Blondes in Business

Bizarre life

Sometimes you just have to take a step back and think about what has happened just in the last few days – and be really, really, really grateful.

Today Audra is at a funeral of a friend from school – died of cancer aged just 42 and I spoke to a friend who I haven't heard from in a while and found out he was falsely accused of attempted murder!

Yet also this week Audra was on the radio and I was photographing camels on the roadside, I have ate Polish sour soup with boiled eggs and sausage, swam, sat in the sun, won work, lost out on a bid, hosted a webinar for 10 countries, met a ex colleague who I hadn't seen for 10+ years, ate squid and drank tequila. I prayed for my Mum whilst she went through her chemo treatment, learnt that our book will be in Richard Branson's Personal Assistants' hands tomorrow morning, I met with a Sheiks advisor, I smoked a cigar and played trivial pursuit, I woke up crying from a dream, read a great book about a monk who sold his Ferrari and I met a lady who hasn't seen her 3 kids for over a year. I had dinner with friends, watched an amazing water show and comforted a freind with a broken heart.

Saturday I will be flying home to be with my kids, grandkids and dogs and I'll be swapping my flip flops for warm winter boots.

Life is bizarre, it's happy and sad, an experience, an adventure, it's devastating, exciting and exhausting, thrilling and traumatic.

I just wanted to post this because I always forget all the things that have happened to me, tomorrow will bring something else to push out the memories of yesterday – sometimes that is good and sometimes that is bad, just like life. Audra this post is for you, I am proud of you and I love you x

 

 

 

Bog brush hair, Death breath and *astard written on my night shirt!

How appealing is that? Well it was obviously good enough for my 3am visitor last week! Now suitably shamed I won't torture him anymore, but if I can score looking like that, I can score anywhere! Unless it's a mark of his desperation….which I'm refusing to believe!

 

So from the amazing book launch success in London's newest and most fantastic hotel, grange St.Paul's….to the Deal Library Book signing! From the sublime to the ridiculous…I laughed and laughed, along with my constant companion for the day Elaine. Thank God she stayed with me as her humour kept me going when 1 by 1, the oddest of people arrived…..sprinkled with the most interesting of people too, I must add. But let's just list the oddest bunch for now!

 

OK, so I'm sat there for 2 hours and visitor number one approached us (having said that, Elaine did greet everyone who entered the library with a loud 'Good afternoon!' and forced them to speak, smile and make eye contact…..which was hard enough)…but back to the story…..so the guy with the married girlfriend turned up mentioning (once or twice) that he wasn't sure if his girlfriend was his girlfriend or not……when asked why, he mentioned her having a husband…good enough reason I suppose! Moving on!!! But before he left an Indian man came in with a far superior grasp of the English language than I have of Indian and asked to become a member!  'Become a member?' we said….. 'Of Blondes in Business? All you need to do is buy the book' I said…….then the chap whose girlfriend was married put his arm around him and said 'If you buy the book you may even get a kiss!' So the Indian chap puckered up and went in for the kill…to the man! We roared with laughter as the man then released his arms in horror and pointed to us ladies! Wrong end of stick! So we told the Indian man to go to the desk as we don't sign up members and off he trotted with a blonde's in business book in his hands! Off we trotted to get it back! Business is business! No sale there then!

 

Then soon after them we met Misery Man! He came up to the desk, after Elaine's usual greeting and his timid Thai wife leaned back against the wall, as if to subtly move along it to get out without being noticed…and we soon understood why! 'Why should I read this?' he said. 'What's the point of being blonde?' he said, 'So if I'm not blonde and not female, I can't read it then?' 'No', I said, 'So what's the point of me picking it up?' he said…it went on and on and on….and on….he was looking for a fight, but he didn't get one….oh no, I then said thank you for the positive attitude and I'm always grateful for feedback as he went on to say that 'Nothing in this world would make me pick that book up!' (And believe me there's no-one in this word that needs this book more!!!) and with that Elaine said in her East End manner….'Each to their own mate!' and I quipped, 'Well we only sell books to happy people here Sir, have a good day!' We roared with laughter as by that time the wife was well out of the door into the street; and the librarians were falling off their chairs saying how funny it is to see people telling their customers what they think and how they wished they could do the same!

