand the true meaning of the words "Evertonian" and "brilliant".

Cath has qualifications in modern languages including Italian, Spanish, French and Chinese but bizarrely for thirty-two years chose to work as a Senior Manager in the UK's Probation Service, the equivalent of the Parole Service, sadly without the guns.

In 2009 she chose to retire gracefully (at a very young age) and found SBI by accident in an attempt to find work she actually enjoyed. Her website, Explore Italian Culture.com is now 18 months old and has recently been joined by a baby brother, a new site which sadly has not yet been named.

Cath's Italian site now has an average of one thousand unique visitors a day and its income, although not yet huge, has paid for her to indulge her obsession with attending as many SBI conferences as she can fit into her life. Her intense dislike of building inbound links has made her an expert in how to avoid the boring methods and concentrate on more interesting routes, which she will be sharing with Tampa colleagues.

Having made many friends at previous conferences, Cath is hoping to renew old friendships and make lots of new ones, while at the same time enjoying learning with and from people whose eyes don't glaze over when she mentions building an online business.

Wendy Fisher, Shelby Twp., Michigan
Online Business Owner
www.retirement-online.com
www.friendship-by-mail.com

Wendy retired in 2010 after 36 years with local government (25 years as a Retirement Manager, thus the website). "My SBI! Web sites provide a supplemental retirement income and also allow me to share my knowledge, which is really important to me. I believe that Retirement and SBI! go hand in hand... keeps your brain functioning, and keeps some extra income coming in , and I know the importance to have something to retire TO, as well as keeping retirement income flowing."

Putting SBI! enthusiasm into practice, Wendy is the honorary SBI! Conference Groupie having attended four SBI conferences : Orlando (Fall of 2008), San Diego (Spring of 2009), Citadel Boot Camp Training (Summer of 2009), Cincinnati (Fall of 2009), Dallas (Spring 2010), Chicago (Fall 2010). Wendy said "At first, this was a little odd, but recently many SBIers at conferences have previously attended. To me, this means it's well worth the cost to attend as many conferences as possible. We all learn so very much and just get motivated like crazy!"

Please note the SBI! Tortoise in the photo... "I got it in Orlando! Love it!" she says."

Tracie Irvine - Texas
Online Business Owner
www.parrot-and-conure-world.com


Tracie was a computer operator/programmer back in the "Main Frame" computer days. She became a stay at home mom for about 20 years, and the personal computing market took over the world. In the last few years of homeschooling her daughter she needed to have a stay-at-home job to help pay the bills.

After about 6 months of researching different web companies, she decided that SBI was the most supportive and helpful for someone that knew nothing about building a website and starting a business. Tracie started her first SBI website selling parrot supplies in April of 2006 with very little personal computing experience. In fact, she only had dial-up Internet the first year and a half!

Thanks to the GREAT SBI! tortoise training, within a few months her SBI site became profitable and within a year was paying most of the bills. Today Tracie has an average of 1400 unique visitors a day to her SBI! website and has no plans to work outside the home again.

Her husband Terry now has an SBI website and is also doing well with his business.

Lori Krout - Palm Harbor, Florida
Online Business Owner
www.Dog-Paw-Print.com


Lori Krout Lori started with SBI back in March of 2007, and began building her first site, Dog-Paw-Print.com that April. Though she had no prior experience creating websites, with the help of all of the great SBI tools, the Action Guide and lots of peer support, she has been able to build a successful website that is helping her achieve financial independence.

An artist, teacher and freelance graphic designer, Lori is also an avid dog-lover, and chose the family dog as her website's main theme, with a spotlight on helping people learn how to find the right type dog breed to fit with their family lifestyle. Dog Paw Print ranks in the top 180,000 websites worldwide on Alexa and is currently ranked 38,276 in the US. Lori continues to develop the Dog Paw Print site, and is also starting a new SBI site, called Dog-Pics-and-Puppy-Pics.com. This is her second time presenting at an SBI conference.

She lives in Florida with her husband, daughter and their three dogs, Guinevere, Sofie and Otis.

Louann Shenberger, St. Louis, Missouri
Online Business Owner
www.wedding-flowers-and-reception-ideas.com
www.weddingflowersandreceptionideas.com

Louann began designing weddings from her home in in 1992 and went to work full time in a local flower shop in 1994. Although she later was employed as Radiology Technologist and C.A, flowers remained her passion.

She continued to work part time in the flower shops until 2003, when she returned full time to wedding design. Forced to retire because of health issues, Louann turned to the Internet with the intent on creating an online business. Luckily for her, she found SBI! With no prior SEO knowledge, she was able to built a successful wedding site with an accompanying ShopSite store as a drop shipping business.

Her SBI site became live on May 2, 2007 and during peak times actually topped over 10,000 uniques per day. She credits her success to the Lord for for bringing her to the remarkable tools and knowledge that SBI provides to new online owners."

Ashley Cotter-Cairns, Hudson, Quebec, Canada
Online Business Owner
www.united-nations-of-beer.com
www.python-printable-games.com


Ashley Cotter-Cairns is a writer, journalist and owner of ten SBI sites. He is the self-styled Poker Priest, Secretary General of the United Nations of Beer and Boardgame Beast!

Ashley's other sites include pythhon-printable-games sells printable party games, trivia, scavenger hunts and paper dolls through a Share-A-Sale hosted affiliate program, which numbers many SBI sites amongst its affiliates.

Ashley is married to the artist and screenwriter Carolina Pla, who has made him promise not to buy any more SBI sites this year! They have three sons and live in Ken Evoy's old home town of Hudson, Quebec, Canada.

David Stevenson - St. Petersbugh, Florida
Online Business Owner
www.backpacking-tips.com


David Stevenson is a long-time software developer living in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Dave also enjoys blogging and building websites, including his favorite SBI site, www.backpacking-tips.com.

This site was inspired by backpacking trips taken with his son in Boy Scouts, including two 11-day treks in the mountains of New Mexico.

Dave is also a pianist and with his wife is active in volunteer work with international students and other church-related activities.

Kim Carroll, Greenville, South Carolina,
Online Business Owner
www.landscape-solutions-for-you.com
www.interior-decorating-ideas-for-you.com

Kim Carroll built two SBI! Web sites in a little over two years. Before that, she owned and operated her own landscape and design business called, "Inside Out." Bad knees forced her to quit her off line business. It turned out that SBI! was a match made in heaven to continue her passion and share her knowledge.

Prior to owning Inside Out, Kim worked in Interior Design, wrote a staff development program for a multi-million dollar child development center, and developed a music curriculum. Kim explains, "I value all the knowledge I have gained through the years to understand the public, and the value of customer satisfaction."

In October 2008, she organized the SBI! Orlando, June 2009, San Diego, October 2009, Cincinnati, Dallas, April 2010, September 2010, Chicago, April 2011, Tampa.

Kim's online business continues to grow, all a result of the SBI! tools, as well as her own desire to share ideas for inside and outside investments. It goes without saying that she loves to help other SBIers succeed in their online endeavors.