By John Shank, shedking.net
Tell us about your website, www.shedking.net. When and why did you start your site?
I started ShedKing.net way back in 2003. My main intent was to show visitors how to build their own sheds by sharing my building knowledge with them, and to generate passive income with Google Adsense.
Eventually I would offer shed building plans, but that was way down the road. At the time, my site was hosted by another company, before I found out about SBI! (Site Build It!). I was so excited about what Ken Evoy had to offer, and wanted to switch my site over to Site Build It! right away, but I just couldn’t afford the $300. At that time there wasn’t the monthly payment option.
I remember convincing my wife that we needed to take out a home improvement loan and I would use $300 of that to pay for moving my ShedKing site over to SBI!. That was without a doubt one of the BEST decisions I have ever made!
I remember thinking that boy if I can just generate money from my site just to cover the $300, that would be the first step to conquer. Not only did I accomplish that goal with my site, but I have far surpassed that goal over the years. If I wasn’t such a stick in the mud, I could probably quit my day job and devote my full time energy to shedking.net and multiply my income even more!
What do you enjoy most about being an online business owner?
The thing I enjoy the most about being an online business owner is this: Nobody can take away what I have built with Site Build It!. I’ve taken my knowledge of construction and building sheds, along with SBI!’s amazing site building tools, and have grown a very profitable online business.
It is an absolute joy knowing that I have the peace of mind that my retirement will be well funded with my income from ShedKing.
So far, what has been the biggest challenge for you?
My biggest challenge has always been time. It’s also my biggest fear. I’m thinking in the back of my mind that when I retire I’m just going to go full speed ahead with my site, and let the flood gates wide open.
I’m 61 right now, so I could retire in a little over a year. Hopefully my mind is going to be capable of doing what I need it to do!
Why did you choose SBI! to build your website / online business?
Without a doubt in my mind, I chose Site Build It! because I knew from all the SBI! reviews from real people who were using it that it could work for me too! I have done and been involved with so many money making programs along the way. Site Build It! is the only one that has stayed the course and been a true friend.
That’s right, I view Site Build It as my true friend! It’s not just a program or piece of software. It’s been a relationship. A relationship that has grown over time that will always be there for me and my family. A friend that has over delivered on everything it has to offer and continues to over deliver to this day.
With the rise of mobile traffic, what steps have you done to give your visitors the best experience on their smart phones and tablets?
I mentioned earlier that my biggest challenge is time. When Google announced that it was releasing its mobile readiness algorithm change in April 2015, I had some work to do. I had uploaded all pages on my site by going the UYOH route (UYOH = Upload Your Own HTML pages). I had about 90 pages to convert to SBI!’s BlockBuilder2 tool. I did about 5 or so, and knew with the time it was taking me that there was no way I could ever get it done by April 21st.
So I contacted the SiteSell Professionals and arranged for them to do it. It was well worth the money as they had the job done just in time and now my site is totally mobile ready! A big thanks to them – they they are a great bunch of people and so easy to work with.
Has your life changed since you started your sites? Can you describe these changes for us?
Has my life changed since finding Site Build It!? You bet it has! Because of SBI!, I have great cash flow every month. I have peace of mind knowing that when I retire that income should still be there. And with the extra time, I’ll be able to grow that income even more. I have fun working on my site. As I said recently in the forums, I’ll be working on my site till I can no longer tap the keys on my computer. It is a joy indeed.
What one piece of advice would you give someone who is just getting started as an online entrepreneur?
The best advice I could give anybody starting out as an entrepreneur is this…
Really really find out what you truly love to do and just do it. Pour your heart into it. Build your one of a kind website around your passion. Visitors to your site will pick up on your passion and reward you in ways you cannot imagine. Let them know you are there for them. Money will follow.
My second bit of advice is to learn all you can about social media; Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter. I have had my site for a long time and have learned a lot using Site Build It. Google search was where it was at for a lot of us and probably still is for most, but when I learned about Facebook and how it worked, and how to use it, my sales increased dramatically.
I sell shed plans on my site that I have developed and written all by myself. These plans are my main stream of income and I put every ounce of my learning into them to make them easy for buyers to use. I also provide email support to anyone who buys my plans so they don’t feel left out on a limb with no where to go when they don’t understand something about building a shed. I have had to learn a lot of software programs to write my plans, but I wouldn’t trade the time I have had to spend on this.
I am so proud of the fact that I have been able to learn and use Site Build It for my website. So, find out what you love to do and are good at it, build your website around this, and share everything you know on social media. You can’t go wrong. Keep the dream alive and keep plugging away.
Build Your Retirement Income!