We felt we needed a treat for taking all this abuse so off Elaine popped to the Sugar Boy sweet shop across the road. They sell all the old fashioned sweets and she came back with West Indian limes and chocolate covered honeycomb. The choc honeycomb was for me…well I need to keep up my well rounded hips somehow!

 

Moving onto the old dear who, on asking the price, decided to wait for it to drop to £1 at the charity shop…probably the next day, she said! I said I hoped not as it was only launched recently! Bless! You gotta laugh, as old people say what they think, like kids and I love it. Elaine and I reflected on how charming it is to be in a sea side town with all this funny mixture of people…then I thought, yes all bloody funny but will someone buy a blinking book? At last neighbors and friends came in and I went mad signing book after book after book…..after book….yes 4 books! 4 books in total….4!!! I sold over £400 in London in an hour! Anyway that's Deal and I wouldn't change it! So on reflection I may as well of dropped my neighbour's books in myself and had the afternoon off….but we wouldn't have met the odd people, the funny people and the interesting chaps like the Sinful Sailor as we proclaimed him. A gent who had been sailing around the world most of his life and came back to Deal to settle and the lovely old man in his wheelchair who told us how Deal had changed over the years….bless his stories, and everyone who came in knew him…and now, so do !!

Ok, I'm off for a ginger nut and a cup of mint tea…oh how the budding authoresses live!

The Book Launch!!

Probably one of the best days of my life! Audra and I are so, so, so over the moon at all the support and love – it really was an amazing day and night.

We arrived at the new Grange hotel St Pauls on Wednesday night and were thoroughly spoilt by Raj with drinks, snacks and jokes! We had a tour of the hotel, and what a hotel it is, truly gorgeous and sophisticated – the perfect venue for the Blondes in Business book Launch! Molton Brown products in the bathroom girls! Plus an illuminated magnifying mirror - ok that was not so good – highlighted all the skin flaws!

So we went to bed that night all very excited, and eventually sleep came only to be disturbed at 3am by a light tapping on the door I ignored it and Audra didn't! Good job as it was for Audra anyway – a little man in a bathrobe and socks with a bottle of champagne – not a full size one either Audra noted! Well what a laugh – Audra sent him packing but he gave us a great story for our speech the next day!

Next morning (Thursday) we got up and had a very low carb breakfast – Bacon and eggs, hoping against hope that our tummies would disappear before the big night!

At 12.30pm was the start of the RLI MIX networking event, with a list of attendees that any serious business would die for, sponsored by Kilby and Gayford – thanks Chris, I am sure you agree it was FAB!

Lots of business was done and card swapping and connections made – the event was in the hotels Atrium; a glorious feast of glass and gorgeous furniture, with logos revolving on the walls with a clear blue sky right above the 120 or so attendees, it was stunning. The buzz was immense.

At about 4.00pm Audra and I dashed to the room to put on our party frocks – photos to come – watch this space! The room was packed with the Ladies from Deal, Cy – Audra's brother, my three wonderful children ( OK adults ) and Jayne (RLI Editor) all fighting for bathroom space, in an attempt to look fab for the book launch and we actually achieved our goal – everyone looked amazing. I was SO proud of my kids. We then found out my Mum and Dad were in the room opposite – bit of a worry as I was not convinced I would be a child to be proud of later on in the night!

How can I begin to explain the atmosphere??? To come into the Atrium and see our pictures up all over the walls, books on the tables and a room full of friends, family and close work colleagues – it took your breath away. To get that much support was incredible. I only wish we could of given everyone all the attention they deserved for the effort they had made – people had come from Dubai, Bristol, Dartmouth, Deal, Peterborough, Gloucester, Marlborough – all over the bloody place – it was a kind of madness really. Drinks were flowing, laughter and ooh's and ahh's and 'haven't you grown' statements all over the place (aimed at my kids I'd like to add – not Audra and I!) People that had knew of one another for years but never met; people that hadn't seen one another for years – it was like a wedding without all the dreadful promises and incumbent hubby!

