Of course, the ‘big party’ is this weekend, so maybe I’ll feel a little different next Sunday!

What was really nice was all the wonderful Birthday wishes I received – thank you to everyone who sent me a Birthday wish or thought.  My Facebook Wall has never been so busy!

My parents and hubbie took me out for Dinner and a Show.  There’s a running joke in our house, that Dinner and a Show means takeway and a drive-in movie (for those of us who are old enough to remember what a drive-in is).  The joke comes from my Dad asking Mum out, when they were ‘courting’, to a dinner and show – he bought her fish and chips and went to a movie!

However, Dinner and a Show this time really was Dinner and a Show – The Patsy Cline Review show starring  Barbara Thompson.  Barbara is a very talented lady and her voice totally floored me.  Her partner, Mark Day, is equally as a talented and did a memorable job of Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers (among others).  The costumes Barbara wore were stunning as well.  Altogether, it was a well put together show and highly entertaining.  I really enjoyed it.

Of course, at the end of the show, Mark and Barbara met the Patrons – very down to earth and amusing couple!  If you get the chance to see these two live, it’s worthwhile – visit Barabara Thompon’s and Mark Day’s website to see where they will be.

Charly and Barbara Thompson

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.

That operation took about 6 hours, and I spent a number of hours in ICU with my Dad as Mum ‘came out’ of the anesthetic.  While there is still a way to go for Mum’s full recovery, she is improving gradually although we’ve experienced some setbacks along the way.  After today, her specialist decided that she will need a pacemaker to keep her heart beating correctly.

For me, that not only means regular visits to the hospital – that to me is a major part of being part of a family, it also means helping out with the Electrical business Stuart and my Dad run.  Things have become a little tighter time wise – but I’m happy to do it.

All that said, I was very dismayed today when I read an email exchange through the one of our enquiry addresses.  Through all of this, an enquiry was received from a customer asking about availability and delivery times.  This email was received with a number of other URGENT service calls, between visits to the hospital for myself, Stuart and my Dad.  Dad replied to the email 5 days later letting the customer advising of the anticipated delivery times.  The response we received was quite pointed about the delay and how this was “already 4 days behind”.  Given this reply, Dad adviced the customer that his wife had had a heart attack, which took priority, and that they would be better finding another supplier.  Here is the response we received, no salutation, no signoff, this is the entire text of the reply:

No worries – I’d rather order from a more reliable source.
Making up stories doesn’t help your diminishing reputation either.

Well, Ms or Mr Crazy K9′s (no, you won’t get the benefit of a link from me) let me correct your misconception.  My mother has indeed suffered attack – my father has no need to “make up stories” – and she has undergone open heart surgery to replace an aortic valve.    Personally, I think you attitude stinks – and I hope that when you are faced with a similar situation, that you receive more compassion and understanding than what you’ve shown today.

In this day and age, what does a little compassion cost anyone?  We understand that people have business to do, that is one reason why we recommended this client find another supplier.  We could have taken the order and then taken our time to deliver it – but we decided not to.  One of our guiding philosophies is “Family comes first, business second” – if we don’t think we can deliver within a customers expectations, we will decline the business.

On a more positive note, I MUST thank my customers and friends and the AES customers and suppliers who have shown such marvelous support over the last few weeks.  I am always so grateful when I receive an email, SMS or phone call checking up to see how things are… it reminds me that this really is a world of people – not a world of business.  So THANK YOU!

Created with Animoto

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.

2008 has definitely been a year of trials for my family however, as I reflect I can only marvel at how much we really achieved.

If you read my Christmas message post, you’ll know that each member of my family had a great year for personal achievement and growth.  Each of us have expanded our views and experiences and now look at the world with a different set of eyes.  For my children, that is all I could wish for them — to be able to take their experiences and learn.

Since my Christmas update, we have now published the videos of Morgans and Rhiannons December Ballroom Dancing medals… and I am so pleased to announce that both children received highly commendeds.  Enjoy the videos of their dances below.

Moving on, we found out on the last day of school that Rhiannon had won two School awards — something completely unexpected.  She was a Principles Award For Creative And Performing Ministries and an Award for excellent achievement in Spanish.  Needless to say, our young lady is quite beside herself about these.

