This Solo Build It! review isn’t going to be your typical product review. My hope is that this review is much different than any other review you’ve ever seen before, and a very unique review of Solo Build It! that I doubt anyone else will attempt to replicate.
I have personally been a Solo Build It! member since 2011, but my experience with this service has not always been rosey. In fact, I am just now returning to Solo Build It! after a 2 year hiatus, so I’m in a unique position to offer both the positives and negatives about this service.
….But I’m going to take things even further than just telling you about the pro’s and cons. Much further.
When all is said and done, this review of Solo Build It! will be extremely detailed, including showing a real life example in real time as I grow a site using SBI’s training material and website builder.
That’s right. I am going to be documenting everything and growing a brand new website from scratch using Solo Build It! and I’m going to show you every single step I take along the way.
This Solo Build It! review won’t just tell you that Solo Build It! is legit and works, it will SHOW you with 100% certainty that it works.
At least that’s the plan!
But let’s step back for a minute. Before we get into all of that, you have to understand my unique history and how I found Solo Build It!. My story is a long one, but it has been a hell of a ride.
In The Beginning: Trapped In The Suburban Prison
I grew up in a suburban town about 35 miles north of Chicago. It seems everyone in that area does the exact same thing with their lives. I call it the “suburban prison” because few seem to escape the conformity.
In short, they go to school, get a college education, go to work in a cubicle somewhere and hope they can save enough money to retire by the time they are 65.
I mean… really?! THAT is the “American Dream?!” Maybe it is for some people, but not for this guy!
I’m sure this scenario plays out in more areas than just the north burbs of Chicago. Maybe it’s a story you’re familiar with? Maybe YOU are stuck in that same prison, looking for a way out?
My Time In Cubicle Hell
Somehow, I managed to squeak out a Bachelors Degree in Communications at Western Illinois University. So what do all recent college grads do? Go out and get that super awesome high paying cushy 9 – 5 office job! Yeah!
…Except the “9 – 5” is not what it’s cracked up to be.
With about $30,000 in student loan debt, another $27,000 on a brand new car that I had no business buying, and mounting credit card debt, I found myself working in a sales job making 80+ cold calls every single day.
That is, until I got laid off in 2008 like so many others. Great… NOW WHAT?!
I Was Homeless
No, I wasn’t living on the streets. And yes, I probably could have crashed with my parents or a good friend if I really had to. In fact, at the time, I was paying my best friend $400 / mo. to live at his place. I still owe him the last two months rent because I couldn’t afford to pay him. These days, anytime I try to pay him back for that, he won’t accept it. That’s a true friend.
Anyway, the reality is, I was over $60k in debt, had no job, the economy was in the midst of a near economic depression, and the thought of applying for another job sitting in a cubicle was even more depressing than my current situation.
And so, I did something drastic. I was tired of leaching off of my friends and my unemployment benefits were about to expire. So, I became an over the road truck driver and lived full-time out of the cab of my truck.
I actually created a small video blog documenting my trucking career. Here’s a video from October of 2010, about 3 months before I found Solo Build It!.
Freeing Myself From The Suburban Prison
I had always considered becoming a truck driver since I LOVE driving so much, but it’s just not what people do from my area. It certainly isn’t what a typical recent college grad with $60,000+ in debt would do!
Strangely enough, it was the best decision I ever made in my life. I was finally doing a job I loved. I got to see all of the lower 48 states in my first year, I didn’t have a boss breathing down my neck every 5 minutes, I could structure my day the way I wanted to, and it just made me feel FREE!
Freedom Is Addicting And I Craved More
Even though I mostly enjoyed my job, truck driving was by no means perfect. I was working 70hrs+ per week, had an erratic schedule, it was dangerous work, I had to shower and brush my teeth in public facilities, my health was deteriorating, and living in a space smaller than most walk in closets was getting very annoying.
On top of that, I was only able to see friends and family maybe 3 or 4 days per 6 to 10 WEEKS. If you have ever driven a truck for a living or know a trucker, than you know first hand how rough that lifestyle is.
Finding Solo Build It!
I remember the night I found Solo Build It! very well. I was having a particularly bad week and I was just feeling fed up with life. There seemed to be no right path for me in life, and honestly, I was just feeling bad for myself.
So what does everyone do when they’re feeling down? Hit the tables at the casino, baby!! What could possibly go wrong!
Yeah, that didn’t work out well either. I forgot how much I lost, but it was enough to make me feel even more lousy than I did before. I think I had less than $100 in my bank account at the time, so even losing $20 was a big deal.
For some time, I had been contemplating learning how to build websites and maybe doing that to start making extra money on the road. So, after the long walk-of-shame back to my truck from the casino I just donated to, I started researching.
Now, the problem I had with “make money online” stuff is it all seems like get-rich-quick scams. But on this night, I found Solo Build It!. Something about Solo Build It! seemed different.
They weren’t telling me it would be fast or easy. They were saying it would take time and effort. They didn’t try to market themselves by promising huge paychecks for little work, they were telling me that an online business is just like any other business which takes time and effort to grow.