Michelle our lovely and very talented marketing lady got up on the stage and made a fab speech, followed by a really touching speech by Mindy our publisher and book writing coach and then us – apparently we were fab ( that's what we were told – not bragging – honest! ) and made everyone laugh, we of course mentioned why we wrote the book and got the story in about the 3am visitor the night before, we said all our thank you's and after that well – to be honest I cant remember!!! Apparently my daughter has it on video – so once again watch this space – we need to!

We sold lots of books and the page everyone was turning to was page 66! I guess it proves that being a little risqué can be a good thing! If you wanna know more – you'll have to buy it if you haven't already – go to Amazon!!

The party went on until about 2ish I believe – I have to confess to retiring before the very end, the several glasses of wine, champagne and cosmopolitans were seriously taking effect! But Audra made it to the bitter end – good girl!

The texts, emails, voice mails, facebook comments just came and came all day and night long, we had pressies too! Thanks Kelly, Charlene, Mike, Debs, and Lorraine – how thoughtful of you.

In a nutshell – I could talk about this forever and ever it was seriously one of the best days of my life. Audra will also put her version up no doubt – so we'll all look forward to that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audra gives up on the diet…..

OK where do I start?......Ah yes let's start with the blinking Atkins diet. Sue and I thought it a good idea to lose weight and get into our party frocks for the book launch. We have this bright idea 2 weeks before the event so a bit late I admit but the Atkins diet can work wonders right?

So, for 1 whole week now I've been surviving on celery, bacon, tomatoes and eggs and, apart from being egg bound, I'm astounded to find out I haven't lost one single, solitary pound! Not one…nothing, nada, nowt, nicht, bugger all in fact! On Day 4, Sue exclaimed that she lost 2 pounds but for me, nothing!  Today is day 7 or 8 or whatever it is….so having lost nothing I decided to go through my food filled cupboards and eat all the blinking carbs I could get my hands on.

I started with a bowl of Oatibix…WITH MILK…then 3 rich tea biscuits, a slice of cake, lollipop and ended with a great big beans laden fry up!!

Yes sugars, carbs fat and more carbs….and my next stop is the chocolate shop……..because at the end of the day, if I can't shift weight by NOT eating my favorite things, what's the bloody point?????? There must be men out there who like the plumper woman, but in my party dress I have the appearance of walnuts fighting in a condom! And that my friends, is what I embody…and I'm gonna have to learn to put up with it! No more bloody celery, no more bad breath and dizziness my friends. I am free to kiss again!!!!

……………………Oops, sorry, just had to stop then to make a cup of tea and grab a biscuit…..with MILK!!!!! OK so I'm off my soap box now…in fact I should look on the positive stuff I've done today, I did have a little bit of success….I managed to book a couple of Pratt's into a hotel for our book launch so that was good! The Pratt's are Sue's parents so gotta be kind and try not to take the pee!!!! So, I maybe disillusioned and fat, but I sorted 2 Pratt's out and its Bank Holiday….where I'm going to line up Baileys, wine and chocolate!!! Girdle! Here I come!!!!

Enjoy!

PS and No Sue, the fact that I ate a sandwich, chocolate brownie and bag of chips last night should have no affect on the situation…….I should have lost it all by then anyway!

 

Great exam results!!

Yippeeee!! Sam is going to 6th form! I am so proud of him. Mitchell my Brothers son is also - so we are a happy, relieved and proud family! Bless Sam, he didn't open his envelope, brought it home and asked me too! So then there was the round of phone calls to brag to everyone! and now I am bragging here!

I am not sure we remember as oldies the stress of waiting for exam results, I think I was more worried about Sam getting his results then I ever was about getting mine. But then all those years ago ;) it was easier to get a job wasn't it?