Notwithstanding a number of business specific goals that I have set this year, there are two personal goals that I want to share….

• Firstly, I want to regain my fitness and work on my health.  To do this, I will be more active, take regular walks and not spend ‘quite’ so much time in front of the computer!
• I will schedule regular time to spend with my children and husband.  As I moved to the Work At Home schedule this year, I found it challenging to seperate ‘work time’ from ‘family time – 2009 will be the year to work on this

These two goals will be my guiding light for 2009 — after 4 hectic years in our bricks and mortar stores and a further 18 months recovering from that, it is time to get my personal life in order.  The reason I am working so hard is to improve my quality of life and that of my family – but what is the quality of life without my health or my family — so as in all things, BALANCE is necessary.

Wishing all of you a safe, happy and prosperous (however you define prosperous) 2009.

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

I think the best part of the year would have to be the family trip to the Whitsundays.  For over 12 months, I had diligently saved a few dollars each week for a family holiday.  I had purchased in February 2007 a voucher that gave us a great price for a resort in the Whitsundays, but it ran out in February 2008 – so it was a great time to go.  It was also well deserved – our last real family holiday had been in April 2003 before opening our EzyDVD stores and the previous four years had been a whirlwind ride for us.

I loved the Whitsundays – even if it did bucket down nearly the whole time we were there. The best part for me would have been the trip out to the Reef and snorkelling with the kids.  You can view our Holiday picks at our Photo Album

At the end of February, my regular paying gig was terminated! Which left Stuart and I feeling a little panicky.  Fate intervened though and I opened an email from Janet Beckers of Wonderful Web Women – inviting us to World Internet Summit for FREE! I had promised myself the previous year that come what may – I was going to an offline event and there was my chance!  From WIS, I ramped up my online ventures and was off. Want to know more about WIS and how it can help you?  Pick up the DVD for just postage and handling at The World Internet Summit DVDs.

The months between March and July are a bit of a blur really.  The kids went back to School and Stuart started in Year 1 of his electrical apprenticeship. I should note here that Stuart had already been working nearly six moths as an apprentice before starting Tech, so his timeline is a little skewed.  What really pleased me was to see how much he enjoyed learning the new work…. It’s a real testimony to his character that he could just ‘start again’ at this time in his life.

I launched my free teleseminar series, which is currently in hiatus until the new year. However, all of my existing material is still available for free at How To Videos Central.  Part of my end of year review is to consider what I will be doing with this content.  I really enjoyed doing these teleseminars and I think I learnt more from doing them than my participants!

July saw Morgan and Rhiannon attend their ballroom dancing medals and, as usual, their Grandma Leetham, Dad and I were overjoyed to see how well they danced.  Here are some videos of their July exams

In July, we made the decision that we needed to reduce our family expenditure and move in with my parents. Not an easy decision, but it was made.  However, it wasn’t until September that we actually made the move – putting 4 adults and 2 children into a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house!  I’ll just say it is cozy.

In the intervening months, I was asked to work on several projects with people – either in a JV partnership or on a paid basis.  Then the work really did ramp up!  Sites that I’ve been very involved with this year:

• Stop Smoking With Dr Sally In 21 Days Or Less;
• The Way To Bliss Now with Laura Whitelaw and Liz Lichti
• Banish The Blahs by Joan Adams and Betty DeLorme

My two big undertakings for this part of the year however were:

Ladies In Business Today with Carol Deckert and Ladies In Business Today Christmas Charity Project – will you help us support our charities?

and

Stretch Your Mind And Body with Connie Boris.

Connie and I even started a Blog Talk Radio show that runs every Wednesday morning in Australia… listen online now to our past shows or you can listen live online to our shows as we do them.

Rhiannon received great news in November, when she was advised by Jenny Ford of Cash Smart Kids, that she had been selected to be featured as a Young Entrepreneur in Peter Economy’s Charity Book Project.  Jenny will be co-authoring this book with Peter and – needless to say, we are extremely proud of our Young Lady.

So here we are near the end of 2008 and as I look back over the year, I marvel at what we have achieved and give thanks for the bounty that we receive everyday.

