Charly Leetham

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…

I’d like to share with my readers, an answer I provided to a Linked In contact some weeks ago.

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?

Read more…

A slightly different topic for me to blog on today.  Is it appropriate to use a Z or S in the spelling of certain words?

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

Over the past couple of days I have been asked by many people why I ‘allowed’ my child to pursue her own entrepreneurial endeavour, particularly in a field like Psychic Development.

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. Read more…

I am very big on encouraging my children to have online businesses.  Today, I received the best news ever!

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.

Read more…

Some will ask why I have decided to post this article on this blog, and not my business blogs.  Simply, although I firmly believe that the proposed Internet Filter for Australia will impact my business, my views are deeply personal – it goes to my rights as an Australian Citizen and, as such, I feel that this is the best place to comment!

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 Read more…

There are days that I am ashamed to be a parent.  Reading News.com.au this morning – not something I would normally do except someone sent me an interesting link – and I came across the article:

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. Read more…