It was a hectic day all round, started with a conference call with 10 countries explaining their training programme and how its going to work over the web - using gotowebinar - exciting stuff!

And ended with having to design a 6 day programme for Managers in the health industry by next week!

I think I might have to forgo my bank holiday monday - oh the joy of having your own business!

Audra and Julie did all the accounts yesterday and paid some BIG bills - well done ladies!

Also had a great conversation with a guy called James, he runs our technical authoring course - how to write technical reports and such like - great guy, very knowledgeable and patiently explained to me about Diggit and Delicious - more stuff to think about and widgets to add!

Dogs - well I am lead training Pippa and I have the blisters to prove it! But we are getting there. I have to carry a can of air around with me but for some strange reason she wants to chase lorries and tractors  so a squirt of air seems to distract her and remind her that its not one of her best fights to pick! She had her booster jab yesterday too, she hates going to the vets :(

Just a quick post - wanted to share the news about Sam! WELL DONE SAM!

Please welcome Audra to blogging!

Here I am, 9pm at night after a long ADMIN day…Yuk!

Watching The 40 year old virgin on TV!!!! Now what does that say about me?

It’s been a day for contacting people, tying up loose ends and trying to support Sue who has a mountain of technical work to sort out for Dubai. Why is it that that everything happens at once! Not complaining, but Sue is the techhie one out of us both so all of it has landed on her plate! Good thing she loves designing and doing the tecchie thing…but she has a whirlwind of a short tour in front of her in Dubai.

I’ve been there most of the time this year and it’s always a busy time. Due to their weekends starting on a Friday you only really get 1 day off and we never used to take that! But, work is coming in, I have been asking the universe to open the floodgates to work and it has done so…thank you universe! We are surrounding ourselves with a new wave of trainers…Arabic speaking where possible, trainers to support us in Dubai that are of an excellent pedigree; just as our UK/Europe trainers are. Projects are kicking off in Dubai and we have wonderful Health, Safety, Security and Crisis Management partners that can resource both parts of the globe. So if you know of any excellent Arabic speaking trainers please let us know.

 

On a personal note I’m in the office all week as I’m looking after a friends dog (another staffy called Grace, like my pooch Coco!) and they are tiring me out already! They are both very energetic and so I relented at 5pm to take them out as Coco had trod in poo, and walked it through the office (YUK!) and so I hosed her down and took them both out to knacker them out!

We went to a local graveyard that has beautiful trees that Coco can jump up and swing from! She jumps real high and when she catches tight, she wriggles her bum to get a real swing on and she makes a funny noise, which is the closet thing to us laughing! A chap who came into the graveyard was laughing his head off and took a video of her. He had a Labrador Staffordshire cross and Gracie (the one I’m looking after) took a real shine to her and decided to catch all the balls that her owner threw! Didn’t go down too well with Beyonce! Yes, that was her name! She was a rescue from Manchester and couldn’t be homed till she came down to sunny Deal in Kent. Anyway, watching Grace  pinch Beyonce’s balls and Coco swinging from the tree making chimp noises really brought me back down to earth……I feel so thankful seeing this simple scene…..I love animals and watching them safe, happy and playing was my treat for the day. Sadly, Coco didn’t see her bath as treat but that too was a welcome transformation from poo to shampoo!

 

So I had really earned my Atkins dinner by that time….though I just add in the odd carb here and there….cant think why I’m not dropping much weight!!!!! So fed, watered and tired….the dogs get the big squashy 3 seater sofa and I get the 2 seater….well it’s been a long day for them and Graces 1^st day away from her Mom…who is living it up in Barcelona!

