Life is Good

There is a lot going on. Always seems to be. I feel like I've neglected my WendEmail too long though and it's definitely time for an update.

Travel
I have three trips "planned." First, to go to Fiji for five nights in May. It's another trip I've earned through my network marketing business at PartyLite. Alan will come with me and it's all completely free. Yippee! Second, to visit my brother in Shanghai, China. I hope to do that in October - Alan has started looking at flights for me. Third, to go with a group to Spain in April/May 2012. It's time to get the accommodation booked, so I need to get going on it. My mom and my cousin Alison are helping me organise it all this time. I need to get on the ball with them.

We'll share the itinerary and anyone who wants to can join us in Barcelona. What a fun time we had in Italy last trip. Feel free to gate crash on this one.

Music
Ben has formed a band as a vehicle for his latest string of songs. He asked me to be a part of it, so I'm playing guitar (acoustic and electric) and singing. It's a four piece band. We have a blog. You can subscribe or link to it through Facebook. I'd absolutely love for you to read more about that because we're going to be sharing videos, audios, and updates as the project develops.

I'm also playing pretty regularly at a pub in Pyrmont called The Quarrymans. Mostly with the Wen & Bendy duo, but occasionally with my good friend, Paul. It's a strange pub, but we have fun getting out there and playing songs we love. Wen & Bendy are on Facebook, too, so if you want to keep up with our schedule, you could "like" us.

Candles
I've officially become Wendy the Candle Lady for my public business persona. Not only do I have Wendy the Candle Lady on Facebook, where I can link with my clients, but I just bought the domains of www.wendythecandlelady.com and www.wendythecandlelady.com.au. They aren't active yet, but I'll link the two together and develop a landing page for that site in the next month.

The business is going really well. My team has been growing nicely and I'm working on improving my process for training new consultants. We had 6 new people start in March, which was a record, and I think that sort of growth will continue. As the leader, I need to make sure new people get started right and get my attention, even as the number of new people grows. So my focus is there.

I'm also doing a lot of networking now. The first reason is, of course, to keep expanding my business. The second reason is to develop my professional network; I've met a lot of great people through my BNI chapter. The third reason is to lead by example. One of the problems we always need to overcome in party plan, is to keep meeting new people. I wanted to be able to share effective techniques to do that with my team.

One output of that is that I've been writing. I'm involved in a book project that will be completed in the next few months. I'm writing a chapter on how to effectively network as a party plan person (aka network marketing or multi level marketing). The book will be available on Amazon and it is a great way for me to put my toe into writing and publishing. More info as it comes.... I'm excited.

Home
Alan is fantastic. His job had been getting very stressful last year because he was managing too many people. This year he was able to make some management changes under him and he is more sane because of that. He still sails almost every Saturday - racing a 24 foot sailboat in the beautiful Sydney Harbour.  He loves it. Earlier this year he and his sailing buddies had a skiing adventure in Japan. He loved that, too and enjoyed Japanese skiing. He would like to take me there. I'll wait to see if the mountain is radioactive after the recent events.... So sad.

Copper is my ragdoll dog. He is 3 years old now and we have a lot of fun together. Because I work from home, he and I are really close. We take snuggle breaks every now and then, go for walks, and he greets all of my guests nicely. Everyone loves him (or at least that's what they tell me) and he makes people smile all over the inner west of Sydney. Last week, Ben and Ange took him to Coogee for a walk on the coast, so he is spreading the love as much as he can.

The house has been completely transformed now that the deck is complete. Every morning, I open the doors all the way and enjoy the fresh air. It's absolutely what we were looking for when we decided to make it happen. We are working on the landscaping now. I suppose the projects will just keep coming. After the landscaping is done, we'll move to the interior decorating to blend the living room, dining room, and deck and to improve the flow. Alan will finally be able to get the TV and sound system he's always wanted. I'll get a new couch, a nice place to read, and a better entertaining area. But we're patient... it'll happen when it happens.

I love getting updates from you, too. So drop me a line to let me know what's up every now and then. Facebook is pretty cool for staying in touch, but lots of people don't use it, so call or write. I'm on Viber and What's App on my iPhone, so it's free to talk to, text, or send photos, videos, or audio recordings to me if you have that set-up, too. :) Douglas and I love both and are in touch now more than ever. (Being in China and Australia has brought us closer together. Strange, huh?)

Make it a great day! Love, WLC.