Charly Leetham

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I’ve been a little quiet over the last few weeks and I thought it time for an update. Stuart and I took the children to World Internet Summit from March 12 to March 15 - a very busy time and tiring.  We all arrived back home very enthused about what we can be doing to generate an online business and set out our plans.

Then, on Tuesday the 17th of March, my Mum suffered a heart attack - at the heart specialist.  I still wonder which Angel was looking over her shoulder that day - the staff were wonderful, called my Dad to come in and arranged to get her admitted to hospital.  It took most of Tuesday to stabilize her.  In the following days, tests were conducted which revealed the stent that was in place had kept the arteries opened but her Aortic valve was damaged.  Open heart surgery was scheduled, and conducted, on March 26. Read more…

When Stuart and I made the decision to walk away from our EzyDVD franchises in July 2007, it was tough.

The suppliers - we could deal with.  In fact, according to our calculations, if we sold everything, sent back stock etc, we would cover the supplier debts and our business loans.  What really scared us, was the Leases on the shops.  We still had 18 months and 2 1/2 years to go on our leases and the provisions were pretty stringent. Read more…

Have you read the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer?  A series of 4 books based on Vampires and Werewolves - aimed at young teens?

Well, Stuart and I have and we are enthralled.

We heard about Twilight, the first book in the series, from Morgan - who had been trying (unsuccessfully) for months to borrow the book from our local public library. Read more…

This year, we have seen what are possibly the worst Bushfires Australia has seen so far.

On February 7th 2009, bushfires raged out of control in Victoria, located in the south east corner of Australia.  Reports so far indicate there have been approximately 200 deaths and over 500 people with fire-related injuries. Read more…

I really don’t get it!  Tonight, we received the 2nd phone call in as many nights offering us a ‘FREE’ nokia mobile phone.

My hubbie, who is far more tolerant than me, took the first call and just hung up them. You would think they got the message!  Alas, no…. tonight at 8.45pm… just in time for the household to be winding down, children to be heading to bed and hubbies and wives trying to steal some valuable alone time… the phone rings!!!! and they’re trying to ’sell’ me something. Read more…

Hot off the Internet Presses is the announcement that EzyDVD has been purchased by the Franchise Entertainment Group. Read more…

As we edge closer to the end of 2008, I want to take this opportunity to wish my readers, friends and family a very Happy New Year. Read more…

On December 17th, we found out that EzyDVD went into receivership.  Stuart has already written about EzyDVD Pty Ltd being placed in receivership, so I won’t rehash the discussion here… what I will share however, is the email I received this afternoon about the fallout that is just starting to occur.

It appears that EzyDVD franchises are not accepting EzyDVD Gift Cards.  However, the stores are accepting full payment for new releases…  Needless to say that this is upsetting a number of consumers… Read more…

With the festive season upon us, I had some fun the other day ‘Elfing’ myself, Rhiannon and Morgan.  The result is the video below, I truly hope you enjoy it (Morgan wasn’t real happy about being made an elf!)

I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on the past year and share some of our highlights with my readers. Read more…

Anyone who has been following our story will know that in August 2007, Stuart and I walked away from our franchise businesses in a considerable amount of debt.

For four years, Stuart and I worked hard to make our franchise stores a success story. At one point we ran 4 stores concurrently - one at the request of the Franchisor.  It seemed for a while that we were a success story - even winning the State Franchisee Of The Year (ACT / NSW) and the Tuggeranong Hyperdome’s Retailer Of The Year.  Read more…