About Me, My Passion,
and In-and-Around-Columbus.com

About me ... I am Ann Gobel, the Owner, Author, and Webmaster of in-and-around-columbus.com, and a native of the Columbus, Ohio area.

This website came about because I love Columbus! And I wanted to share all the things that I truly enjoy in my own way through videos, pictures, and writing about all of the places I go to.

So how did I do manage to do this?

It's really a pretty simple story and one many people associate with right now due to the economy crunch.

I am a WAHWWA...Work At Home Woman With Attitude. Why attitude? Because attitude has gotten me through life's changes and challenges over the past few years. So it is a good thing!

Let me explain...

Up until 1999 I worked outside the home for someone else. My background was in real estate and transportation.

In 2000 I was contracted by a manufacturer near my home. I was ecstatic! The biggest plus was I got to work from home.

For five years life was great, then in 2005 my job was taken back in-house by the company I contracted for. Suddenly I found myself without a job, and that wasn't a good feeling at my age.

I tried many other resources from 1999 to 2005. I tried several "work-at-home" or "home-based-business" ventures. Unfortunately, the ones that I tried were GRQs (Get Rich Quick Schemes) and all I did was lose money.

Don't get me wrong - there are legitimate home based businesses for women, but as luck would have it I was out of luck! I didn't find a legitimate business at that time.

Over-Qualified Without A College Degree

So there I was in 2005; out of a job and out of money. From September of 2005 until July of 2006 I applied for dozens of jobs in real estate and transportation. The responses were either that I was "over-qualified" or that they'd love to employ me if only I could have had a college degree.

Sound familiar?

In July of 2006 I found an opportunity that would teach me how to build my own Web site and be successful at it.

Without any knowledge of how to build a Web site, I signed up to give it a try. My thoughts were "it's a small investment with a 100% money back guarantee... so I really don't have anything to lose."

SiteBuild It gave me the tools I needed to learn the "very important" parts of building a website to make it successful.

Success Means Many Things to Different People.

My version of success is very simple. I'm working from home at my own pace, setting my own hours with NO boss to report to, and although I'm not rich (yet) I am making a nice income doing something that I love to do.

In the process of learning all this, I made a life-changing discovery: I LOVE to build websites! I enjoy building Web sites so much that I enrolled in classes to learn more - and in 2007 I became a Certified Webmaster.

This opened the door to a whole new world of internet work and I've been very fortunate to design websites for people all over the world. I've worked with some absolutely lovely people and been able to replace the income from the jobs I had working for other people all my life!

It is possible to make a living on the internet - the problem is knowing where to start and who to trust. It's also important to know it takes work, time, and a small investment to start earning an income. Done correctly, it will work - I'm proof of that!

Because of SBI (SiteBuild It!), I now have four successful Web sites: Today's Women and Health and this one, In and around Columbus.

After being successful with my first Web site I truly wanted to write about my other passion, where I come from, hence In-and-Around-Columbus.com became a reality.

I also have Diet Reviews Guru and my business site - NetEffectsPro

SBI changed my life by teaching me to reach out for my dreams and share my passion.

Who would have ever thought it?

To your success,

P.S. If you're interested in finding out what it takes to build a website the RIGHT way - feel free to watch the Action Guide in Video form. There is a learning curve but the awesome thing about this is you'll have the help you need. Literally thousands of people in the SBI community forums share their successes and tips - answer your questions - and give you every opportunity to succeed - if you have the desire to do so! It's worth every minute of the learning curve - it's an opportunity to supplement your income - and if you have the desire to be your own boss - in time with some hard work - you can do that too!