As of two weeks ago, Stuart has finished at Tech for the year.  He is now half way through Year 2 of his apprenticeship studies – yes, he did 18 months worth of study this year (although he did have 1 or 2 subjects credited for Prior Learning) and has done the amazing thing of achieving all High Distinctions in his graded classes.  As much as we rib him about it, the entire family is thrilled by his achievement (and I know he is too).

Not withstanding the financial situation, it has been an absolutely fabulous year.  I’m grateful for my family and my friends (who are now all around the world). I was going to try and name everyone in this post but decided not to – just in case I inadvertently missed someone…. but you know who you are.  Bless you and Thank You!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas….

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. 

However, it went horribly wrong and in some ways very quickly.

We can’t say too much due to legal obligations of our contracts however, what we can say is that as we saw it going wrong, we moved to remove ourselves from the situation.  All to no avail – we were terribly in debt with businesses that were not performing despite our best efforts.

At that point, we could have gone bankrupt and just walked away.  Heck, it would only be three years and we would be clear again.  However, that didn’t meet the standards we had set for our integrity.  We decided to deal with our suppliers and creditors and make reparation as we could.

The result – here we are 15 months later and we aren’t bankrupt.  Sure, we’re living hand to mouth and we’re selling our last major asset (our home) and we will still be left with $300k in loans.

My point – we’re here, we’re not bankrupt and we have our family, our health and our own self respect. It might take us more than 3 years to recover – but who cares?  The important thing is, we get to recreate our lives in the way we WANT to – not in a way we HAVE to.  We also get to look at ourselves in our mirror every day and say – ‘I like that person’.

The question posed was:

How do you find the time to do an MBA when you’re juggling an already very busy workload and home life?

My answer follows:

From my own personal experience, I completed my MBA (specializing in Internet Marketing) in 2 years, studying part time via Distance Education, working something like 60 hours a week (we were doing a major proposal worth $60million) with 2 children aged 6 and 4.

That was a struggle and required an immense amount of dedication and focus. That two years really came down to scheduling my time into nearly hourly blocks and I gave up a bit of sleep and a lot of recreation.

I would get up about 5am and spend 2 hours studying, get ready for work and the kids ready for the day, get to work around 8 / 8.30am and work through to 6 or 7pm, get home, spend some time with my kids and hubbie, have dinner and work until midnight / 1am. It was a routine.

My hubbie was great at taking on some of the household stuff – he already cooked dinners, so that wasn’t such a change but he would make sure that I could get the time I needed each night to do my study.

I gave up a lot of ‘personal entertainment’. I didn’t read a novel for that 2 year period, I read text books. I watched the occasional movie, but didn’t sit and watch TV, I studied and responded to my assignments. I didn’t go out with my friends, I worked on my MBA.

Occasionally, my friends would descend enmasse and drag me out and it was a great break and I found that I could focus a little better for the break.

However, it came down to routine. Making sure that everyone knew that I had scheduled time to study, what time that was and I stuck to it. I was very focused. I had set my goal to complete in two years and I did.

The other side benefit, is that my children saw what could happen when you set your goal, you plan and focus. I shared with them, at a level they understood, what I needed to achieve and showed them how I achieved it.

Finally, I deliberately chose to study using distance education because I knew that I could do this if I could work around my hectic schedule. I don’t mind working late at night, if I have a goal to reach.

If you think about it, 15 hours a week is only really 2.5 hours a day, 5 days a week…. you could block out an entire weekend and knock most of it over then…. However, you have to decide what is important and whatever you decide will be the right thing.

I chose to study my Masters Of Business Administration mainly because I was bored and I needed a challenge. It really was a case of ‘Becareful Of What You Wish For”… I certainly wasn’t bored for a very long time after that.

I investigated my options.  I could have studied at a Uni in Canberra, near where I live or the Australian Graduate School Of Management (which I was accepted into) however, I chose to study using Distance Education through Charles Sturt University not only because it suited my style of learning – I could also structure my time around family and work demands.  In the end – it was a wise decision.

I don’t regret studying for my MBA however, it is not a decision you should take lightly.

Being an Australian we typically use the letter S when spelling particular words like:

OptimiSe, CentraliSe, SpecialiSe

When writing reports for Australian clients (or customers), I will use the letter S.

