This is always the hardest page to write! How much information should I share? Will anyone really be interested in a story about me anyway?

Well, here goes – just in case there are a couple of you out there who would like to know a bit about me;-)

My name is Marie Pugh, and I am a former nurse, turned stay at home mom, turned work at home mom!

I have 2 little girls, who are the light of my life, and the reason for everything I do. I am happily married, but unfortunately my husband is a truck driver, so he isn’t at home as much as we would like.

When we had our first baby, he gave up truck driving but we just couldn’t afford to live on the wages he was able to make in the small town we live in – without me going back to work. And, somewhere between me having my baby and near the end of my 1 year maternity leave, I realized that I couldn’t imagine not being able to be with my little girl each day. I worried that I would miss her first steps, her first words – all of those things that just were so important to me.

So, we decided for my husband to go back to truck driving, and I would stay home with the baby. But then, after my second daughter was born, we were really starting to struggle financially. We discussed the possibility of me going back to work as a nurse – but it really broke my heart to think about doing it.

I decided then that somehow, someway – I was going to stay at home with my girls, and I was still going to find a way to make some money.

I started scouring the internet – I new there had to be work for women from home. But, I really didn’t have any computer skills, or anything at all technical. I tried to find the kinds of jobs that I could do, easily without having to leave home to do it.

Man, was I naive! The internet is full of people who will take your money, and don’t give a bit of concern for your personal circumstances. As long as they are getting your money, they don’t seem to care that their empty promises, and “sure-fire” methods of making money at home aren’t working for you.

I bought access to survey sites, mystery shopping sites, sites offering everything for one low payment of $50 – you name it! I bought guides and books online that guaranteed I could make money from home. I had my dreams stepped on over and over, and it was so discouraging.

All I wanted was to make enough money to help my family get from paycheck to paycheck – I didn’t need to “get rich fast” or “make $1000 overnight in my sleep!”. What I didn’t realize then, is that the internet can eat you up and spit you out if you aren’t careful.

Luckily, (or maybe not so lucky – I don’t know!) for me, I am a very stubborn person. When one idea or dream got shot down, I would sit back, refocus and keep going. Along the way, I was picking up some general knowledge and I was beginning to understand how to tell the real information from the stuff that was only being marketed so that someone could make some money off of me.

And – I learned that I had to take responsibility. I made myself learn some of the boring technical stuff. I made myself learn things I never really had an interest in. Then, one day, I realized I loved learning this stuff and I was almost there. I almost had the dream I had been working towards – my own business, work I could do from home.

Fast forward almost 5 years now – and I am working at home, and I am with my little girls every day. I go to all the school field trips, I take a day off to go to the playground when it is nice – and I take a weekend to take them into a Wiggles concert in the city!

I have done freelance writing and editing work, but I am also doing affiliate marketing and working in Internet Marketing.  I help build websites and market websites for offline businesses who want to get online.   Everything I have learned over the past few years is helping me to accomplish everything I had hoped for.

When a good friend of mine called me a couple of months ago and told me she had just paid for access to a survey site, I could have cried! I listened as she talked about wanting to do what I had already gone through, and I knew I couldn’t let her go through that!

That is the point of my site – to help others make money online, or to market their own small business – and I hope that I can offer some help through this blog.

I am so glad to have you with me, and I hope you have bookmarked or subscribed to this blog!

I want to give you any information I think will be of help or interest to you – and I want to be able to guide you towards your own “DotComDream“!

Thanks for stopping by!

Marie