Building a profitable online business has been a long-time dream.  Since there are so many sites on the web, I wanted one that would stand out and actually add to the conversation online, without being totally redundant. More than anything, I needed to build a professional website on a shoestring budget for my new business venture that would be taken seriously by suppliers.

I was really overwhelmed with the decisions.

The thoughts flooded in and I was totally confused as to look and feel I wanted.  I mean there are so many options on subjects, styles and content.  Then there was fonts, buttons, colors, frames, columns, etc.  I was really overwhelmed with the decisions.  The only real things I knew for sure was I wanted to build a professional website with my name.com and not one of those funky ones with the extra wording like www.myname.thisisyournewsite.net.  As an e-Commerce want-to-be, I knew wholesale vendors would only take my business seriously with a REAL website. Narrowing down the options was hard for me to accomplish on my own, but I am a determined woman.

I decided to jump in with both feet and figure it all out!

The online jargon is something that seemed to confuse me.  I knew lots of folks, from stay-at-home moms to small business owners, had their own websites.  Somehow, they’d navigated all the ins and outs of website building.  I’m reasonably smart with an aptitude for learning.  Since I am a risk taker to some degree, I just jumped in and tried to swim.

Of course, that is easier said than done.

More and more research just left me worn out and discouraged.  Finally, one day I was just surfing the web when, lo and behold, I found this woman’s website teaching how to start an Amazon FBA business.  I know, I know, you thought I was going to say she taught how to build websites!  Well, I’m getting to that.  Just hold your horses.  🙂

“What’s an Amazon FBA business?”

It is easier to tell you what an Amazon FBA business does.  Basically, FBA stands for Fulfilled By Amazon.  What is fulfilled?  The orders that are made on Amazon.com and qualify for PRIME.  You ever wonder how Amazon can get your PRIME packages to you so quickly?  Well, they have warehouses all other the world stuffed full of merchandise owned by Amazon FBA businesses.  The inventory is shipped to Amazon, who then fulfills orders via super fast shipping right out of the warehouse that is closest to the consumer making the purchase.  The FBA business pays all the costs associated with the order, including that “free” shipping, in fees that are charged by Amazon and deducted from any sales revenue.

Sound complicated, well it’s not really once you know how it all works.  Think eBay on steroids, where all the shipping is done up front, instead of waiting for the sale to ship it yourself.  Then you can go on vacation or whatever and not worry about a sale popping up about the time you hit the Interstate!  Well, the sale will pop-up, but you can keep on driving because someone at the warehouse will take care of shipping the order.  Have fun!

I found more than a website building course, I found a new business opportunity.  Maybe you did too!

This woman’s name is Jessica Larrew of The Selling Family.com.  After much investigation on her and the business she started, I decided to start an Amazon FBA business.  Remember, I am a risk taker and love to learn.  I figured I would try out this business and see how it goes.  My husband will be retiring in a few years and I wanted to have a little extra income when that time comes.  He was encouraging and supportive because he doesn’t want to work forever, right?

I even created an online course that helps Amazon Sellers with QuickBooks Pro.  You can click that link for more information on the course, but on with the post about how to build a professional website that you stopped here to read!

This is the course that will help you build a professional website.

I bought Jessica’s Amazon Boot Camp program and got started.  We can talk more about that later, but knowing her teaching style, I was already sold on her when she came out with the 30 Day Website Building Challenge course.    I wasted no time in signing up for it!

Jessica has an easy style about her teaching.  She spends enough time on a subject to fully get it and the courses offer lifetime access for updates as needed.  This allows users to go back and study as needed.  I’ve used the website building course to build two sites to date.  This is the second one.  Visit Dog Lovers Doodads to see my first.

Invaluable and friendly support

The 30 Day Website Building Challenge course is supported by a Facebook group, which at first seemed strange to me.  However, it is a closed group of students going through the course together.  With invaluable and friendly support, the group gives users the opportunity to see and comment on each other’s work.  This means I could get some actual help on my issues like trying to make a logo or choosing a name for my site.

Along with the course, I believe I spent about $150 or so more for plugins, hosting and domain registry.  Most of the resources used even offered a 30-day free trial.  Considering the cost of hiring a professional website builder, it is quite a bargain.

Check out The Selling Family for all her courses, including.  I am sure you will want to choose several once you take the first one.