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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.

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…

Hi Everyone

Just thought I’d send out a warning about Ezy DVD shops in Australia.
See ABC news: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/17/2448871.htm
Today they went into receivership but are still trading from their
shops.

Neil’s Mum had bought us Ezy DVD vouchers for Christmas and he went
into Tuggeranong Ezy DVD to try to spend the vouchers and was advised
that they couldn’t accept them on the instructions of Head Office.

At the time, a man next to him was paying for a “future release”.
Pre-paying for a movie that is coming out shortly. They were about to
take his money when he heard the discussion Neil was having with the
sales clerk (Neil is not quiet - particularly when angry). The man
took his money back, ripped up his order sheet and said “you f*&ers
weren’t even going to tell me, were you?”!

Needless to say, DON’T pre-order from them or buy vouchers (I don’t
know if they are actually selling vouchers, but they were certainly
accepting furture release payments)!!

Neil’s Mum is a pensioner and certainly couldn’t afford to lose $120
on Christmas gifts!

Please pass this on to everyone you know!

Best regards and happy holidays (hopefully).

Melanie Buckley
Canberra, Australia

The franchisor is in receivership and they own the money that is taken at the Franchise level for Gift Vouchers, so the Franchisees are left ‘holding the can’ with this one - I feel for them.  I know how many Gift Cards we sold in the lead up to Christmas in each of our stores…

I can’t comment about asking for full payment for orders… It was certainly one of our policies with customer orders - to ask for full payment up front.  Additionally, we wouldn’t accept a customer order without a deposit.

However, would we - in the current climate that exists for the Franchise - be taking full payment? It’s not a position I would want to be in. Let’s look at the situation, as I understand it from my own experience:

1. Here we are, at the end of the Christmas boom, where we make the majority of income for the year
2. In little over a week, maybe a little longer, we are faced with the inevitable downturn in sales. Store revenues crash to the lowest they ever are in the year.
3. Supplier accounts are 30 days, the stock purchased to cover the December sales isn’t paid for till January.  December accounts are generally quite large…
4. Revenue for the Gift Cards has been lost… The sales that would normally come from people redeeming Gift Cards just aren’t going to happen…
5. And… you still have to have stock on the shelves and fulfill customer orders…

It’s a bleak picture, made bleaker by the current ecomonic climate.  I’m certainly glad that we made the decision to exit when we did - regardless of our current financial situation… it would be a whole lot worse now…

What do you think? What should the Franchisee’s be doing?

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.

My 12 year old Daughter, Rhiannon has been selected as one of two Under 16 year old entrepreneurs to be featured in a book written by Business Writer Peter Economy.

Rhiannon receives this honour through a competition run by Jenny Ford from Cash Smart Kids and will be featured in Peter’s 2008 Charity Book Project.  The Charity Book Project was developed by Peter Economy as a way to use his passion - writing - to give something back, and hopefully to make the world a better place.

His plan? To write a book each year, with a co-author, and donate the proceeds to charity. In the first year, 2008, he has chosen to work with Jenny Ford and write a book to empower parents to teach their kids the money and business skills they need to be self-sufficient in the modern economy.

Jenny devised a competition where the kids had to develop a 2 minute YouTube Video or write a Hubpage about their business. Two winners would be chosen.

Rhiannon will be profiled alongside big names like Ben Casnocha, who started a software business at 13, and was CEO of a Silicon Valley start-up by seventeen.

Jenny’s announcement was made on her blog today - Raising Entrepreneurs.

Rhiannons website helps people Learn To Be Psychic and the blog helps her share experiences and lessons she is learning.

The Australian Government appears to be at it again.  This time, the Australian Government is attempting to ‘clean the Internet Feed’ provided by ISP’s to the population.

The Government is ‘proposing’ to filter inappropriate content from the Internet feed into Australia.  A most concerning proposition.

I first really understood the full implication of the proposed Content Filter in an article posted by Computer World - http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;13996352

The article outlines that:

• The Australian Government has earmarked a staggering $125.8 million for its ‘Cyber Space Safety Program’
• There all Australians will be FORCED to use the content filter
• There will be versions of the filter - an illegal content filter or an inappropriate for children filter

Kind of sounds o.k doesn’t it?  Let’s have a look a few more facts, as reported in another Computer World article - http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;937690115

Tests conducted by Australian Communications Media Authority of six Internet content filters showed the worst performer allowed through 12 percent of a set list of banned material, while the best blocked more than 94 percent.

When actively filtering, one product chewed up to 75 percent of network resources, three used between 22 to 30 percent and one tool used less than one percent.

None of the products could identify banned material via Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing networks, although one product was able to identify blocked material in “media streaming”.

What does it mean?  It means that the Internet feed within Australia will be further retarded by the application of filtering devices.  In a country that can’t deliver broadband to a portion of its populace, it will further degrade the service…

On a humanitarian note - are we not a democracy?  Do we not have the right to free speech?  In my mind, censorship of this sort is the thin edge of the wedge when it comes to eroding free speech.  Truly, I don’t mind the idea of an illegal content filter - my concern is how do you determine, at an electronic level, what is illegal and what is not?  Given the application of the law requires human intervention and often takes months, if not years to sort out - how can we rely on an electronic device to ‘get it right’?  This is really concerning.