 

But tomorrow is another day and more ADMIN, calls and tying up loose ends…but what exciting ends they are. I have a book signing at my local library Sept 5^th in Deal and now sorting out Sue’s library appearance in Bristol. Then the papers want to do a write up…not to mention our actual London launch 3^rd Sept at Raj’s FAB new hotel, Grange St. Paul’s. Then we will be featured in Jayne Rafters RLI magazine….(Retail Leisure International) the worlds only colour industry magazine you know!!! It’s all fun, we have books to be delivered, leaflets to print, books to send to the States…lets hope they find their way to Oprah and all the other great US TV shows!!!!! I’m aiming for us to get on Oprah if it kills me! Blondes in Business endorsed by Oprah? How would that affect sales? And what would we do with all the cash???????? WE wouldn’t have any trouble spending it believe me….but in case we have to work harder…we have another  book in the pipeline. Blondes in Dubai…..so stand by!!!!!

 

Ok so had enough of the 40 year old virgin……not someone I would like to meet……but how to lose a guy in 10 days is on the other side and we have all been in that situation I’m sure…….going to take notes as I seem to attract stalkers….as does Sue! There’s another book in there somewhere! But is it printable? Hmmmnnn, not sure.

 

Going to go to bed early…and stop watching Big Brother (I used to curse people who followed that rubbish and I’ve seen most of this series!) and get up early to the dogs out….my theory is they will sleep some of the day if I walk them early??? Talking of Big Brother, I met the floor manager for the show with his new wife and baby on Deal seafront last night. His Mom, Elaine and I took our dogs along the beach and met them having a drink al fresco in a beautiful, picturesque part of the beach. The summer flowers were out hanging from the pub windows and doors and people were everywhere with their pets and children….Coco made a few friends and Ed asked me for all the gossip on Big Brother as he had been on holiday. He was thrilled Bea was evicted and I'll say no more on that matter! Already got Sue into it against her will but she has weaned herself off now she isn't at my house anymore!!!!

However, it was great talking to Ed's ex catwalk model and photographer wife Kate…having had their baby she has decided to design her own range of baby clothes to rival that of Mama’s and Papa’s. She and Ed sped read through the book (as I carry it around as a sales tool now obviously) and they ordered a copy and thought it inspiring…so I’ve decided to help them free of charge….in fact Kate is the 2^nd woman this week to have told me they intend to start their own business…and one because of our book……great feedback eh?

 

Should go to bed now but hey, wait I need to dress the bed as both dogs slept with me last night and I was covered….I hate making the bed but Ill think of it as exercise! Night night!

Business, Personal, Dogs - you decide!

What a week! I have been thinking and learning about blogging and my head hurts!

There is so much to write and so much to learn; I have come to realise that:

1. I need a structured approach
2. I need to be jotting down thoughts, ideas, happenings of interest all the time, not just hope that I remember them for the blog!
3. I need to learn at least something new each week about blogging and then put it into action and not on my every growing 'to do' list
4. I should ALWAYS either write the blog in Microsoft word or in typepad using Internet Explorer - because the pages wont just close without warning me I might lose everything I have just written!

So with all that in mind, the one thing that I did think is that some of you will only be interested in reading our blog in regards to business, you may only be interested in the personal stuff or you may only be interested in our hobby - dogs - so with that being the thought I have decided to divide the blog into 3 headings and you can read the one you want or all  3 - would that help? If you are an expert blogger and can advise please do! Please email me at sue@yourimpact.co.uk

I have a question about business blogging  can we talk openly about what we do with clients? Can we mention company names? Do we need to get permission to do so? All these questions about blogging and those are just the tip of the iceberg.

Dogs

OK so lets start - I think today I will start with the dogs - or should I say Pippa as she is my long term foster dog who we are currently trying to find a permanent new home. She doesn't need something really special but there are some key requirements: Secure garden, long walks off the lead in a safe environment, no other pets although another dog is fine and lots of cuddles!

I am going away for most of September; we have the book launch on the 3rd in London and then I fly to Dubai the next day until the 20th and she wont get the walks she needs.

So yesterday, kindly organised by Dogsfriends, the Bristol Evening Post came out to take pictures of her and other dogs. We're not sure when the pictures will be in the paper but you will definitely find out from this blog. The guy took some really gorgoeus photos. She is also 'dog of the week' on the dogsfriends website, so we are really pushing on her behalf right now to find the perfect home.If you know of anyone please shout!