And Solo Build It! wasn’t just a “training program” either. Instead, they would provide all the training AND all the tools needed to grow that business. I didn’t even know how to register a domain name back then, so even the simplest tasks were overwhelming. Knowing they provided the tools and training for everything along the way, including a site builder, just about had me sold.
What Finally Sold Me On Solo Build It!
Of course, I wasn’t about to buy Solo Build It! without doing research first. I wanted to see if anyone was successful with it.
In my research, I discovered MANY people who were happy with Solo Build It!. There was one site about bass fishing (I wish I could remember the exact site) that stood out to me in particular. On his “about” page, he talked about how he was able to earn a great living by building this awesome site all about his favorite hobby and help others enjoy the hobby he loves so much.
He then went on to say that he had zero experience building websites or making money online and was only able to do it because of Solo Build It!. I mean, that’s pretty powerful stuff!!
What finally sold me on Solo Build It! is their “Video Tour” which you can watch here. After watching that a few times, I finally decided I had to sign up. I was still skeptical, but I did it anyway.
Fast Forward To My First Commission
A bit later, I’m going to get into the step-by-step process of HOW exactly Solo Build It! shows people how to build a money-making website. I know I’m skipping a lot here, but trust me, I’m going to cover it in an insane amount of detail a bit later.
The first commission I made came from the very first website I developed, Drive-Safely.net. It’s gone through a few changes since I first developed it, but I received my first $7.80 in affiliate commission after just six months.
I about hit the roof! I mean, if it’s possible to make $7.80 in commissions once, I can definitely do it twice. And if I can do it twice, I can do it 100 times! And if I can replicate that across several websites over several years, heck, I could make a really good living!
Little did I know, that’s exactly what would happen.
It’s so crazy to go back and see what my site looked like at the time. By using the way back machine, you can type in my site to see for yourself, but I provided a screen shot below:
Quitting My Truck Driving Job
In November of 2011, less than one year after finding Solo Build It!, my online income was at a point where I could quit my trucking job and find a part-time job to supplement my online income.
I got a bit lucky and found a part-time freelance job on someone else’s website. Between that and my own sites, I was earning enough to get by. Over the next year, my business flourished as I was able to spend so much more time on it, and my business has grown ever since.
Becoming “Homeless” Again
Two words could accurately sum up my current lifestyle: TOTAL FREEDOM!
When I quit my trucking job back in 2011, I moved into a small house. I didn’t even last a full year living there. I had to get back on the road!
That’s when I decided to live out another dream of mine. I wanted to hit the road in style. I wanted to experience the total freedom of being able to live where I want, when I want, for as long as I want.
After I started my business with Solo Build It!, this dream of mine actually became a real possibility. Every time I saw an RV pass me on the highway, I’d imagine myself doing that while running my online business from the road. This dream really kept me motivated and inspired to succeed.
When the opportunity to make this dream a reality actually presented itself, I didn’t hesitate.
So, for 4 years, I became “homeless” again. I ran my business out of a 31ft travel trailer that I purchased brand new from the money I’ve earned online because of Solo Build It!. No more weigh stations, no more dirty truck stops, and I could travel on my own time going where I want to go when I want to go there. I’ve been from coast to coast, lived in the mountains, in the deserts, in the forests, and everywhere in between. It’s been amazing.
I work when I want, where I want, as hard as I want and as long as I want. Don’t get me wrong, I spend a ton of time on my laptop working on my business. But it’s because I WANT to! I love every minute of my “job”.
I’m reminded how much I love my “job” each morning when I wake up without an alarm clock. In fact, the first thing I do when I get up in the morning is see how much money I made while I was sleeping. I can’t put into words the joy I feel every morning when I wake up, knowing my life and my financial future is totally under my own full control.
…None of this would have happened if I didn’t find Solo Build It!.
Just last month, I finally decided to stop living out of the RV and I now live in a beautiful luxury apartment in downtown San Diego walking distance to the Ocean. Not only have I been able to pay off ALL of my debts (I now live 100% debt-free), but I’ve been able to do all of this, and afford all of this, because of Solo Build It!.
Here’s a picture I took recently of one of my favorite places to get work done, on the roof my apartment building!
Since it is clear to say Solo Build It! changed my entire life, you may be surprised to learn that I ended up moving ALL of my sites away from the service.
Why I Left Solo Build It!
After having a few successful years with Solo Build It!, I began to feel the service was getting a bit outdated and I wasn’t happy with some of the decisions that were being made. WordPress was all the rage, and so I decided to move my sites to the WordPress platform.
Fortunately, Solo Build It! has a version for WordPress now, but if you’re brand new to building websites I recommend using their built in website builder.
Even after moving my sites away, I still maintained an account at Solo Build It! as I wanted to continue having access to their second-to-none training material, keyword research tool, and still have forum access. I simply wanted my sites hosted elsewhere and on WordPress, but the training at Solo Build It! is the best in the industry, so I still wanted access to it.
If you want to see the service I now recommend, check out my Wealthy Affiliate review here.