I’ve seen comments about the fact that Child Pornography should be stopped - and yes I agree.  However, look at the measures in place and the effectiveness that these seem to having - is a content filter really going to make that much difference?

It truly seems to me that the Australian Government feels that we are all ‘naughty little children’ who can’t be trusted to make appropriate decisions for themselves.  The Government obviously sees themselves as an ‘authoritarian parent’ who MUST discipline their children.

Obviously we can’t be trusted to guide our children through the rocky shoals of growing up and determining what is and isn’t appropriate to watch, look at or read…. Mind you - take a look at what people expose their children to on the T.V or via movies and one wonders where this is all going to lead to.

I remember watching the movie ‘Equilibrium’, where ‘The State’ had removed all emotion and passion from the populace.  Want to see where we could be headed - watch the movie….

Perhaps most concerning though is the allegations that the Federal Government is requesting employers to ‘gag’ their employees who speak against the content filter, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, yesterday.

I’m not the only Australian who is concerned either:

Allan Cockerill (a fellow Plurker) has commented on Plurk and written a blog post entitled How To Censor The Internet One Country At A Time

Duncan Riley has written on Tech Crunch- Australia Joins China In Censoring The Internet

No Internet Censorship For Australia has further details as well, including links to Stephen Conroys office.

Des Walsh too, has his say in Conroy Lays The First Brick In The Great Firewall Of Australia

What Can We Do?

We should stand idolly by and allow our Government to ride ‘rough shod’ over our rights as Australian Citizens.  We need to make sure our voices are heard….

• Write to Senator Conroy, Call him or email him (but do something!)
  
• Write to your local member
• Contact your ISP
• Sign a petition

To finish this post, I saw this video on both Allans and Duncans posts - and even though it’s 12 months old…. well, you’ll see.  Enjoy….

Mem Fox says daycare ‘damages’ babies

As a mother who did have her children in Daycare from a VERY young age - the headline, of course, caught my attention.  I was disgusted by what I read and the first comment on the article really made my blood boil.

For those who know me…. I am an extremely passionate person and believe in standing up for injustice when I see it.  When I read this article - I felt is spoke directly to me and I felt it necessary to respond.

62 year old Mem Fox, is the author of Possum Magic (an Australian childrens book).  According the article, Mem Fox drew howls of protest after comparing child care to child abuse early last month and in her first major interview since, Fox stated that babies less than 12-months-old who are placed in prolonged day care will suffer brain damage.

Fox is quoted:

“Putting babies as young as two-weeks-old into child care for the first year of their life, for 60 hours a week, will cause their brains damage,”

“For me, the corollary is buying a puppy, putting it in kennels for the whole of the week and playing with it at the weekends.”

“I couldn’t do it to a dog, so I certainly couldn’t do it to a child.”

Fox was careful to deny that she specifically labelled child care as child abuse.  According to the article, she claimed she had been quoting a child care centre owner, who expressed the analogy to her. Yet Fox stands by other remarks and contention that babies would not “want” the sort of parents who placed them in care at six weeks of age.

Firstly - on what basis is Fox making these statements? Apparently she is ‘quoting a child care owner who expressed the analogy’ - REALLY?

Secondly - both my children were in daycare from 4 months and 2 months old.  Not something that I was overly pleased with, but we had no option unless we wanted to find ourselves hungry and destitute.  Do my children want me as a parent?  Given I have a 14 year old son who SEEKS OUT my companionship and a 12 year old daughter who asks to go out with me - I think so.

Of course, I could have been the type of stay at home Mum who completely ignored my kids and let them run rampant down the streets.  I would have been a better Parent, my children would want me as a Parent and my kids wouldn’t have brain damage….

The comment left on the article is possibly one of the most insulting things I have seen.  The commentor suggests that parents should consider living in a cheaper area, so the financial burden is lessened and that Mums can stay at home - WHERE THEY BELONG!

Women belong in the home???  Last time I looked, this was 2008, not 1808 or even 1908.  As a woman who loves her children without reservation, I would have gone mad if I was at home with the kids all day.  Maybe my home business would have started earlier - goodness knows I needed the challenges that business provides.

The implication that parents should move to a cheaper location is nearly laughable.  We had purchased in one of the least expensive areas in our city 4 years earlier - housing interest rates had peaked at 18%  approximately 4 months after we had purchased and the real estate market had been stunted for that 4 year period.  Around the time the kids were born, there was a number of layoffs and, in fact, just as I started my (unpaid) maternity leave with my daughter - the company I worked for had laid off half of the staff in our office.  No matter what - there was very little option for us.  Selling our house and moving somewhere cheaper wasn’t going to happen.  Rental prices were rising and no one was buying real estate.  Selling our house would have meant we were in a lot more debt with no assets.

Back to the original discussion - Childcare causes Brain Damage.   Interesting…. my children are in the top percentiles for their year groups - which include children who had a stay at home parent; My children read at a very early age and have a great love of books; My children challenge our thinking - I don’t think they’re brain damaged.

Is this Iconic Australian so desperate for publicity she has to alienate a large percentage of the hard working population? Fine, she has an opinion and obviously believes that the kids should be kept home - good on her for having the strength of her convictions but…. I can’t go on…..

What do you think?  Have you had your kids in daycare from a young age - are they brain damaged? Do they WANT you for parents?