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Please Do More

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It has taken me a little bit of time to process and reflect on the events that shook our country on Friday. As someone in a position of leadership within our community and the wife of an immigrant raising two sons of mixed race, I have a message and a request that I need to share. Please Do More. While I was shocked and heart broken at the horror of the actions from one human being to the innocent lives of others, I was also not surprised, which is possibly just as heart breaking. My husband and I will be married eight years this year and we have been together for 10 years. His best friend and who was his best man at our wedding is Muslim. For the entire decade I have been side-by-side with him I have witnessed first hand the hatred and racism directed right to his face – including this morning. No child is born hating another child. They have no idea about 'race' and 'skin colour'. Hatred does not just happen. It grows. It grows from the seeds of language imprinted int

You Were Not Meant To Be

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As many of you know, we are trying for a third baby. We have been for some time. As expected, it’s been a process fraught with a lot of emotional turmoil. Initially a lot of this turmoil came from trying to figure out when . Our youngest son is now four. We never planned on having a big gap but I have had a few things on my plate (just a few) and a tight book publishing schedule for what will be my third year now. Working with a publishing company means that this schedule is unforgiving. It does have its advantages of providing a structure but to say it is not baby-friendly would be an understatement. This is aside from all other issues I have had with the company. Last year when we finally ‘worked out’ our ‘perfect time’ for our third bundle to arrive in the world it left us two months in which to conceive. Totally do-able right? And this would most likely require fertility treatment as well which is what we went through with Sahan due to a severe case of polycystic ovary syndrome. We

School Holidays & Dual Working Parents

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School broke up for our eldest son on December 14 th last year and he started back this week on Feb the 4 th . This first week back has also been a short week due to a public holiday on Wednesday. Everyone has a different experience (and opinion) of the school holidays. I wanted to share my own experience of this time – which will continue to be different every year. Before Arjun was of school age, the holidays were always something I was quietly afraid of. We are two working parents with absolutely no family help at all. None. Yes, we need to work. My husband and I run three businesses. They do not just stop for eight weeks. These are not ‘big businesses’ that we can simply take leave from and have them still working. Our work does put food on the table. Our work is also enjoyable. We do not want to stop for this length of time. If we included all school holidays and public holidays for the year, we are looking at around four months of the year not working. Last year was Arjun’s firs

2019 The Year of Hope

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Every year I set a word for the year. It is something I have been doing for a while time now after reading this in a business book. I used to do dream boards. I think these really helped when I was a lot younger, but after having the boys I have preferred to simplify the year goal-wise. Having a word for the year helps me to focus. I take actions and check that the choices I make are in line with this when the time comes. I do not spend a lot of time thinking about it. It is the first word that comes to me and feels right. A true gut-instinct. The word hope came so easily at the end of last year. In previous years I have had more grunter words, like ‘power’ and ‘unlimited’. Is 'grunter' a word....well it is now! Anyway, this year I want to change tack a little bit. It is no secret that last year was tough. I know that I did not even write my new year blog in 2018 until it was April! It was an up hill battle the whole time. This year while I know the fight is still going to be

I Lost A Bit Of Me

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As 2018 nears the end, I have been able to decrease the intensity of my work for a bit and it has been a time to pause and churn the year over. I have forged ahead into a lot of incredible ventures this year, but it has been a very hard process. Constantly stepping into the unknown and up against a lot of resistance. Like tackling a thick forest with a small blade trying to hack down a path in the trees, while also defending my back from creatures lurking out, attacking my business and my family. This sounds dark, but that is what it has felt like for a significant portion of the year. Looking over many of my blogs from the last 12 months reaffirms this. I guess I expected the small blade & thick forest as part-and-parcel of the deal, but not so much the hidden creatures. At least not at this point in the game. The ‘hidden creatures’ are also known as - other businesses, organisations and people who not only do not ‘get’ what we are up to but make an active and vindictive effort to

When Will It Get Easier?

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When will it get easier? A question I have been asking myself a lot lately. This last week especially. I know from the outside it looks like everything is pretty sweet. I have published two books this year and have traveled around the country & started in Ausie. I am also now training new consultants and am working on book number five. It does not mean though that things have not gone according to plan or that things are not a struggle. I have been on the road for the best part of three months. I wish I could tell you how many things goes wrong behind the scenes with our events. How difficult people can be to work with and how they try and press you for every single dollar. When you run a business from the ground up with no mortgage to float you every dollar indeed does count. We had to change our Wellington event with a weeks notice because the Golf Club double booked with a wedding, were wanting to charge us the same for a different room AND they wanted to charge us for catering

Bring It: A Message to the Haters, Bullies & Thieves

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In the last two weeks my much awaited for new book arrived. I have also launched a new ebook ( Slow Cooked ) and I have set up a new online fitness programme with a good friend of mine called Dr Julie’s Mum Squad . My nationwide Baby & Toddler Tour kicked off in Auckland on Saturday and Dr Julie’s Kitchen is not far away either. Sometimes in business everything happens at once – this is one of those times. I have worked incredibly hard over quite some months to bring this all together. Sadly, this time is also going to bring the haters, the bullies and the thieves. It is nothing new. My business is nearly five years old and you – the haters, the bullies and the thieves – have been coming for around three of those years now. So, this is a message for you. Firstly, I want to thank you. I want to thank you for making me stronger – making us stronger. All of your name calling, bullying, emails, messages, abusive phone calls and underhanded tactics  – which was done to try and stop me,