When I started with SBI!, I had no idea
that it would take me from being fairly happy
selling small gifts, to fulfilling the dream
of traveling to exotic beach locations.

I had long wanted to run my own business and had some practical experience in managing a gift shop, but my husband's career as a college football coach means we move often.

These moves are usually positive moves for promotions and better situations for him, but that reality made the dream of becoming an entrepreneur seem unattainable for me for many years.

In 2004, I started researching opportunities to open a business online. Internet businesses were growing and expanding and many people, including me, were becoming more comfortable ordering items online.

Enter eBay...

With such low start-up costs, low risk, and millions of potential buyers in the form of built-in virtual foot traffic, I was sold. I could finally open my gift shop and become the entrepreneur I had always wanted to be and still be mobile. When we moved, my business could move with me.

I worked hard and grew my business for the next year. I carefully expanded my product lines and revenues to become a moderate success with my eBay auctions and my eBay store.

One morning, I logged in to see if anyone had purchased from my shop while I was sleeping (which happened often) only to find that I was out of business. All my hard work, careful planning, and growing revenues where wiped out in the night.

Someone, probably a competitor, used the "report this listing" feature to tell eBay I was selling a recalled and, therefore, a dangerous item. The automated computer response system, in place to protect consumers, shut down my store and closed all of my auctions. I was suspended from eBay until the problem could be resolved and my store was closed until further notice from the powers in charge at eBay.

I was losing money every minute that I was shut-down and I had been shut-down on a false accusation with no questions asked. The item reported was not a recalled item at all, but the eBay computer system didn't know that and the extended eBay organization is too gigantic to investigate each item reported before acting to protect the consumers from such items.

Of course, this is how eBay must handle these situations to protect themselves and their shareholders from any legal liability. The eBay community is usually very supportive and honest and this type of thing doesn't happen very often, we hope, but it did happen to me.

I cannot express the frustration I felt and how sad I was to realize eBay had so much control of my business. After two weeks of emailing and faxing, because talking to a real person was impossible, I was cleared and my account reinstated. I was free to go on about my business; eBay was willing to let me continue working for them.

To say the least, this experience was frustrating and scary, but also an eye-opener for me. Running a store on eBay goes beyond leasing space at a "virtual mall"... I pay to be on eBay for some very good reasons like traffic, advertising, and reputation, but they are also taking their cut of every sale and they are completely free to tell me to get lost at the drop of a hat.

This wasn't what I had in mind when I envisioned owning a business. I was supposed to be my own boss. The experience taught me unequivocally that I was relying too heavily on someone else for the success of my business and absolutely had to diversify. I wasn't building something that could stand on its own; I was building equity for someone else, eBay and its shareholders.

After much research and comparison, I chose SBI! to help me share my passion for beautiful beaches. I also saw how it could help me expand my business and begin to build my own traffic.

When I started with SBI!, I had no idea that it would take me from being fairly happy selling small gifts, to fulfilling the dream of traveling to exotic beach locations!

I have not abandoned the eBay model. It is lucrative and useful, so I keep it, for now. I utilize my eBay store to embed my products into www.beach-therapy.com, but now I'm using eBay to send traffic to me while also generating traffic of my own.

If I decide now that the fees I pay to eBay are no longer worth the traffic and convenience of their offerings, I can simply cease to use them. eBay no longer has the power to summarily close my business; I would continue to grow and function without them.

Having my own website also increases my credibility on eBay and helps me convert the traffic I get there into more sales. It is a very effective strategy to capture as much of the market share as I possibly can. eBay sends me traffic and when I send them traffic they pay me as an affiliate for doing it. To say the least, my business has grown and prospered since I stopped working for eBay and started using SBI! to grow something that is truly mine.

My "About Me" page on eBay directs traffic to www.beach-therapy.com and every customer who buys from me receives an automated email message inviting them to visit my SBI! site and to sign up for my newsletter. I am able to convert these visitors from eBay customers to my own customers.

eBay now works for me, rather than me working for them. And my SBI! website converts more of the expensive traffic I buy from eBay into customers than my eBay "About Me" page ever did on its own.

The resources I received with my SBI! site, the Action Guide and forums, taught me how to generate my own traffic, something eBay never wanted me to do.

In 2006, I was able to expand and hire a part-time employee to help with packing and shipping and with emails and questions. She also happens to be my sister and it is fun and rewarding to work with her. We leased a building to move operations out of my house and continue to grow each year.

I have to say that the business trips have also improved immensely!

Before SBI!... working in my basement, packing and shipping.

After SBI!... working on the beach in Florida, Aruba, and Mexico!

I'm living my passion and SBI! gave me the tools to do it. Thank you, SBI!.

Amy Dykens
http://www.beach-therapy.com