I went out with my new friend Louise from Dogsfriends - she does an incredible job for the charity. Not only does she have a family and a full-time job, she finds fosterers for all our new dogs, places all the dogs, keeps the website up dated, helps fund raise - she is a blonde of course so really I expect no less!! LOL

She suggested that we went onto Chipping Sodbury High Street on Saturday night - if she was going to miss X factor then she thought we should make a bigger night of it then our usual few in one rather boring pub! Well what a night! Lets just say we had a fair few, met lots of people, couldn't stumble home, had to grab a cab ( name of local the taxi firm!) cool name eh? Got chatted up by a 31 year old! Had a dance, it was fab! Although the next day was not so good, especially when I heard that my daughter had been in the same pub!! When she phoned, I then knew and I am eternally grateful - she didn't see me! She said she wasn't in the old persons part of the pub! The reason she didn't see me was we were at the front of the dance floor! The old persons part of the pub indeed!

Personal

There is always a ton of stuff going on in this house, but today I want to share with you something that is sad yet positive and ask for your thoughts and prayers.

Last year my Mum was diagnosed with Lymphoma (cancer of the Lymph glands) she had 8 rounds of chemotherapy and was incredibly positive and strong throughout although it made her so ill. Its so harsh a treatment and makes you really poorly when the cancer wasn't making her ill at all! But we know obviously that would not of always been the case and the treatment would be of benefit long term.

Anyway the Chemo seemed to of done the trick, but with Lymphoma there is no cure just treatments to manage it. Sadly this week she had her results back from her biopsy and she has to have more treatment but stronger stuff this time :( She also had to go in for an operation to relieve the pressure on her liver as that is where the tumour is pressing.

My Mum is amazing! I went in to pick her up and there she was sat up, dressed, bag packed, smiling, ready to go! The nurse wouldn't let her walk so I had to borrow a wheelchair, she wasn't over keen on that  but that was probably more to do with my steering then having to be in a wheelchair!

We went home and had cups of tea and chats and I cooked some fish and picked some fresh green beans and tomatoes from the garden and we had a really nice time - I get mad at myself for not doing this more often anyway not just when there is a major reason. Her chemo starts again in September, and I ask you all to out my Mum in your prayers.

Work

Last week was a week of deadlines and all were hit! On-line surveys done for a client, proposals in, Dubai trip booked and a host of other stuff! I went to BNI this week for a member that couldn't make it, I always enjoy seeing everyone and you always get something from it, whether it be a good breakfast, a new contact, a giggle or a lead - always worth the 7am start! Although I did get a parking ticket :(

The same day I went to a Referral Institute pipeline seminar, very good - too much to explain  check out their website but in essence they teach and you and work with you to build your business via referral and commit that you will increase your business by 50K or your money back! We are now strategic partners with RI so that their clients can have a full range of services from us as a partnership - so that is exciting!

So this week is also looking busy - and a lot of it is geeky web based stuff - building the content for a webinar I will be running in Dubai to 10 different countries, should be interesting as well as terrifying! 

Any hints or tips for running really fab webinars please just email me!

BBC - Science & Nature - Human Body and Mind - Surveys

Lots and lots of tests for you! Test your memory, find out what sex your brain is! Learn to spot a fake smile - lots of fun tests for a bored moment!

You must check out what I have stumbled upon!

www.stumbledupon.com

A Fab site – totally addicted

I have 'stumbled upon' some great sites – you can choose your preferences – is very useful as well addictive!

PS. Bea is out!!!! I didn't realise she was a mother of 4!!!!!!!!!! I don't remember her EVER talking about her kids……………only behaving worse than any kid I've met!

Dubai Airports monitoring swine flu but no specific action - Healthcare - ArabianBusiness.com

via www.arabianbusiness.com

Audra kindly booked my flight to Dubai today - I have to keep an eye on what the Swine Flu requirements are - I am guessing it is NOT to have swine flu! LOL