Shelby caught the bug for having her own business in the late ‘70s. It was marketing that excited her and in those days mail order seemed the likely choice. Two problems immediately presented themselves. With no clear vision of what to sell and the significant cost of mailing, things didn’t quite come together. A talented bookkeeper, Shelby continued to work her job, take care of her family and dream of one day owning her own business.

 

The Internet came on the scene in the ‘90s and none of us, including Shelby, could imagine how the world as we knew it would change. By 96 she was a very active Internet user and purchased her first product, Frank Kern’s Internet Marketing Empires. It was the seed for things to come, yet fate wasn’t quite ready to launch her into Cyberspace quite yet. While she surfed and played games thoughts of marketing in a new way were percolating.

 

In November of 2000, two days before Thanksgiving, Shelby was laid-off. “All I could think was about the holidays ahead and my children. What was I going to do?”

 

By 2007, seven jobs would come and go. The economy was getting hit hard and Shelby was feeling the brunt of it. As a single mother, these were frightening years. Unemployment got her through but not without leaving a huge hole in her self-esteem. After a 27 year-long career she was now being replaced by younger workers at lower pay grades. With her self-confidence shaken and doubts about her abilities, her dream of owning her own business was waning.

 

Quite by accident her dreams began to awaken when she received an email invitation to Henry Gold’s 117 Christmas gifts giveaway. It was time; the universe was leading her to a new world. “I thought it was great that I could get software products, information e-books and all kinds of goodies for nothing! I thought I had hit the jackpot.” noted Shelby. More invitations came, more free software and e-books found their way onto her computer.

 

The holidays came and went and she started wondering what to do with all that stuff. “I began to pay more attention to the emails from marketers that I received. Not for the products that they were selling, but for the way they were selling them. I caught the bug. I wanted to be an Internet Marketer.” She had found her ticket to financial freedom, or so she thought. After all, that was what the marketers were telling her she could do.

 

And, if they could do it, then so could she.

 

Shelby recalls, “I made the biggest mistake a marketer could make, only at the time I didn’t know it was the biggest mistake. So, what did I do? I bought a list of 12,000 email addresses. I didn’t know that the list wasn’t a valid list. I didn’t know that I didn’t really have permission to send them an email. I didn’t know that that the Can Spam Act passed in 2003 made it illegal for me to email to this list. No one bothered to mention opt-in requirements to me. Needless to say that didn’t work out very well.”

 

“My world opened up when I received an invitation to be a JV partner for Brad Smith’s Easter giveaway in 2005. That is when I started to build my own permission based list. Between April and the end of that year I profited over $10,000. You might not think that is so much and you may be right. However, now I realize I did it all without a mentor, coach or even an Internet Marketing friend for guidance. I accomplished it part-time with no technical knowledge at all. I taught myself html, how to create a squeeze page, and how to drive traffic. If only I’d had a mentor or coach, it would have been much easier.”

 

“This is why Tech Shack was born, to help people learn the technical side of doing business online and how everything works together behind the scenes to grow and run their businesses. No one should have to go it alone. My greatest joy is helping my members learn and grow. I can’t explain how tickled I am when I suddenly see the light go on and the person is freed from their frustration.”

 

“For the past 7 years I’ve been a virtual assistant to Henry Gold, 117Christmasgifts.com and Gina Gaudio-Graves, Dean and Founder of Directionsu.com, while building my own sites and dabbling in my own business. It was the beginning of this year when Gina nudged me into the pool and a clarity of vision evolved. I am a professional Internet Marketer determined to help others succeed online. I live and breathe Internet Marketing and I love talking about it to people wherever I go.”

 

Shelby Carr, a single mother of two great kids and grandmother to a beautiful young lady, finally has her own business serving those who need what she teaches. She lives in Knoxville, Tennessee in foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.