However, our North American friends will use the letter Z in their spelling:

OptimiZe, CentraliZe, SpecialiZe

Here’s my dilemma – I’m an Australian whose target audience is predominantly North American.  To be found in search engines by my Target Audience, I HAVE to use the Z in the spelling, not the S!  The number of times I’ve been contacted by one of my customers, or potential customers, to be told that I’ve ‘spelt something wrong’ because I have used the Australian spelling of a word.

So to my Australian Brothers and Sisters, I apologise (apologize) for any offense I provide in using the American spelling of words. However, the Australian market is just a small part of my target audience…. really, it’s not personal, it’s just business.

It really is quite simple.  I don’t want either of my children to be a position of having to trade Time For Dollars in a job that they may or may not enjoy.  I want them to have the option of choosing where and how they work.

So, when Rhiannon asked if she could set up her own site to generate an income, like she had seen others do on the Internet, we didn’t hesitate.  We took Rhiannon through to process of choosing a niche she was interested in.  She decided she wanted to know more about the Psychic world – having had experiences as a young child – she had a natural curiosity.

Our Internet Marketing Mentors recommend starting with a niche that you are interested in, because you will be able to ‘weather’ the lean times.  To our minds, it is also easier to generate content for something you are interested in.

Why an online business?  As Brett McFall says, it’s the cheapest place to fail.  It’s easy to setup and if it doesn’t fly, there isn’t a lot of money invested.  Sometimes you need to ‘kiss a lot of frogs’, so setting up a website and promoting online is a great way to test the market.  Apart from that, it meant that Rhiannon could work on it when she wanted to.

Do we feel that it is appropriate to promote a Psychic Development course?  Or anything at all to do with ‘being psychic’?  Why not… we certainly believe there is more to this life than just our own mundane human existence.  We’ve all experienced something ‘other’.  Yes, we believe that people can be Psychic – it just differs from person to person.

Of course, there are those who don’t believe in anything ‘Psychic’ and that’s o.k.  We’re comfortable for them to feel that way.  We all have our own belief systems.

Rhiannon now seeks information about Psychic abilities and development to post to her blog.  She also participates in a number of (kid safe) forums, where she does ask questions and contributes.

What Stuart and I find amazing is how much she has learned in the process of setting up her business and how her writing and communication skills have improved.

Rhiannon recently participated in a group chat with me through Skype, with a group of Internet Marketers from around the world.  It was amusing to note that those who did not ‘know’ who she was took her to be an adult.  They asked her where she worked, whether she lived close to her Mum, etc etc etc.  This is a testimony to her ability to communicate.

I was also asked whether Rhiannon writes her own blog posts and articles.  The answer is Yes and No.  Rhiannon has contracted with a ghost writer to write some of her articles, which she has paid for herself, and she has also written a number herself.  When she writes an article, Stuart or I review the content before she publishes – just as we do with just about any post we do.

This is just one step in Rhiannons’ journey of life – in which she sees a bigger picture to her future.  This journey will last a life time and the best Stuart and I can do, is to teach her to strive to be all that she can.

Connie and I discussed introducing the entrepreneurial spirit to your children in our Blog Talk Radio this morning.

To be honest, I haven’t felt much like sharing my personal stuff until now.  It’s funny how the universe works, isn’t it.

Just on 12 months ago, my husband (Stuart) and I ‘walked away’ from our bricks and mortar businesses after selling them back to the franchisor.  We were, and are still, in a considerable amount of debt and I am working to not only meet our monthly loan repayments but also reduce our debt in as short as time as possible.  Enough on this story, that’s for much later however, that is my ‘guiding light’ for the time being.

We are currently working on moving in with parents.  Thank goodness my parents are understanding!  We are working on fitting 4 adults and 2 teenagers (well 1 teenager and 1 nearly teen) into a 13 square or 122 sq meter house.  Not only am I cataloguing my DVD and Book Collection, I am looking at one we need to sell and what we need to store.  Not an easy task!

I have also been doing zPoint and EFT work with a friend, Laura Whitelaw from StressLess4Success, to remove blockages and stress that I have been experiencing.  The results and the ‘issues’ that I have been experiencing and dealing with are amazing and I recommend this type of work for anyone.  I have two people that I would recommend – Laura Whitelaw and Sally Witt.

Notwithstanding all of this, I have started this blog as an outlet of my personal ruminations and experiences.  I look forward to your comments and insights to my experiences.