Beginning around 2002, with 3 kids at home, I needed to work from home because we couldn’t afford daycare for 3 kids with whatever measly salary I could get. We were super broke!

Some of these overlap because I typically never did just one thing.

Drop-shipping & eBay (2002-2003)
This was nice for awhile. Back then, eBay was very different. Not as much competition, fees were lower, etc. The biggest success I would have it when I would bundle items together and sell them in one listing.

However, it was VERY time consuming to do this work, and it’s not like I made a fortune.

During this time, I purchased a domain name MeshandLace.com and my plan was to sell drop-shipped lingerie. I built an online store on it but then I lost interest, plus my young kids were nosy and I didn’t want them seeing some of the photos I used.

I told you, CRINGE!

So I listed it for sale on eBay. The bids started rolling in like nothing I had seen. I almost fainted when it sold for $2,100!! I only paid like $8 for the domain name and the store I installed on it was open source (free to use, rebrand and sell).

That is when I knew I found my new business. Flip Domain Names with websites!

Right from the start, Domain Name Flipping was a phenomenal success. It took about 1.5 years before we had paid off our debt, repaired our credit, got approved for a mortgage and moved into our first house. The house was nothing fancy. Very modest, kind of lower-middle-class but it was on a corner lot and had a HUGE fenced in back yard.

Thus began the golden age. We had our kids piled with “yard toys” all the time. Trampoline, Bouncy Houses, Water slides. We even were able to make a zip line LOL.

We took trips to Universal and Islands of Adventures (we are big theme park fans!)

I almost never sold JUST a domain name. I usually made a website to go along with it to make it more valuable. However, there were a lot of times some of the domain names would not sell, so I would bundle a batch of them and sell for an extremely huge profit. I once sold a batch of 22 domain names for $11,000. It really was insane!

Back then, the process of creating websites was a bit more challenging than it is now. I suspect I could revive this business to a decent success again. I’ll put that on my plate, but towards the back =)

Eventually a newscaster from our local station asked to interview me about my business because it wasn’t as widely known as it is now.

As you can imaging, being able to successfully work at home while BEING there all the time for my kids was an incredible feeling.

Alas, all good things come to an end. eBay became saturated with domain names and websites for sale. While I was flipping domain names, I also provided specialty mailing lists on Excel and merged onto mailing labels. JacksonvilleLists.com did quite well but I did end up selling that one on eBay. It had lists, a system and a few clients already, so it sold for $2,500.

On the website, I sold the following Leads:

• New Home Owners in Duval County Florida
• Home Owners with Swimming Pools
• New Businesses each month in all of Florida
• Real Estate Agents
• Accountants
• Barbers & Cosmetologists
• HOA’s
• Home Inspectors and more

I also owned NewBusinessMailingLists.com because I wanted to do more than “Jacksonville” or “Florida”. However, I quickly realized there was NO way I could handle that massive undertaking on my own so I sold that domain name.

In mid 2026, I revisited this business but with a twist. Something bolder and much larger. I’ve come a long way since those years and am confident in my new venture.

For six years, I owned OnlineWorkScams.com. It was free for people to use the website. I earned money with advertisements and affiliate links. But the thing is, I never promoted something that I didn’t personally think was good.

When I say I don’t want people being scammed, I mean it.

It felt good running this website. However, it was overwhelming trying to run it on my own because there were SO many people wanting to contact me and wanting phone calls! I dread phone calls. At this point in my business, I don’t even allow phone calls. I literally wouldn’t have the time to do my actual work if I had to be on the phone all of the time.

This is likely part of the reason I am not a millionaire now.

I am extremely good at sniffing out the scams. People have tried SO many times to scam me and in so many different ways but it has never happened.

Sometimes I do funny stuff back to them.

One scammer was pretending he worked for my company and needed his bank changed for payroll deposits. I played dumb, pretending to be a new employee and I would be happy to make the changes, I just needed to figure out how.

We went back and forth for awhile. He was getting so frustrated but continued because I said to him “Wow! I can’t believe your last bonus amount. I know you are excited to get this payment into your account. By the way, is your department hiring? haha”

I told him there was a one-time payment needed of $500 for me to make that payroll change. He was READY TO SEND IT TO ME.  I had to stop him because I didn’t want the headache of what might happen if I actually took the $500.

I do want to say that whenever I use the word ‘scam’, it is not necessarily something illegal, just possibly unethical.

I began working on eLance.com (which is now called UpWork.com). I provided secretarial, administrative type services as well as website design.

In 2012, I gained 2 clients who seemed like they would be quite permanent for a long time so I completely gave up on the mailing lists and focused on them.

In 2014, I was hired by a company to assist in RFP creation (Request For Proposal) and Website Design. They were based in New York and paid me a New York salary while I was still living in Florida, so that was really nice.

P.S. If you told 2002 Natalie she would be doing this work, she would have thought you were nuts!

“What is an RFP?”
“I have no idea how to create and edit WordPress Websites”

When I was hired, I had to google ‘what is an RFP’.

YOU LEARN STUFF AS YOU GO ALONG. The client who hired me before this one asked “Do you know WordPress websites”. I answered ‘Oh yes of course” – I didn’t have a clue, BUT I had the internet and WordPress for Dummies”. I dug in and learned FAST!

JUST SAY YES!

During this job, I had a lot of free time on my hands so this is when I began doing genealogy for my family tree. I found some unclaimed money that was owed to my deceased grandfather.

That led me to discover all different types of unclaimed property. When I learned about the surplus money from property auctions where people lost their homes and then they never know about the money that’s left over for them, that is what put me into action in that arena. I decided to become an Asset Recovery Specialist to charge people a percentage of any surplus money I successfully found and helped them claim.

During my research I saw how extremely difficult it was to get my hands on the most simplest pieces of information because none of the counties work together and they all are different about how they supply lists or forms and information. That is when I realized I need to create something that brings all of the Florida counties together and make it super organized for myself.

It didn’t take me long to know I was not cut out for that type of business. I absolutely hate being on the phone. I also don’t have that tiger-instinct when it comes to being salesman-like.

However, I had spent almost a year deeply researching the topic and more specifically the laws & procedures for “tax deed surplus”. I created a very organized system, a database and spreadsheets containing ALL information about all 67 counties. I couldn’t just waste that!

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In late 2016, I began work on my first website that dealt with tax deed surplus, FloridaOverbids.com. In mid 2017, I was ready to open.

Fun Fact! The first client I ever obtained is still with me today! Other than my ex-spouse, he is the longest relationship I’ve ever had haha. (I’m talking to you Michael C.)

This website took off quickly. Below I show you just a very few of the reviews I received because I didn’t think about a way to collect the reviews on-going but ALL comments I’ve ever received were always not only positive, but glowing.

TaxAuctionSurplus.com has a completely free level with training, actual surplus lists created each auction day, claim forms, client forms and so much more.

The surplus lists contain only those records with under $5,000 in surplus, but they are real and useable. They are excellent for training because typical Asset Recovery Specialists do not go after those amounts and therefore, less competition. Visit TaxAuctionSurplus.com

SurplusDatabasePro.com is currently my largest source of income. It is an ‘upgrade’ of TaxAuctionSurplus.com. The surplus results are given instantly when an auction is over and all liens on the property are researched. This website is not for ‘newbies’. It’s pricey (but very worth it with the time we save people)

If you want to try this type of business (become an Asset recovery Specialist), then begin with the free account on TaxAuctionSurplus.com and see if it interests you. Like I said, these are real surplus records. We give you the Claim Process, Forms, everything you need. If you have that outgoing personality and don’t sweat cold calls, this is for you.